Day Two

 23rd July

We ended up spending the night at Devil’s Tower, which was filled with cottonwood trees that were dripping sap.  Everything was sticky.  As we walked around, our shoes would become inches higher due to layers of leaves sticking on them.  We were glad to get out of there and clean off everything.  Once we were back in the car, there was a beautiful, winding road to get out of the canyon.  Wendy had some things set up in her spot which kept getting knocked over from the turns so she asked James if he would stop turning...  We found a nice park in Rapid City to have lunch.  From there we went to Mt. Rushmore.  This was my first time seeing it and I thought it was impressive.  I highly recommend the Junior Ranger Program for the kids.  It keeps them occupied, gives them things to look for and teaches interesting facts.  At the end, they get a cool badge. 

The highlight of the day was Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park.  The lake itself was beautiful.  It had a nice trail, which I jogged around while the kids played in the lake and climbed the rocks that were everywhere.  The whole area really was fabulous.  I wish we had a full day or more to spend there.  The road to and from the lake was also worth the drive.  When we left, we had the kids check themselves for ticks and Wendy said, “I wish there were doctor ticks so that when they stick their head into your body they could look around and see if you have an infection.”

Crazy Horse was a bit of a letdown.  When we saw it from the road, we decided that was close enough and turned around. 

Tip of the day:  For kids, pack a large ziplock storage bag with paper bags, construction paper, scissors, glue, and markers.  My kids spent hours (literally) creating and making shows out of their puppets.