South Dakota Trip - Day 2(RV Day) & 3(Monument Day)

Well today (Monday) was RV day. We could not get the RV until 1pm, so we spent the morning at the Journey Museum. "The Journey Museum takes you on an incredible trek through time, from the violent upheaval that formed the mystical Black Hills over 2.5 billion years ago to the continuing saga of the Western Frontier. When your journey is complete, you will fully understand the legacy of the land and its people. " The museum was extremely interesting and we learned a lot about the history of the black hills area.  This was great to do before we set off on our journey in the dun,dun,dah..Buffalo Protector!  After the museum we headed over to pick up the RV. We packed it up and headed to the grocery store to load up on food and supplies. Oh and Isaac lost a tooth!

Then we drove straight to our camp site at Sylvan Lake in Custer State park. Well, almost straight there.  We did take the needeles highway, which is a scenic drive through the mountains with lots of swicthbacks and small tunnels (which we did not know about!).  The RV is 12 ft. high and 10 ft. wide.  The first tunnel we apprached was no problem, then we saw a sign for a tunnel which was 10.7 ft high and 10.3 ft wide.....do the math.  By the time we saw the sign and realized our dimensional conundrum, we were on a one lane curvy road on the side of a mountain several thousand feet high in a 23 ft. long rv ....so no 3 pt. turns.   Miriam got out of the RV and stopped the oncoming traffic and we droive through the tunnnel very slowly and carefullly and we just made it! 
As soon as we arrived at the campsite, we got settled in only to find out Oli was sick so we took a "short" drive to the ER in Custer....everything was fine, but it was a late night!

The next day we got up early and hiked around Sylvan Lake a bit. Then it was Monument Day!  So, off to Crazy Horse Memorial and Mt. Rushmore.

The kids really liked the Native American dancers (who were kids too; 10 & 14) at Crazy Horse Memorial.

Afterwards, the kids were able to talk with the dancers and learn about the dancing and their schools. After Crazy Horse Memorial, we stopped in Keystone and rode the Alpine Slide.

We arrived at Mt. Rushmore at about 7:30PM. The kids signed up to be Jr. Park Rangers. They had to do a series of activities, fill out a workbook and take an oath. They were really into it. After that it was time for the lighting ceremony, which was really moving and lasted until about 10:00PM.  The kids fell asleep on the way home in the RV. See all the pictures here...