A day well spent in South Dakota

Today was a day well spent in South Dakota! While driving to Mt. Rushmore we came across a wildlife loop that just happened to take us there.  The wildlife loop was in Custer State Park. At first we got lost but finally found our way.  We found a scenic overlook at which we stopped and looked around. There was a walking trail that went to a gazebo. Sal took lots and lots of pictures before we hit the road again. We drove along until we came to a dry area. There burros walked right up to the car windows! We got out to pet the burros.

We finally finished the loop and went to Big Time Pizza in Keystone, SD.  After a delicious lunch, my dad and I went on the Alpine Slide. First, we took a tram up the mountain. Then they gave us the carts to go down.  It was so much fun but Sal said I was going way too slow. Kelly does not like trams so she did not go on. After the alpine slide all of us went up to Mt. Rushmore. Unfortunately, it was raining but it was still nice. We went to museum below the monument to see how it was built and why. Finally we headed to Chamberlain, South Dakota.

On the way to Chamberlain, we stopped at Wall Drug - the cheesiest little tourist trap full of small stores and silly characters to take pictures with. The ride from Wall Drug to Chamberlain seemed liked forever. We were very delayed and we lost an hour  because of crossing into the Central Time Zone. We had to stop at a McDonalds at ten o’clock at night because we still hadn’t eaten dinner! We eventually arrived at the hotel at 10:15. The pool was already closed so we didn’t go swimming. We settled down and went to bed. Even though we did get to the hotel very late we still had a great day!