South Dakota - Exploring the Black Hills Area - Day 5

I knew we would see some beautiful scenery during our drive today to our multiple destinations. I don't think any of us were prepared for just how beautiful the landscape would be. From the campground, we headed south to drive through Custer State Park to eventually end up at Wind Cave National Park. We were in awe as we drove along Needles Highway looking up at the different rock formations and driving through the one car tunnels on the drive. We stopped just before one of the tunnels to get out and hike a little. We discovered that Collin is a little Billy Goat. He took off climbing up the rocks as fast as he could. We quickly figured out he did this because there were several older kids in front of him and he wanted to catch up. Daddy and I followed behind him stopping along the way to look back over the landscape and take pictures.

They were not kididng when warning of a narrow tunnel ahead.  Only one car could get through at a time.

Monkey on the rocks

More climbing

Daddy and Collin

We encountered at least four of these on the Needles Parkway

After hiking for over 30 minutes, we got back in the car and made it to Custer State Park. We told Collin to look for deer and learned we should have pointed them out to him because all we heard was, "there's a deer", "look, there's another deer"….when there was not any deer in sight. He just thought he saw deer. We did find at least six deer during this drive. We were amazed at how close the deer came to the road and how unafraid they were. I think Collin's favorite were the Buffalo. At first, we saw one or two here and there and then saw a herd resting. Two of the Buffalo got up and started playing with each other. Collin wanted to know why they were fighting. Daddy explained that they were playing that he and Collin did sometimes.

Eventually, we did make it to Wind Cave National Park. Good thing too because we were tired of the question, "When are we going to see the cave?" I was not sure if Collin would like the cave tour or not, but bravely signed us up for the 1 1/2 hour tour that took us through the upper and middle level layer of the cold 48 degree cave. Climbing and descending 450 stairs along the way, we all enjoyed the cave tour. Collin did great for being the youngest on the tour.

• He did not touch the rocks

• He had fun pointing things out to us

• He called out; "Mind your head" because the people in front of him were passing this information along. He would duck even though he did not need to. Several times, he asked where the duck was knowing that he was being a smarty pants

Then, my fear happened. After having him go to the bathroom twice before the tour, he had to pee. We still had at least 30 minutes of the tour left. He acted like he was not going to make it so we told the tour guide to see what suggestions she had. She actually had a pee bag and gave it to us. However, Collin did not want to use it "because those people will see me". Never mind that we were 15 stories underground in a dark cave lite only sparingly along the path. He decided he was going to hold it and not use the bag. He did make it to the potty after the tour was over. I was shocked too especially because he would wiggle his butt every third stair or so because he knew we were behind him. He would do this and quietly sing "Let's get this party started". The people in front of us probably did not expect entertainment on the cave tour.  After the tour, Collin picked up smalls books about Buffalo, deer and other animals from the area.  He also wanted a "Presidents book" which was a picture book of Mt. Rushmore. 

We were so hungry after the tour that our focus was getting something to eat. The closest town, Hot Springs, was 15 minutes away. I could make it that long. We had no idea that most of the restaurants, pubs, or grills would be out of business, so we ended up at a Pizza Hut. Not what I expected but did not care. We all needed food.

After lunch, we headed back North to the Cosmos Mystery Area (area of unexplained gravitational pull. Grandma H would NOT like this). The 45 minute drive was good because both Collin and Daddy needed a nap. I was not sure what to expect from the Cosmos stop especially because I was just starting to feel good after the last round of chemo. After talking to the tour guide, I felt like I would be OK to take the tour. Collin had fun walking sideways and looking at the people that looked like they were about to fall over. He kept saying, "I'm going to fall" and laughing so it was good that we stopped to check this out.

Back at the campsite, Collin rode his bike a little and then wanted to fish. He has been asking to fish since we got here. We learned that he needed a fishing license so that took care of not fishing on the trip. He was fine when he and Daddy went to watch the movie showing at the camp theater.  After that, dinner, shower, read books and then bed after a very long, fun day.