Day 4 – South Dakota

Last night we settled into our one room log cabin for a two night stay in South Dakota.
First thing in the morning, Dave and I went on a 30k bike ride through Keystone and Mt. Rushmore.  We didn’t ride all the way up to the famous mountain (we wanted to save that for when the kids were with us).  However, we did ride along the route and could see the mountain faces in the distance.  We rode to the top of Peter Norbec; the peak across from Mt. Rushmore. It was a beautiful ride through pine forests with pigtail turns and one lane tunnels.

While we were gone, the girls sat reading in the shade of the tree by our cabin while the boys rode their bikes through the small stream next to it.  They also got in around of mini-putt at the campgrounds’ course, before we returned.
After a quick shower, we loaded everyone up and had lunch in Mt. Rushmore.  We wandered through the souvenir shops, checking out the wares.  Some rowdy cowboys started making a ruckus in the middle of the street pretending to have a gun fight to advertise for their comedy show.  Ben almost got a little too close to the tall one (7’2”)…


We thought it was a good time to head out of town and up to the Memorial site.  The carved faces of the four US presidents were pretty impressive.  We made the short walk from the information building to the base of the monument to examine the various angles and views.

Inside the gift shop we met a gentleman that was one of the original carvers.  He answered questions and signed a book on the construction of the site for us. It was pretty amazing to meet someone that was a part of this famous symbol.

After we explored the Mt. Rushmore sight, we drove along Needles Highway.  It is a narrow, roadway along a mountainside that twists and turns through narrow passages of tall, rock monoliths.  At times, the rock structures lean together high overhead and we had to thread the van through a single lane passage way.  

After dinner in Custer, we headed back to our cabin.  Along the way we saw wild buffalo, elk, AND deer grazing at different locations along the roadside.  


It was a pretty amazing day!

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