Black Hills South Dakota
We left our house on Saturday morning our destination for that day was Wall SD. We drove to Mitchell and stopped at the Corn Palace. Then on to the Badlands. This was really kind of cool as they have had a lot of rain this year so there is grass growing where most of the time there isn't. We took a road called Cedar Pass, this road takes you right though the Badlands and you end up in Wall. Sunday our first stop was at Reptile Gardens. I would have to say the alligator show was my favorite. Then it was on to Bear Country. We really enjoyed this attraction. We got to see bears, antelope and wolves. At Bear Country they have a really nice park area to have a picnic or you can purchase food at their restaurant. We visited Mt. Rushmore, this is truly a great place. It has so much history about America. They have added a walking path up to the mountain and you can walk down the hill to the base and see different views of the monument. They also have places to buy food and water if you need something. Water would be a must as it gets really warm up there. We stayed in Hill City our second night. Hill City is a little hill town that was started during the gold rush. It has great shopping, art galleries and great places to eat. We rode a 1880 train that makes trips from Hill City to Keystone a couple of times a day. There is commentary during the ride about the local history and sites. There is a winery called Prairie Berry Winery. Its located just north of Hill City just a couple of miles. They also do wine tasting here. Crazy horse is a must see in this area. In the visitor center you can listen to a little video about the man who created the Crazy Horse monument. It is totally funded by donations and entry fees. There is a great Native American museum located here. We then visited Flintstone Park which was a lot of fun. The rest of the day was spent driving through Custer State Park. There is a beautiful lake there for picnics and we saw lots of buffalo in the park. Two more stops on our way home one in Sturgis and one in Pierre where we spent the night. This was a great family vacation with lots of variety for everyone.