So...How's by you?

It's been one week since I looked at you, threw my arms to my side and said you're crazy. Or something like that.

What a week it has been.

We got up early Sunday morning and hit the road. Drove all day and all night until we got to Casper, WY just as the fireworks were wrapping up. Apparently our hotel was along the main route because traffic was diverted all around us. Luckily we found it easily enough, and as I posted that night, soft beds, yada yada, yada.

Awoke Monday morning and grabbed our stuff and took off. After we stopped for breakfast Malia noticed something she had to get a picture of:

Really? What trip is complete without a giant Bugs Bunny?

How about a trip without a giant Daffy Duck?!?!




Wyoming is a pretty cool place. I liked the rolling hills. They are ahead of Nevada anyway when it comes to wind power.



This picture is only a small part of the wind farm we saw. It was kind of funny, because at one point it looks like you are going to drive right through the blades, just like in a mini-golf course!

Also, we thought Wyoming had no day time speed limit. Apparently that is not and never has been true. Darn it! Anyway we got to Custer, SD in one piece and around lunch time.

Our friend Mr. Shane told us we should stay at this great KOA in Custer. His family had stayed there and it was wonderful! Well, we found out later there are 2 KOAs in Custer. We stayed at the one that was not so wonderful. When I reserved our spot I told them we had a LARGE tent and needed lots of space. They said no problem. The first spot they gave us was the size of a driveway. In fact it was a driveway. Good place to park a trailer, not so much a tent. Especially since the site was almost all downhill.

Back to the office and explain to them again that we have a large tent, it's 15x13. Ok...try these spots see which one looks best. 21? Um...no. 23 not even close! 32? Really? I couldn't set up a table on that site which, in fact, did not even have a table. 33? 34? Nope.

Back to the office. I HAVE A LARGE TENT! I NEED A LARGE SITE! Oh...74? Ok, let's give it a shot!

No picture of the site, but it was a nice big grassy area near a faucet, the bathrooms, the pool, and the air pillow (more on that later). We will take it!

After we got everything set up and ate lunch, we headed to Mt. Rushmore. Along the way we saw this out the right side of the car:



This is the sculpture of Crazy Horse that was started in 1948. Not a lot of progress appears to have been made, but more on that later.

We drove up the road to Mt. Rushmore and about 1 mile up we noticed on our left side a really cool looking campground. Aha...this must be the KOA Mr. Shane was talking about...Bummer, but to be honest it looked just as crowded as the one in which we were staying, so no biggie I guess.

Mt. Rushmore is just ahead! Every turn in the road we expected to see it, but no dice. We finally get to the last curve by the parking garage and look behind us and there it was! I have to say they do a really nice job of hiding it from that side until you get there.



By the time we paid the $10 parking fee(which is good until the end of the year, but only for our car)we are ready to go! (BTW, the National Park Pass we bought thinking we would get a lot of use out of this year? Not so much. If there is no admission fee, the pass doesn't work. And since you only pay to park, it didn't count.)We loaded up our water bags and I threw in the ponchos, just in case. It was a bit cloudy after all.

The main walkway was really cool and it framed the sculpture nicely. However, my first reaction was, "Huh, that looks really small." I think this was because I have only seen close up pictures like this:



so you really lose perspective. I never realized it was at the edge of a mountain. I always thought it was part of a long chain.

As we were walking up toward the Viewing Terrace it began to sprinkle. Within a few minutes it was pouring rain! Good thing I brought the ponchos!



As we casually strolled through the park looking at the rain-covered sculptures:





everyone around us either scurried for cover or ran into the buildings. We had the sculpture to ourselves. Well, except for this guy:



but as you can tell, he was also more interested in getting out of the rain!

We followed the trail down to the sculptor's studio where we saw some really cool artifacts and learned quite a bit. Noah got to help the presenter not once, but twice. First as a model for the heads:



Then later as one of the workers:



All in all a good first trip to the monument! We came back after dinner for the evening show and were just as impressed. There was a Boy Scout troop who came to do the flag ceremony after the call of soldiers. All active and retired soldiers were called up to the stage. There were a TON of them! They received a long standing ovation. It was actually quite moving.

The boys both did their best to hold up the mountain.




I think Noah won!

As we drove back to camp, we were all pretty tired, so it didn't even faze us when we pulled into our site to find we had a night light right above our tent. Big street light that stayed on all night long! I just pulled the hat down over my eyes and slept.

Next morning we awake to a freezing cold tent. The tent has a mesh top and a rain fly and hold absolutely no heat. It is actually warmer outside in the morning than in the tent. I even bought a heater to put in the tent, but it does absolutely nothing. We are now in the market for a new tent less than one year later!

After we all de-thawed we decided to head up to Crazy Horse. As I said before, not a lot of work appears to have been done on this sculpture, and in terms of items that are complete it is not what I would have thought would be done in 62 years, especially since this is what it looks like now:


And this is the final product:



But according to the information we got there, tons of rock have been blasted away
to get to the granite for the sculpture.

It seems silly to me that they foundation making this memorial is not taking federal money since they would be much further on and that much closer to making their dream a reality, but that is their choice I guess.

After we spent a few hours there we went back to camp and had some lunch and then decided to go out and drive through Custer State Park. The park is fairly big and there are several different parts to it. We went through a long and winding road and saw lots of cool plants and rock formations. We even saw some wild turkey:



and a doe and her fawn:



We went back to camp and the boys jumped on the giant air pillow. It is like a huge trampoline, but supported underneath by air being blown underneath. The boys had a lot of fun on it!


Later that night we drove back to Crazy Horse for the night time show. It was pretty cool, even if they did play "Proud to Be An American" at the end. Lots of colored lights and lasers playing off of the memorial.

The next morning found us off to Custer State Park to look for the great American Bison. We were not too disappointed when about 15 minutes later we rounded a corner and saw this:



...oh, no...wait...That's a prairie dog! There were a ton of them! And they were all chirping and whistling and barking up a storm!

We did eventually round a corner to find this sight waiting for us:



As impressive as the pictures of a bison is, they don't do nearly enough justice. We drove around for several hours. I think the best part of the trip for the boys was the burros. They were very interested in us as you can see from the pictures:







These two guys apparently wanted to go with us!




After the burros, we went to the "museum". It was a little cabin with a gift shop and some stuffed animals. We spent a few minutes there and then drove over to an area to get out and stretch our legs. We saw some pretty flowers and stuff along this walk. Eventually this sight turned us around:



After our lunch we decided to head out (ha!) to see Rushmore again. This time approaching it from a different angle. The Iron Mountain Road was a great drive! Along the way we were stopped dead in traffic for about 15 minutes while this happened:







This little guy was mere feet from our car before mama pushed him farther away. It was a sight to see!



We also got some great views of South Dakota and Mt. Rushmore, including this one out a tunnel:



We went back to Rushmore and did one of the ranger lead tours. The boys also got to scrape a bison hide. This bison had died a few weeks before and they were tanning the leather. It was pretty interesting.



Thursday was our last day before heading home so we decided it was time to go to Wind Cave. I would like to tell you the cave was really cool, but when we went down the elevator for our tour, Noah flipped out and he and I went back up, so I only got to see a few feet into it. From what I was told, it was really cool! Here are the pictures to prove it:







Since our plan was to get lunch after Wind Cave and then go to Jewel Cave, we scrapped that and went to the National Woodcarving Museum. It was cheesy and the carvings were pretty ugly, but the guy who did them animated them with homemade motors and engines and he even worked at Disneyland, so it was pretty cool. Here is an example of one of the carvings:



Not my style of woodcarving, but I guess it is a product of the time.

Thursday night was making S'mores and packing up everything we could into the car so we could get out ASAP on Friday morning, which we did.

We drove to Salt Lake City and stayed in a REAL hotel, with a shower and everything! We even treated ourselves to dinner at the Olive Garden. Yum!

Saturday was a long drive home, but we got here after 2 and unloaded before going out to buy groceries. Malia loaded up her stuff for Vegas and left just about 2 hours ago. She comes back in two weeks.

Today, the boys and I get ready to start Geek Camp! I will have to keep you updated on that!