It didn't look like it was going to be a good weather day. The fog was heavy and the rain from the night before was rearing its ugly head again in the morning.
So we took our time getting ready
We went to breakfast then moseyed our way up the side of the mountain to see the long awaited heads -WOW! What an awesome site.
The family of heads
Sean - King of the heads
Sarah, George, Tom, Teddy, Abe and Shannon
Bald is Beautiful Heads
Truly a remarkable structure dedicated to some of the greatest men in our Nation's history.
After we finished touring Mt. Rushmore and preventing Sean from having us thrown out of the park...
...we decided to see another great carving in the side of a Mountain - The Crazy Horse Monument. Although this monument is nowhere near being done, when complete it will be the largest monument in the World.
One man's dream turning into reality....
Shannon said "was he named Crazy Horse because he was crazy about horses?" After laughing at that, I thought well maybe that is where the name came from .... I don't know....What a cutie.
After the Crazy Horse Monument, we decided to go spelunking - cave exploring. Our first trip was out to Jewel Cave National Park but the park was having technical difficulties and a very limited number of trips per day....today was sold out so they recommended a Wind Cave National Park which was not too much further away.
Of course Shannon was well rested...
Wind Cave...why is it called Wind Cave you ask?
There is only one natural entrance to the cave that they know of...
and when standing in front of this entrance, you could feel the cool breeze blowing from the cave. Today it was blowing out 15-20 mph. Some days the wind can reach speeds above 40 mph. Some days the wind blows inward so you don't feel anything.
Since this was considered a "dry" cave, there are no stalagtites and stalagmites (sp) but there was something called boxwork - cool formations...
The cave tour lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. As we were leaving, we saw a deer, in fact a whole herd on the side of the road grazing...
By this time we were all pretty hungry and headed back to our suite and walked down to the pizza shop for some more pizza and subs...no time for pictures...too hungry.
After dinner, we decided to return to the heads and see the lighting ceremony. We had heard mixed reviews about it but found it to be quite patriotic and worth it. Sean and Sarah loved it. Not so sure about Shannon. Although the ice cream float was pretty awesome.
The closing ceremonies....
...and with that a goodnight.
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