6/11/15
Day 4
Another early morning and we yet again awoke to wet, gray skies, but we didn't let mother nature stop us from having another eventful day!
The first stop of the day was at the Dinosaur Museum, it was a small, leaky place, but we still had a blast trying to pronounce the Dinos' names and "walking" through the mirror maze. The stop was pretty short because the hail damaged roof of the museum had so many leaks we seemed to be getting just as wet inside as out!
Next, we went to another cave, this one was called Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns. Here we learned about the Native American Sitting Bull and how he used to use the cave for his tribe, was also learned about how the cave had been rediscovered by two young boys after their parents had bought the property, they were hoping for gold or diamonds, but as it turned out the only thing in that cave was dogtooth spar, and even though it looks nice, it has absolutely no value. This cave was way underground, we had to go down a ton of steep stairs to see all of the rooms inside, Mom was freaking out most of the way down, "Chandler stop you're too far ahead!" "Chandler wait I can see the bottom!" "Carmen, you're not funny, stop it!" She has a small (terribly awful) fear of heights, but she made it all the way up and down with out crying, so kudos to you Mom! I do not recommend going to this cave on a rainy day like we did, we ended up completely soaked!
Then was Big Thunder Goldmine, I'm not sure whether I actually liked it or not. The tour guide, Scott, picked on me almost the entire time. First off let me tell you, I KNOW HOW TO WEAR A HARD HAT, OKAY? I had it on the right way, but unfortunately for me the hat a grabbed had two right ways because the lining was in backwards. Scott decided to tell the group that my hard hat was on backwards, even though it wasn't! Plus when I asked my dad, because I thought it looked funny, he told me how to put it on, so it wasn't just me that got confused! Then Scott saw how red I got and told everyone in the group to stare at me for five seconds, which was five seconds too long for me and I proceeded to turn deeper shades of red. He continued to make little comments here and there at me just picking on me, he was funny, but I hate being the center of attention and he just wouldn't let me get out of it. Fun fact guys, I am terrified of the dark, sixteen years old and I still can't be in complete darkness. Well, Scott wanted to show us a fun trick inside the gold mine, but in order to do that he would have to turn off the lights in the mine. He kindly asked before turning out the light, "Does anyone here have a fear of the dark," without hesitation I raised me hand and said, "ME!" Everyone laughed, I turned red again with that whole embarrassment thing, then he told me to find a buddy and turned out the lights. When the lights came back on I yet again was laughed at because I was clinging onto my mom for dear life, I was clung onto her so tight that Scott asked if he should call a doctor for her. There were other jokes made and embarrassing moments, but to keep this a little bit shorter, I'll keep it at these two.
The Rushmore Borglum Story was very educational and really interesting. We learned all about the man, Borglum, that carved Mt. Rushmore, everything from his birth, family, inspirations, wives, other master pieces, friends, kids, all the way down to his final years working on and planing Mt. Rushmore. We saw paintings, sculptures, and other displays while listening to an audio for each one. At the end of all the audios and displays, there was a theatre, where we watched a video about Borglum and Mt. Rushmore. Definitely recommend going to this gallery before going to see Mt. Rushmore, it really helps you understand the work and history of it all.
Custer State Park was our final drive through destination. We went up and down and around on roads that seemed to lead further out to no where. The view was amazing, the wild life incredible, but the lack of cell service was awful (21 century problems). We ended up surrounded by a herd of buffalo, and no Brandi I did not want to give it a kiss, I did however really wanna give it a hug, they were just so cute and furry! One of them actually came up and gave the front of our car a kiss! We even have the mud smudge on the car to prove it!
-Carmen
