Black Hills of South Dakota 06/28 - 07/03

We say farewell to Devils Tower National Monument and head south making two very short stops in Sundance, WY (as in Butch Cassidy and ...) and Jewel Cave National Monument in South Dakota (pretty neat cave but we skipped the tours).












We drove through the town of Sundance, SD where Mary shared a bench and a jail cell with Butch Cassidy











Continuing on, we set up in the Beaver Lake RV Park in Custer, SD.

This will be our base to visit a whole lot of places in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Day 1 - 06/29
The Crazy Horse Memorial really surprised us with the extent of the work being done and the quality of the Indian Cultural Center that they have put together.  We spent a whole lot of time there looking at Indian Cultural Museum.  








They obviously have a long way to go but are funding it as they go with no government assistance.

We continued north to Hill City and took in a concert by the Native American group Brule who we have seen before in Art Festivals in Cave Creek, AZ.  But it was much better under the stars in their native setting. 

Day 2 - 06/30 

This was our Mount Rushmore day.  But it was a disaster as far as we were concerned, starting with the 6 level jam packed parking garage and ending with the wall to wall people.  OK – we saw it and it’s off the bucket list but it wasn’t a good experience.

We then took the needles highway south from Rushmore and it was a really cool drive and got our attitudes back where they needed to be.

Day 3 - 07/01

This was our day for the Custer State Park Scenic Drive and a stop at Wind Cave National Park.

Custer State Park is a Must See if you are ever in these parts – Wow!

There are huge herds of buffalo and yes, this one was as close as he looks – maybe 15 ft away.

And this Game Lodge in the park served as the 1927 Summer White House (and has a nice front porch and good Iced Tea)

Wind Cave is essentially two huge parks.  
An amazing cave below ground and a National Game Preserve above ground - truly a national wonder and a great scenic drive.

Day 4 - 07/02
Another scenic drive through the towns of Lead, Spearfish, Deadwood, Sturgis and back to Deadwood for great dinner.

Lead is the home of the brand new Sanford Lab Homestake that is doing cutting edge underground research on dark matter in an old mine 8000 ft underground.  I just loved this place and want to go back for a real visit!

I simply can’t do justice to the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway so I’ll simply show a few great waterfalls and let it go at that.

The northern part of the Black Hills region is an amazing place and is deserving of a return visit down the road.