We went directly to Mount Rushmore since I really wanted to see it. There is something about seeing in real life what you have seen in pictures many times. Well, it looked exactly like we all expected, but we also agreed that it looked smaller. Now, just as a reference point the nose on a president is about 20 feet, so they are big. However, they don't look as huge as you would imagine when you're standing at the base.
We grabbed lunch there since we wanted to head over to the Crazy Horse Memorial. The first thing that hit us was the cost to get in. I don't consider myself a cheap traveler, but $27 for the three of us? Come on, this is a national park area. Anyway, we're glad we did not turn around. The Crazy Horse Memorial is a work-in-progress and will be the worlds largest sculpture once it is completed (assuming it gets completed). You must click on the picture below to get the zoomed version, and then you will see the face of Crazy Horse to the left of Ellen's head. The final sculpture will have him on his horse and will be huge! It was really incredible to see.
In addition to the sculpture, they had tons of Indian arts and crafts housed in great galleries. They also had a lot of memorabilia from the times of the Indians. It was fun to walk around, talk to the local artists, and glance up at the huge sculpture on the hill.
We then headed off to Jewel Cave National Monument. This was probably one of the highlights of the trip as we will all remember it so well. Jewel Cave is the 2nd largest cave in the United States and has over 140 miles of documented passages inside. The park rangers give tours all through the day, and it pays to make a reservation before coming.
We did not make a reservation in advance, but got very lucky to take a lantern tour about 30 minutes after we arrived. Ranger Laura greeted us and gave us a 1 1/2 hour tour and lecture that was great. We headed into the cave which is pitch dark carrying old oil burning lanterns. For those of you that never used an old oil burning lantern, they don't throw much light at all, however once we were in the cave for a little bit, our eyes adjusted and the amount of light was sufficient. We headed straight down ladders and uneven steps in the dark. It seemed as if we headed a mile straight down, but in reality it was not that far. The total round-trip distance inside the cave was only about 1/2 a mile, but was very cool!We were able to all turn out our lanterns in a large cavern underground and see what total darkness looks like. We also learned about the formation of the cave, as well as some very interesting stories that Ranger Laura told as we were going through the cave. If you do go, which we highly recommend, make sure you dress warm - it's about 49 degrees in there!
We were exhausted from the day and went to downtown for a dinner at the Firehouse Brewery. A fair meal in a very neat restaurant. Tomorrow we are headed off to Deadwood, a mammoth burial site, and hopefully to a goldmine. Then we will head south towards Denver, stopping somewhere along the way.Hotel: Grand Gateway Hotel. We rate this hotel a 6 out of 10. There are almost no business hotels in this area and the picking is slim. The hotel is clean, but outdated. Best of the ones to choose from in our opinion, but we didn't see the insides of other hotels in the area.
