Henry's Take on the Wind Cave Adventure

Today, we drove down to Wind Cave National Park which is about 50 miles south of Mount Rushmore.  Ruth and Mom decided to not go on the underground guided tour with the ranger but Dad and I chose to do it.  It was amazing.  We walked about 300 steps down into the cave and the hike was only about 1/2 mile, but it still took us about 90 minutes to go through it.  It would not have taken so long but the lights along the route went out three times and we were just stuck there waiting for someone on the surface to fix it.  No one was worried or anything but we were definitely stuck cause it was so dark you could not see your hand in front of your face.  I took plenty of video of the cave when I could, and the ranger helped me find 'boxwork' images on the walls and ceiling.  The ranger also said that there were over 136 miles of passage ways in this cave which makes this the 5th largest in the world. 

After we finally made it out of the cave, we tried to find a herd of buffalo that Ruth and Mom found during our cave time.  We did see a few but we think the herd walked over a hill so we couldn't see them all.  We then decided to drive into Custer State Park in search of more animals.  We eventually stopped at Sylvan Lake and walked along the edge where we saw minnows and crawfish.  After the short lake side stop, we drove back to the camp and went swimming with Mom and Dad.  At dinner time, we drove into Hill City and ate at Desparado's.  It wasn't too bad but mom had the ribs and I should have gotten those too.  After dinner, we walked around town and then took the stinky jeep to the car wash where I sprayed and Ruth used the foam brush.  I have to say that I was soaked to the bone cause I kept spraying myself.  I would have to also say that I had a good time today.  Until next time,

Henry B. Dean

Bear Country USA, by Henry

I really wanted to go to Bear Country USA.  It's a drive through place where you see bears, mountain lions, big horn sheep and other animals.  At the end, you can go see smaller animals and baby animals, like raccoons, red foxes, badgers and baby bears.

The first part of the park was elk and reindeer.  There was a reindeer with huge antlers.  Then we entered the sheep and goat area and saw Dall sheep, big horn sheep and mountain goats. I spotted a white big horn sheep on a hill.  They also had an arctic fox section, but we only saw parts of them while they were sleeping in tall grass.

We saw some mountain lions, but since it was hot, they were sleeping in their houses so we couldn't see much of them.

Then we went to the bear section.  There were so many bears.  There were black bears and brown bears and light brown bears.  Some were in the water keeping cool.  Some were walking around, and one was in front of our car!  There were other bears in between our jeep and the car behind us, and the blue car couldn't go anywhere because the bears were in the middle of the road.  Dad drove slowly behind the bear in the road until it moved out of the way.

We also saw a timber wolf walking in the grass, but we couldn't see him very well.

Then we went to the small and baby animal section.  There were lots of baby bears climbing in a tree.  Some were fighting because one was a bully and picking fights.  Some of the baby bears must have been hot because they went in a pond to cool off and play.

They also had skunks, raccoons, red fox, porcupines, lynx, bobcats, and a badger. The badger was crawling around and at one point he was on his back, rubbing his belly.

I really liked Bear Country USA.

Henry

The Black Hills of South Dakota

We arrived in Hill City yesterday afternoon.  We're camping at the Mount Rushmore KOA, one of our favorite campgrounds.  It's more like a resort.  It has lots of activities and things for the kids to do.  They even have nightly wine tastings for local wineries for adults. 

Shortly after we set up camp and pulled out the awning, it started to drizzle.  We bring the rain, that's for sure.  It didn't rain for too long, but it rained hard for a bit and then finally stopped. 

Jeff took the kids to play miniature golf while I built a fire to make dinner.  The fire pit was a bit soggy, so it was a challenge to get the fire going.  Once I got the fire starter brick solidly lit, it went much better.

I made a good-sized fire, and once it was pretty hot, I pulled the grate up on top of the firepit.  Tonight's menu:  fettuccine alfredo, grilled chicken and asparagus.

I boiled the water over the fire, and cooked the chicken in foil packets with garlic and rosemary.  I brought out the electric griddle and tried to heat the small pot for the alfredo sauce on it, but it didn't work very well.  Instead, I pulled the chicken breasts out of the packets and finished them on the griddle so they got some browning on them, and made the sauce in the RV on the stove.  I threw the thin asparagus spears on the griddle with some olive oil once the chicken came off.

It was pretty easy to boil water over the hot fire.  The noodles cooked very well.  All in all, dinner was delicious. 

Afterward, Jeff went back to the RV to finish watching Race to Witch Mountain on TV.  Henry went in and out, and Ruth and I hung out by the fire.  She pulled out her book of campfire songs from the Chimney Rock gift shop, and we sang some tunes.  It was a clear night sky, so we looked at the stars.

The night was pretty cool and we left the windows partially open in the RV.  While Jeff slept, I read my book using my iPhone flashlight app as a reading light.  One thing is for sure, the iPhone has been very useful on this trip.  I'll write about that later, along with what we did today.  Now, we're off to the Lighting Ceremony at Mount Rushmore, one of our favorite things to do in the Black Hills.