Friday,June 5

Wednesday - a dreary kinda rainy day. So....we visited the Roo Ranch near Deadwood, SD. It was an okay tour through a nature center that houses kangaroos, wallabys, singing dogs, lemurs, and even a cucaburro. Kind of an Australian theme. It was a good activity for a rainy day, but our kid guide had a cold and kept coughing in his jacket. Our activity, in addition to looking at the animals, was to keep away from our guide. Then, we drove on to Devils Tower in eastern Wyoming. A pretty drive there - lots of weird scenery, and ...the rain stopped. A fun walk along the base of the tower- this is the tower that just juts out of the ground and has a flat top. It's from the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". When we were leaving, we ran into Don and Susie Wolters from St. Sebastian in the parking lot. Small world, huh? We all had to have our pictures taken together with the tower in the background. I'm going to try to get another picture on this blog. Maybe tonight.
We drove back into Deadwood and stayed at the Penny Motel. Decent Mom and Pop joint. Oksana hates it when we stay in a motel instead of a chain with a pool. But, the name......
I walked next door to the Golden Nugget Saloon and gambled on the penny slots. In a nutshell.....I spent $30 and won $68, so I "made" $38. It was so much fun.
Thursday
A BEAUTIFUL day. Thank goodness we flipped our days and had this weather for Mt. Rushmore. It was all we had imagined and a whole lot more. It is just incredible to see this monument and realize how it was made. Lots of informative exhibits, ranger talks, videos, and walks. The girls participated in the Jr. Ranger program, and after completion, were sworn in as official Jr. Rangers. They had to promise to bring their kids back to visit. After hours in the park, we played tourist and rode a tramway to the top of a "mountain" and then came down in an alpine slide. The girls even went twice. It's like a cement slide and you sit on a little sled and came on down. Fun. Then we toured an old gold mine and even panned for gold. I'll stick to the penny slots to make my fortune. Lots of work for a little gold dust. At 8:30 we went back to the mounument for the evening ceremony. It is only 2 miles from the town of Keystone where our chalet is. The ceremony was cold, but SO IMPRESSIVE. They shine white lights on the faces, and we all sang The National Anthem, and then the vets came out of the audience and gathered on stage. There were 75 there last night. They all got to say their name and branch of service, and we all stood and clapped and cheered. It was so moving, and a perfect ending to our Mt. Rushmore day.
Friday
We are cleaning out our cooler for breakfast this morning, and then we're off to Custer National Park, and the Crazy Horse monument. We should be in Hot Springs tonight.
Later.
Penny and all