1. If you're playing the license plate game, Mount Rushmore is awesome!
2. If that big black cloud *looks* like it might be a thunderstorm, it probably *is* a thunderstorm, and it just might have walnut-sized hail, too.
3. South Dakota kids are mountain goats. We can't believe that kids climb all over those hills and nothing is roped off because it's been deemed "too dangerous."
And now it's picture time!!
^^Bethany took the brochure and read everything so she could answer all the questions we had while we were there. It was like having our very own personal tour guide!
There were lots of people, but it didn't really feel that crowded...we could always find a spot to take a picture without people in it...but I could imagine that later in the day it would have felt crowded.
Did you know that Thomas Jefferson invented ice cream??? That settled it, we HAD to eat ice cream while we were there.
^^When we left Rushmore, we drove around the other side and got this unexpected view of George. After that, we headed to drive some beautiful roads in the Black Hills, into Custer State Park, Sylvan Lake, and Needles Highway.
These pictures were all taken at Sylvan Lake. We stopped here at the recommendation of a local friend and I had also read it about online. It was amazing. Definitely a must-do if you're in the area.
This is what I was talking about when I said that South Dakota kids must be mountain goats. Literally, there are kids climbing all over these things and there are not even any warning signs anywhere! It's truly a kids' paradise...and also an Ed's paradise.
It wasn't until we walked all the way around the lake that we realized that it was a lake only because of that dam. The little bridge at the top there is at water level on the other side. That was really a bizarre feeling!!!
^^See! There's the little bridge!
Bethany and Sarah ran around the lake for their training that day and Sarah even explored some higher trails and it was just awesome!
Then the storm rolled in. And we had to wait out the worst of it in the van, hoping and praying the hail wouldn't dent it!
A short video of the hailstorm can be viewed HERE.
Once it was safe to continue our drive, we headed to Needles Highway. This was an amazing place!!
Video of driving through this tunnel is HERE!
(I think it was beginning to hail again at this point...once we got through we stopped at another overlook and while there, we got pelted with the hailstones like the one below in Becca's hand.
We then headed towards Custer and went to the home of a high school classmate! She has only lived in Custer for a few months, but warmly welcomed us, fed us dinner, and gave us a wonderful relaxing evening and a place to sleep. The kids even eventually all played and hung out and Ed had a great time discovering all sorts of things he didn't know about the railroad industry from her husband.
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