Black Hills Family Vacation

Hopefully my readers will forgive my absence over the past few weeks when I explain that our family went on an 8 day vacation to the Black Hills of South Dakota. A vacation to the the Black Hills is something we had wanted to do for several years now but with our missions trips to Tanzania, the finances just weren't available. This year, as the team leaves for Tanzania tomorrow, we are both very sad that neither of us is going but we were both unable to leave our jobs for three weeks straight this year. Shannon will travel with Rev. Debra and Wayne next year when the engineering team is there.

Anyway, this summer our trip happened. We spent the entire summer planning and anticipating. We gathered info from the state dept of tourism and I spent hours online researching hotels, cabins, and activities to keep us busy. We found there was no lack of family activities in the area and scheduled one extra day in...just in case. We were so glad we had the extra day, otherwise our previously planned activities wouldn't have all gotten done. I had planned out each day perfectly, or so we thought. I think it was on day three that the schedule was thrown aside as a reference only to remind us of all we wanted to get done.

First stop, DeSmet, to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead. We spent several hours exploring the dug out home and shanty, animals in a barn, and riding in a covered wagon to an old schoolhouse. The children each made a rope the old fashioned way, saw how soap was made, wheat was ground in a coffee grinder during the "Long Winter" and laundry was done on a washboard. The girls each made their very own corncob doll like Laura had.


Wall Drug...where there are plenty of photo ops and more junky treasures than one can imagine seeing in one place. And yes, we each had a free glass of water or two.





Feeding the prairie dogs at a small gift shop near the entrance to the Badlands.



A drive through Badlands National Park. What a wondrous area. We were all awestruck.



The South Dakota Air and Space Museum located at the Air Force Base. Shannon and Collin enjoyed this more than the rest of us and but was fun to see airplanes similar to those we guarded while in the Marine Corps.


Reptile Gardens. The tortoises were a favorite. This one seemed to love when Evan rubbed its neck.


Dinosaur Park in Rapid City is just a bunch of concrete dinosaurs high up on a hill. I visited it as a child but the dinosaurs have shrunk since then.


The Cosmos, an area where people stand sideways and gravity doesn't seem quite right. We laughed hysterically as our minds and bodies were thrown for a loop. The one picture is not crooked, it just looks like it because the people are. The other picture shows Evan standing on the wall.


Bear Country USA where we drove through to see bears and much more.


The 1880 Train that runs between Hill City and Keystone. The three guys rode the train while us gals drove to Keystone to pick them up. Our van goes faster so we had a few minutes to shop before they arrived.


Big Thunder Gold Mine. Two men dug the mine using hand tools and dynamite. At the end of their 32 years they had each earned a grand total of $50 in gold. The mine turned out to be unprofitable for mining but Shannon and I joked of how profitable it has been since then. At $8 per person for tours as well as charging visitors to pan for gold it seems to be a true gold mine now. We didn't pan but did see people finding tiny specks in thier pans that they were allowed to put in a tiny bottle to keep.

Feeding the burros in Custer State Park was a riot. We knew we would be doing this and planning ahead, had bought several bags of over date donuts at our local bakery. The car in front of us was feeding them carrots and another was feeding them wheat thins. I bet you can guess which car they followed most closely.

Wind Cave, a 1 1/2 tour of a cave formed mainly by wind. It had a lot of what is called boxwork inside.

The Mammoth Dig Site is an old sinkhole where animals, including mammoths used to go to drink. The theory is that they would fall in the sinkhole which had very steep sides and end up drowning when they were unable to get out. So far they have found the fossilized remains of over 55 mammoths, as well as a short-faced bear, mountain lion and multiple smaller mammals. We were amazed at the tremendous size of these creatures as you can see by the picture of Shannon and the kids next to a cut out model of one.


A quick stop at a park in Rapid City where a couple of pieces of the former Berlin Wall are was an interesting spot.



Rushmore Cave, a 45 minute tour of a water formed cave that still has many stalagmites and stalactites. Unfortunately this one was broken off by visitors many years ago.

Mt Rushmore, a must see, of course. Our children were finally able to put to rest the joke we have had going with them that there are backsides carved into the back of the mountain. We learned more about those 4 particular presidents and why they were chosen for the monument.

Crazy Horse Monument, a truly amazing work in progress. This thing is huge! Shannon and I doubt it will ever be finished, it has already taken them 60 years and they are really not very far when you think about the big picture.


The infamous Needles Highway with it's rock tunnels and the needle formation at the top.


And Sylvan Lake. This is a beautiful, relaxing location in the midst of the craziness. It was a nice place to sit for a few minutes after our hike while Star and Evan took a dip.


Another fun location, a can't miss in our opinion, was Evan's Plunge in Hot Springs. This is a naturally, hot spring fed swimming pool with waterslides and hanging rings. It was originally used by the Native Americans then the wagon train participants. It was commercialized in 1890 and has been in operation now for over 100 years. I don't have any pics as we were all having to much fun to bring the camera in and risk it getting wet.

We also visited the city of Keystone and their famous taffy shop where you can watch the taffy being made. We spent quite a bit of money buying taffy for family, friends and ourselves.

Here is a photo of a sign that I found incredibly humorous. We saw it in several places out there during the week. Uh, no kidding? If they weren't "at large" they wouldn't be "wildlife" would they?

On the way home we stopped in Mitchell South Dakota to visit the corn palace. In a day reminiscent of National Lampoon's Vacation where the family arrives at their destination to find the theme park closed, we arrived at the Corn Palace to find it closed for the afternoon. It was corn capital days and there were many activities going on, one of which required a sound check it seems. Hey had locked the doors of it for a couple of hours, of course, just a couple of minutes before we arrived.

In our efforts to save the stop by visiting the local Bonanza restaurant for lunch, we arrived at the restaurant to find a sign hanging on the door stating that they had closed for the day as well.

We finally arrived home, after 8 extremely filled days of fun and learning to our own beds and two dogs, a cat and a parrot missing their owners very much. We are already hoping for another trip next summer. Next time we want to go further west to see Yellowstone National Park, Custer's battlefield, Devil's Tower and more.