Today was sightseeing day. Our first stop was Mt. Rushmore. We arrived when they opened, at 8am to very little crowds and overcast skies with temps in the low 70s. We took the pups with us thinking they could go in, but pets are not allowed in, but they do have pet walks. Since we were early, they told us to park in the basement level and it would stay cool enough for the dogs. We have never left them alone in the car let alone together so we were a little apprehensive. It was cool so that wasn't a concern, but them scratching at the interior or trying to bust out the window was the concern. We were only gone an hour and everything was fine upon our return. Mt. Rushmore is interesting and huge, but it's one of those things that you look at, read a little about, and then you are done. You can get great photos of it from the road leading up to it. Yes you can get better ones if you hike the trail up, but really that's about it. The girls didn't want to go, but we really wanted them to see some of the sight and walk the trail they have to see the blown up mountain bits. They did find that cool!
After Rushmore we headed into Deadwood. What a disappointment. It would be a great town if you were 1)over 21 and into gambling 2)over 21 and into saloons, or 3) over 21 and into motorcycles or Sturgis. Do you see the pattern here? Half of our party is no where near 1,2,or 3. Plus we had the dogs. We found an outside cafe called Mustang Sally's with your typical burgers and dogs. The outside seating was a plus for the pups and I was even able to enjoy a meal. Of course it was a hot dog, but it was really good and huge! After eating we thought we would be walking around the bend to a mining for gold site that was thought to be in an actual creek. It was neither just around the bend nor a creek.After walking uphill for who knows how far, we said forget it and went back to our truck, we took the truck up to the hill where the mining took place and it was a 10 foot trough on the side of the road. No thanks! A quick trip to Wild Bill Hickock's grave site for me and then home to our camper. Deadwood is a cute old town with history, but still holds it's rough and tumble ways with the gambling and the clothing shops trying to get you to dress, well, not really dress, more like somewhat cover up with sky high heels and rhinestone jewelry. I felt I should have covered my girls' eyes when passing these shops!
We dropped off the dogs after Deadwood and went into Custer to Scott's Rock Shop to satisfy Maya's rock obsession and for Layla to spend her money also. It's a cute shop with some really interesting stuff, but very similar to most of the gift shops we have visited. Layla bought a really pretty wind chime made from pink polished geode slices. Something she can hang in her room. Maya walked out with some pretty earrings and a matching necklace made with Tiger's Eye stones.
After shopping we decided to hit this placed called Cosmos Mystery Area, a typical tourist attraction, but with our other plans not panning out like we thought, we figured, what the heck. It turned out to be lot of fun and cheap! The kids were free! It's basically all optical illusions, but it was fun to experience non-the-less.
On our way home we saw some spectacular lightning and some pretty intense storm clouds. It started to down pour just as we got into our camper! The lightning was really bad and close which at home is not biggie, but in our camper, I'm not a fan! It looks like it has knock out some of the power to some camp sites as we have been seeing the power company drive by a few times. We lost power last night, but only briefly. Unfortunately, last night's storm started a forest fire near Wind Cave State Park, and area we planned on visiting tomorrow, and knocked out the power and has closed some roads. We don't know at this point if we will be able to go to Wind Cave at all on this trip, but my thought go out to the people affected by all these fires and the poor animals also.
Our main issue now is not only all the fires and storms, but Maya is running a fever and has a sore throat. She is a lot like Tony in that it takes a lot to get her down and she is down. Poor thing. Hopefully some sleep and some cough drops will help her. It's hard to get used to the time difference so we find ourselves going to bed at 8:30-9 and getting up at 5-6am.
Our laundry is almost done and I'm really out of things to say! I know, I know, that's hard to believe, but I am!
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