Black Hills - Part III

On Friday, we ventured out to the Keystone area. It was a cool and gloomy day! Our first stop was Beautiful Rushmore Cave. It was only 58 degrees inside the cave. Good thing I brought jackets! Although Dean, the macho guy he is, toughed it out in just a t-shirt. Just a few minutes into the tour, Tanner decided he didn't like caves. Too bad!

Our next stop was Big Thunder Gold Mine. Had I known we would have to wear miner's helmets, I may have forgone this attraction! Oh well, at least we all looked stupid together!!



Then we were onto Mt Rushmore. We went on the Presidential Trail which is a 1/2 mile long. We visited the Sculptor's Studio and the Gift Shop, which is where I left my credit card (which I realized later). After the trail, Dean wanted to go on a nature hike but I told him we had enough of a hike on the Presidential Trail. And I was so cold!

We then stopped at Cosmos. If you've never been to Cosmos, you got to go! It is one of my favorite Black Hills attractions. It is a mystery area. You do not stand up straight. You change height on level platforms. Balls roll uphill. Water flows uphill. You can feel a force pulling you in one direction and it's not straight down.

Our last stop was President's Alpine Slide. It's a scenic chairlift ride up to the top where there is a garden area, waterfalls, walking paths, and a cafe. You can even see Mt Rushmore. Then you can either ride the chairlift back down or take the big alpine slide on a sled. Of course we took the slide. It was really fun! We all wanted to do it again but at $9/per person, once was enough. By the way, this is where I realized I no longer had my credit card. So we got to visit Mt Rushmore twice in one day because we had to go back to get it.