Day 3

Blogged by Stacey (Ben is too pooped to write tonight).....
     It's amazing what we can do and see if we get up at 6:00AM each morning!  Typically, this doesn't happen on our vacations because sleeping IN LATER is something that I consider a must on my "vacations."  However, I must admit, the past several days of getting up so early has reaped huge benefits!  We have seen so much beauty and made so many memories that I wouldn't trade it for a few extra hours of ZZZzzzzzz!  Today we started the day by going on a tour called Custer State Park Tour.  This was a 4 hour trek through the Custer State Park.  Custer State Park is home to the world's largest herd of free-running bison.  Our tour guide told us that there were about 15,000 buffalo (Bison) in this park!  Now that's A LOT!  We were able to see a lot of these roaming free and Ben was even brave enough to step out of the motor coach long enough for us to snap a few pictures.  John and I didn't figure we could move as quickly, IF NEEDED, so we stayed inside the vehicle.  There was a beautiful lake called Sylvan Lake that was absolutely beautiful.  John said he could have spent a week right there at that spot.  Our motor coach seemed to cover every inch of the Black Hills, many times winding around and around.  Towards the end of our trek, Ben was not feeling the best (a little warm and car sickness) so we exited the park just in time. 

The four hour trek ended up at Mount Rushmore!  After some medication and some fresh air...Ben was ready to roll again.  Words cannot adequately express the magnitude of this giant monument of four great presidents:  Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt.   This National Memorial is located near Keystone, South Dakota.  It was sculpted by Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum.  The entire memorial covers 1,278.45 acres.  It features 60 foot sculptures of the heads of the four presidents listed above.  Construction started in 1927, took 14 years to complete and cost a little under $1 million.  Mount Rushmore symbolizes democracy and freedom.  It's a powerful place to see and to make you appreciate our country and it's freedoms even more.  We had lunch at Mount Rushmore.  Ben enjoyed eating a buffalo burger and a buffalo hot dog! 

 

After leaving Mount Rushmore, we got back on the tour bus and drove for about an hour.  We stopped at a place called Tatanka.  This place (museum--both outdoors and indoors) was developed by Kevin Costner to pay tribute to the Lakota people and the bison.  We got an unexpected treat when we arrived.  Chief Bald Eagle (94 year old chief of the entire Sioux Indian tribe) was there and talked with our group.  Our tour guide was ecstatic.  He said, this never happens! 

 

After finishing up visiting Tatanka, we hopped on another optional tour and this one took us into Deadwood, South Dakota.  In 1876 this was a lawless frontier town during the Gold Rush.  It was here that Wild Bill Hickok was murdered during a poker game. A shootout even occurred in our midst. 

 

Finally, we arrived at our hotel for the rest of the evening.  John and Benjamin enjoyed several go rounds on the Go-Carts located on the hotel premises.