Day 8

I woke up very early for some reason and decided to cook a large breakfast of pancakes and eggs. We let the kids sleep in a bit, and washed up and cleaned the car out a bit. After the kids got up and were fed we headed into Custer state park. Custer state park is a large state park here in South Dakota with a variety of beautiful natural vistas, views, and a large amount of wildlife including a wild buffalo herd. We started by driving in on the Needles highway. This highway is a narrow winding road that snakes its way through the granite rugged peaks in that area of the black hills and offers some spectacular views. We then stopped at the visitor center to get a junior ranger workbook for the kids. We got lucky and a gold panning demonstration was about to start. A park naturalist explained the geology of the various rocks and gold veins in the area and then demonstrated the technique of panning for gold. This was done in a creek that flowed past the visitor center. After the demonstration, everyone was allowed to try. We took of our shoes and waded in and set to work. It is actually pretty hard work and more time consuming than it appears in the movies. The kids had a blast and Grant would run up and show the naturalist every cool looking rock he found in his pan. Needless to say, we did not strike it rich and the foray ended up with Grant knocking Alex down in the cold water thus causing a meltdown. After we got Alex changed another demonstration began at the visitor center about the buffalo. The kids were interested and asked some great questions. We then drove the perimeter road of the park called the wildlife loop. We came across a wild herd of donkeys that have a penchant for begging. They caused a traffic jam as they shoved their heads into people’s vehicles hoping for a handout. We cruised around the loop and enjoyed the wildlife and scenery and headed back to camp. Tonight the camp staff gave rides of a vintage fire truck around the property. The kids thought this was great and were grinning from ear to ear. They then got their swimsuits on and headed to the waterslide and played for a bit until they got too cold. We drove into the nearby town of Hill City and had dinner at a local diner of Buffalo burgers and milkshakes. It was delicious. Some interesting local tidbits- The gunfight demonstration in Hill City that we had watched many times before when we were up here was marred by violence. One of the actors apparently had beef with another and loaded real bullets into his .45 and actually shot them during the gunfight wounding three people. On the radio we found a local Native American station and listened to some native Sioux dances and Native American political talk. During one of the local announcements they stated that school would be let out early today on account of the heat wave. It was 88 degrees.