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For the last two days we have been touring around the Black Hills of South Dakota. There truly is tons to see and do here.
Yesterday, Friday, we went on one of the most crazy roads I have ever been on. Thank God we did not have the trailer with us. It is called the Needles Highway and it runs through Custer State Park. We saw magnificent giant granite peaks. At one of the trails we went for a bit of a walk - maybe only 300 feet - and saw 4 whitetail deer. The first one started walking straight for us! Three of them were does and one was a buck with antlers. (see the Photo Album for pictures)
After that drive we decided to take a train ride on the 1880 Steam Powered Train. The ride goes from Hill City to Keystone and is 2 hours long. It covers 20 miles as it winds through the Black Hill National Forest. Spectacular mountain scenery includes vistas of Harney Peak, the highest point between the Swiss Alps and the Rocky Mountains. The route is one that the settlers and gold miners took.
We then decided to be Cowboys for supper and went to the Circle B Chuckwagon for food and music. We stood in line with our tin plates and were served potatoes, cowboy beans, apple sauce, buns, buffalo roast, beef brisket and chicken topped off with spice cake. Yummy! After dinner there was a music show with good old Western music included Ghost Rider, Shenadoah and Orange Blossom Special.
We met a man that works there. His name is Doug Ladd and is a fantastic woodcarver. One of the records he holds is the oldest skydiving woodcarver which he did when he was 71. He is a former teacher/principal and still teaches woodcarving in Arkansas over the winter.
Today we toured around Hill City. It has a very nice main street with lots of shops, galleries and restaurants. Today the firemen were out doing a fund raiser - "fill the boot". We also went to a Teddy Bear museum which is home of the Guinness World Book of Records "Largest Teddy Bear Collection" with over 9,000 bears. The lady that runs gets teddy bears from people all over the world. She is also listed in Ripley's Believe it Or Not.
Buffalo Bratwurst was on the menu at the Bumpin Buffalo Grill. They were very good.
Our next stop was the Crazy Horse Memorial which is actually larger than Mount Rushmore. It is being constructed completely with private funding and donations. They will not accept Government money. Unfortunately because there were thunderstorms in the area we could not take the bus that gets you closer to the mountain and allows you to see the face straight on. They don't allow you to go out with thunderstorms as the mountain has a very high amount of iron in it and gets struck quite frequently.
We came back to camp and had supper and we are going to get ready to go see the laser light show that they have against the Crazy Horse Memorial. Everyone tells us it is a great show.
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Carol Kinakin Sounds like you are seeing and experiencing lots of new and fun things... keep on blogging!