(view from the front of our campsite)
(view from the back of our campsite)
In addition to all of the fun activities already mentioned, the campground also hosts a rodeo onsite about 6-7 times a year. We were lucky enough to catch it on the last night of our stay. During the rodeo, we got to chatting with a family seated behind us. They were visiting from Britain and had never seen a rodeo before, so we had fun comparing British and American cultures.
As much fun as there was to be had at the campground, there was plenty more to do offsite in the Black Hills. The campground was only 4 miles away from Mount Rushmore so naturally that was one of our first outings, and we got to drive by it several times on our way to and from town.
There was a small museum explaining the long process of carving the mountain, and rangers on hand to answer questions and provide additional backstories which were pretty entertaining.
Although I had never heard of it until a couple of weeks ago, we visited Wind Cave National Park and went on the cave tour. It's not as spacious or pretty as the caves we've visited in the southeast, but still interesting since the cave was formed by wind rather than water. The small hole in the last photo is the original entrance, and for several years the primary explorer/tour guide of the cave was a 16-year-old boy who sometimes left his guests behind (even overnight!) when he discovered new passages. Fortunately we had an easier way in, but the small spaces still made me a bit uncomfortable. One lady in our group apparently couldn't handle it and took off on her own back up to the surface. The ranger had to stop our tour and wait for another ranger to fetch her and a few others who were also unable to continue the tour, because the cave has so many passages that it's easy to get lost. Even so, the entire area we covered was less than one square mile, 200 feet below ground level.
Back above ground, we saw our first herd of wild bison and dozens of prairie dogs. Reed chose a stuffed prairie dog as his souvenir and named it Windy (after Wind Cave).
On the way back to the campground, we passed by the Crazy Horse Memorial, which has an intriguing backstory. It's been under construction since 1948 and still has decades of work remaining. Progress is slow because it is privately funded by donations, but if/when it is completed, it will show him on his horse pointing toward his homeland.
Another day we took a drive out to Badlands National Park, about 90 miles away. We had passed it on our way to Mount Rushmore and saw it from a distance, but since we were towing the RV behind us, it was too much of a hassle to enter the park. (Side note: we did make a stop at nearby Wall Drug to get some lunch, but we quickly lost interest in that since it is THE TACKIEST TOURIST TRAP ON EARTH.)
Anyway, the Badlands...WOW!! The views were vast and spectacular, but sadly pictures just can't capture it as well as in person. We found the spot where you can dry camp (bring your own water and power) right on the rim. Eric was disappointed that we couldn't do it, but it's better suited for smaller RVs that are easier to tow over rough terrain and can run off a small generator. If you look closely in the photo below, you can see a few RVs perched at the top of the wall. What a view!
(Reed and his stuffed prairie dog is my favorite thing in this picture.)
It was a cloudy day with rain in the distance so the colors weren't as vibrant as they would be if it was sunny, but we were still blown away by the long-range views as well as when we drove right next to the smaller rock formations.
Shortly after entering the park, we were greeted by a lone bison who was so perfectly placed that it seemed like his paid gig. Despite the MANY warnings to stay in your car a safe distance away from the bison, and news stories of a woman being gored by one in Yellowstone just a couple of weeks ago, we were shocked to see an older woman stand in the middle of the road to take her photo with him in the background. There was no way she was agile enough to reach the safety of her vehicle in time if he had decided to charge, but some people are so fixated on getting that perfect selfie that they abandon all common sense.
On the more docile end of the wildlife spectrum, we saw a small herd of pronghorn and a prairie dog town where Reed got to introduce his stuffed pal Windy to her real-life counterparts. They are cute but hard to capture in a photo because they blend into the ground so well!
When we stopped at the Badlands Visitor's Center, we found a room dedicated to the fossils that have been discovered within the park. They had a live video feed of a team digging up fossils and taking questions from the visitors as they worked. Reed was thrilled when the ranger told him that he could earn a "Junior Paleontologist" badge by studying the room and sharing some facts that he learned. John was not particularly interested in the fossils, but he was able to earn a "Junior Astronomer" badge by answering some questions in a booklet.
After we left the Badlands, we made an impulse stop at the Minuteman Missile Launch Site. I confess that I knew nothing about the hundreds of nuclear missiles scattered around the west during the Cold War era, but it makes sense when you consider how sparsely populated that part of the country is. These missiles could be launched to anywhere in the world (namely, Russia) in 30 minutes or less. Tickets for the tour of the decommissioned launch facility are sold out until October, but we were able to attend a virtual tour presented by a park ranger and then drive out to see one of the missiles in its silo 15 miles away. A lot of this was beyond the boys' comprehension, but I found it very educational. The power of the warhead is measured in "Hiroshimas," meaning that they are exponentially more destructive than multiples of the original bomb that was dropped in WWII. It's sobering to think of what might have transpired if the U.S. ever fired off even one of these missiles.
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