Dakotas Vacation - The Ending:)

We headed back to North Dakota to spend the last couple of days at Theodore Roosevelt National Park - a tribute to the man who started it all. Despite tornado warnings, the famous Medora Musical went off without a hitch on the night we arrived:)

We saw both the South and North Units of the Park - it was majestic, remote and rugged. What a great end to the trip of a lifetime:)

So happy to be traveling again:):):)

Dakotas Vacation - Day 5

Devil's Tower was just incredible. We did both trails around the base, one at sunset and the longer one at daybreak. We just loved it!

Dakotas Vacation - Day 4

After a crazy hailstorm, we woke up the next morning and headed out to the legendary town of Deadwood...

We toured the brothel which operated illegally until 1980. It was super interesting!

And drank in the saloon where Wild Bill Hickok was shot to death during a card game...

We headed out to Spearfish Canyon afterwards, where Dances With Wolves was filmed...

Dakotas Vacation - Day 3

You can only get tickets to tour the caves at Wind Cave National Park same day and we had been told that they sell out every morning. So we got there at 8am and there was already a big line...

We got to see some of the 155 miles of explored caves and the 'box work' formations. In fact, over 90% of all boxwork in the world in in this park alone...

Above ground, the Park was virtually empty so we explored for a while. The scenery was beautiful:)

Then we headed south to Hot Springs, home of the Mammoth site where over 60 skeletons are currently being excavated... 

It was fascinating! We spent the rest of the day back in Custer State Park - there were hundreds of bison,,,

Dakotas Vacation - Day 2

After an amazing time at the Badlands and a fun evening in cheesy Wall, we started out the next day at the gorgeous Custer State Park...

Then we took the incredible Needles Highway up to Mount Rushmore...

We had a quick picnic at Sylvan Lake along the way:)

Each of the faces are about 60 feet in height. The movie about how they were carved at the museum was so interesting....

I had some reservations about visiting Mount Rushmore from my research beforehand but I was able to understand much more about why some people are offended by it by seeing and deciding for myself.  

Afterwards, we went to see the Crazy Horse memorial...

Although it's still a work-in-progress, the face is done (it's about 80 feet so the whole thing is much bigger than Mt Rushmore) and it's an amazing sight to see. There is also a huge cultural complex with so much to learn about the Native Americans from this area. We really loved it:)