Black Hills Vacation – Day 3

I had hoped to sleep in a little after a long day of travel, but I woke at 5 a.m. raring to go. I made a pot of coffee in the world’s cutest and tiniest coffee pot while the kids slept. I sat outside awhile and listened to the birds sing. It’s cold here in the mornings, which was a refreshing break from triple digit temps and high humidity at home.

It’s in this quiet time when I can give attention to my thoughts. As exciting as being on this vacation was, I felt sad not having B with us. I have not adapted to life with an adult child. She was invited, of course, but as a young adult, she has work responsibilities and couldn’t join us. I also thought about my husband a lot. I wished he could be here with us…I mean REALLY be here with us. I still haven’t gotten used to being a family without him. The tears flowed for a bit as I allowed myself to miss him.

There’s something about being alone in nature that fosters deep thoughts and forces us to give courtesy to our emotions. Did you know that Theodore Roosevelt (the first Roosevelt) retreated to nature while grieving the loss of his wife, Alice, and his mother, Martha? They died just hours apart. Can you imagine THAT double whammy? Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his diary, “The light has gone out of my life,” and then wrote a large X on the page that day. He was overcome with grief and needed to get far away. (Can we relate?!) And so he traveled West to the Dakota Territory (now North Dakota, the same general region of the country where I was sitting) in effort to restore his soul. He immersed himself in both work and beauty to overcome his profound grief. It also shaped his view of the landscape and our environment as a whole.

While he served as President of the United States, he doubled the number of sites within the National Parks System and expanded the number of National Monuments. He is known as “the conservation president.” See what beautiful things can be born from heartache?

I found this information so interesting. I couldn’t help but think about my own grief in this setting. How it inspires an acknowledgement and appreciation for God, how nature creates a place where all feeling surface and begin to heal. I imagined Teddy Roosevelt’s grief. I imagined him sitting under a large cedar tree, as I was…and I recognized how he took his pain and turned it into purpose that would bring enjoyment and healing for generations to come. I marveled at all of that.

And then, the kids woke up.

Time to start our day! We began with a drive back to Rapid City where we’d begin with a visit to the Cosmos Mystery Area.

I pulled out the Groupon I’d purchased and the clerk acted like she’d never even heard of Groupon before. Thankfully, she honored it and we waited a few minutes for our tour to begin. I’ve been to something similar in the Wisconsin Dells, but my kids have never experienced this craziness.

I’m sure there is explanation for the weirdness you experience in this area, but it’s fun to play into it anyway. Water flows uphill, you can walk up a wall, appear taller than your shorter brother and other crazy law of physics-busting happenings. I know from experience, this type of thing makes my head ache, so I waited just outside of the house while the kids enjoyed their tour. Their minds were definitely blown and I’d say it was worth the stop. Before leaving, the gift shop took our money for another pressed penny and hatpin for our collection.

Our next stop was Bear Country, U.S.A.! Touristy, yes, but awesome!!
This is primarily a drive-through wildlifepark. At first it was a slow winding drive where we searched and searched for the animals promised. We caught a glimpse of sleeping bears and wolves far in the distance but it was hardly exciting and didn’t provide a photo opp. It felt like a drive through zoo but more expensive and less up-close.

UNTIL…we turned a curve and found ourselves in a long line of cars, campers and trucks backed up and at a stand still. And then we saw why there was a traffic jam. BEARS!!!

Everywhere! Brown bears, black bears, small bears and humongous bears!

They were crossing right in front of cars and it was awesome! We hoped they would still be there by the time our van arrived in that area. The kids unbuckled and were moving from side to side, eyeballs pressed close to the glass (windows up!).

After the drive through portion of the park, we walked through a more zoo-like area where we saw bear cubs playing, badgers, wild boar piglets and more.

We found the gift shop (of course we did). I bought a non-branded bear Christmas ornament, Lolo found a great sweatshirt and Gman added another pressed penny to his collection.

The kids still say this was one of their favorite things on vacation.

We had lunch at the Colonial House in Rapid City, a run of the mill local restaurant with the most random décor I’ve ever seen. The food was decent, but the best part of this lunch venue? WIFI!!!! We uploaded photos off of our phones to clear space to document our next adventures.

After burgers and chicken strips (Lolo – EVERY time with the chicken strips!), we headed over to Keystone and took in the National Presidential Wax Museum.

This was a low-key stop but very educational! We started with a short video of how the wax figures are made and then started off on our self-guided tour. We were each given a handheld device that would tell us about each President/scene we saw at each display. It was fascinating! The kids even took time to pose behind the podium to pretend they were President.

I asked Gman to look Presidential and he puckered his lips and said “Yuge!” Not THAT President, silly…just Presidential in general! He made the museum employees laugh. That Gman, always a comedian.

After the wax museum we crossed the street to the Alpine Slide! 

The scariest part was the lift ride to the top. I’m NOT a fan of heights. We each took our own cart down the mountain. 

It was fun and felt very safe, since you’re completely in control of the brakes. My only regret is that I didn’t go faster. I was trying to take pictures AND video AND control the brake on my cart, so I went pretty slow. It wasn’t worth the ticket price to go down a second time though. All in all, the kids had fun and I’m glad we took the time to do this. Dropped more money in gift shop for another hatpin.

It was now late afternoon and our next stop was Mount Rushmore!

We paid our parking fee ($10 I think?) but there is no entrance fee. It is truly breathtaking to see this monument in person and to realize when and how it was created! I wished we had planned this better though, because late afternoon was not good lighting for pictures. The light was behind us in pictures  which meant it’s hard to make out the monument. That didn’t stop me from taking hundreds of them though. You can see below my selfie stick skills aren’t exactly improving with each day.

We explored a few short trails off the main drag, climbed on rocks, and investigated things before heading over to the cafeteria for ice cream.

We found free Wifi here and used it to move more pictures. Finally, we threw money at yet another gift shop (our hatpin collection is GROWING!) and left satisfied we’d had the experience of viewing this famous National Monument. Leaving, we spotted profile views of Washington and mountain goats along the side of the road. Incredible!

It doesn’t seem possible that anyone could be hungry again, but apparently 10 and 12 year olds are ALWAYS hungry. So, we drove back to Keystone to explore the main drag of shops and restaurants. This is where Gman found the main souvenir he’d been wanting. His very own walking stick! We purchased the stick and perused some cool shops. Our favorite store featured Native American instruments, jewelry and other authentic items. (Traveler warning: always look at the tag first. So many things were Made In China. That’s fine, but if you’re looking for authentic items, don’t be fooled. Check the label first!).

We settled on a pizza place for dinner. We ate outside on the 2^nd floor balcony overlooking the shops below. The pizza was delicious!

We were back at the Tiny House just before dark after a day filled with tons of fun, breathtaking views, and up-close glimpses of many animals native to the region. Our neighbors were there to greet us when we arrived back home for the night.

If the rest of vacation was like today, this would be the best vacation ever! We took turns showering and headed to bed. The only thing we had hoped to do, but decided to skip was the Founding Father’s Museum. Today was an absolutely fantastic day.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you all about Day 4, the day we had a reservation for a horseback ride through Custer State Park, explored Needles Highway and braved the Wildlife Loop. Stay tuned! Our vacation is already half over.

Extra grace,

Jodi