MT.RUSHMORE-SUNDAY
We had pretty gloomy, foggy weather all weekend and we knew Sunday was suppose to be the sunny day of our weekend so we planned to hit Mt. Rushmore then. Well so did everyone else. The line of cars to get into Rushmore that morning went on for miles! The problem with a big group of people and multiple vehicles is that it's too hard to coordinate everyone arriving at the same time. Blair and I and Lyann and Evan's family all made it there within a few minutes of each other. Blair's folks got enough to the top to see the Monument from the road and then turned out of the line and went back down to the town of Keystone to do their own thing. They went and road the 1880's train and the alpine slide. Peter and Wendy's family and my parents all waited in the line of cars for quite awhile and made it there about 30-45 minutes after us. It was a bit windy that morning and slightly cold but atleast it was clear to see the monument. I heard the fog was so dense the past few days it wasn't visible.
Lyann, Evan, Tarren, Cameron, Rhianna, Cassidy, and Statton
Blair, Madison, Kristen, Statton, and Cassidy
My mom's camera was either full or it died so she stole mine and these pics are one's she took. These are my nieces Ellie and Kensie. Madison wasn't liking the wind so I took her back to the gift shop and waited while everyone else went and looked around the monument and museum.
My mother Pam, neices Ellie and Kensie. They have all the state flags lined up in a row on your way into Rushmore. (Avenue of Flags I think it's called) They are standing in front of the pillar for Idaho's flag and the date of when it became a state.
RUSHMORE CAVE
After Rushmore we found a park and made sandwiches for lunch and let the kids run around and play for awhile. It gave all of us a chance to sit and visit. After lunch we headed over to Rushmore Cave. It's a cave with multiple rooms and it's narrow in some spots, lots of stairs, and incredible formations.
Lyann, Statton, and Cassidy
Madison and I
Lyann's family and us ended up in a group tour together while Wendy's family and my parents ended up in the group behind us. Again problem with a big group of people and timing. We all arrived differently so we ended up on separate tours.
Madison had to be packed through most of this because she's a little clingy and the steps were steep and she was too slow to go down all those steps.
After our tours got over and we were waiting for the rest of our group the kids took the time to get extremely wet and dirty in the panning water. They have bags of dirt you can buy and you take them out to this and you can pan your dirt for gems. My kids just liked putting the shakers into the water. They were soaked by the time the rest of our group arrived. They also had a zip-line you could ride for an extra cost and my parents and lyann's family all had tickets to go but the line was extremely long.( I believe they ended up waiting about 1 1/2 hrs for their turns.) So we left them to the zipline and we headed down to the town of Keystone to do a little walking around until dinner. Peter and Wendy also went and did their own thing.
FORT HAYS CHUCKWAGON DINNER
Well we had made dinner reservations for the Fort Hays chuckwagon dinner. You get a chuckwagon type dinner and then they have a cowboy music band who performs. Before the dinner and show you can look around and they have people making crushed pennies, ropes, tin plates, etc. They also have the movie set from Dances With Wolves. It was filmed over in that area.
Again these are pictures my mother took. I was in the car looking after sleeping children.
This is Kensie and Ellie with one of the performers. They played music and told jokes and it was so fun.
My Dad Steve, Statton, and Kensie. Grandma Merz and Ellie.
Peter Wells, Myself, Madison and Blair.
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