On Saturday morning we packed up and did the short drive from the Badlands to our Rapid City campsite. We did some errands and worked out, then went downtown for dinner.
Sunday we woke up pretty early to head to Devils Tower in Wyoming. It's about 2 hrs. from Rapid City. At Devils Tower we did two hikes--Tower Trail around the base and Joyner Ridge, a short distance away with great views of the tower from afar.
 | | Joyner Ridge Trail |
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| Tower Trail |
After these two hikes, we headed to Belle Fourche for a quick stop at the Geographic Center of the US. This was a fun stop with a large compass at the center point. There were flags of each state and territory of the US and how far away they are.
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| The Vermont sign at the geographical center |
After work on Monday we tried out South Dakota's oldest disc golf course, Omaha DGC. It was designed way back in 1977. It was a very basic layout, but the first time that we had played in a while so it was fine. Afterwards we checked out the two breweries walking distance away, Lost Cabin and Dakota Point.
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| Omaha DGC |
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| Dakota Point flight |
The rest of the work week was mostly work, errands such as laundry and an oil change for the Bundra, and working out. On Friday we went out for dinner and drinks, and happened to stumble across a karaoke night at the distillery where we ate. Bryn was very happy with the surprise.
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| Bryn giving it her all |
We spent Saturday driving around the Black Hills. Our first stop was at the Crazy Horse Memorial. It's a huge statue of the Lakota warrior Crazy Horse, which is still in the process of being carved into the mountain. The museum at the visitor center was also very good.
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| Crazy Horse Memorial (in progress) |
After driving through Wind Cave National Park, we arrived in the town of Hot Springs. We grabbed lunch and then checked out the Mammoth Site, which proved to be our favorite museum so far. This is built around the remains of a sinkhole pond that mammoths got trapped in over thousands of years. There are at least 61 separate mammoth skeletons discovered so far. When the first bones were discovered during a construction project, the site was converted into an archeological/museum site. When you go into the museum, you walk through the site with the bones still in their original locations and there are platforms where archaeologists work on the bones. They are still working to uncover deeper layers of the filled-in pond, so will surely find more mammoths in the future. We cannot recommend this stop enough!
|  | | The Mammoth Site |
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| Actual mammoth skeletons |
Before leaving Hot Springs, we went and soaked at the Moccasin Springs Natural Mineral hot springs that helped give the town its name. It was a very relaxing experience and the water was perfect. Unfortunately some of the pools were being cleaned, but it looks like it will be an even better experience when that finishes.
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| Bryn enjoys the cooler spring |
Our final item for this busy day was driving through Needles Highway and viewing Mount Rushmore. The road was designed in a crazy manner, but it does provide some awesome views. We particularly enjoyed coming out of one of the tunnels straight into our first view of the memorial.
When we got back to the camper we started packing up for the following morning, when it was time to drive to our next stop...
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