dakota road trip, day 5

and then, into the hills.
the black hills, black for their dark tree covered appearance, rising up and big out of the plains. they are incredible. there is so much to see and do up in those old granite mountains.

we first went to the mammoth dig site to see an active paleontological dig, full of mammoth bones. here's some bones, all put together....

and here's some bones all stuck down in the ancient dirt, being chipped away by the scientists in the green tshirts. this was so super cool. i loved it.

 

after all the bones, we drove to a cave. one of the oldest national parks, one of the biggest continuous cave systems, one of the only places in the world with the geological formation of boxwork. it's pretty cool stuff.

here is the natural entrance to the cave. that's it. one little hole. (we had the luxury of going down a staircase, over 260 feet under the blackhills, to see all the cool stuff).

and here is the ceiling of the cave. boxwork, baby. 

this is what happens when we ask the kids to smile in the middle of a cave tour.


after the cave tour, we got in the car and drove a few miles into custer state park. (also, we totally forgot to eat lunch, then bought the kids candy from a vending machine, and that part of this awesome day was a little bit of a nightmare......but BISON!). in the park, we took the wildlife loop drive, and it didn't take long to find these friends alongside the road.

we didn't take any time to stop and frolic with these furry friends (also: that would be against the rules). we were headed to mt rushmore, and got a sweet first glimpse of mt rushmore through this tunnel in the highway.

 
and then we were there.
and we totally nailed the poses. even jamesy agreed to wear teddy roosevelt glasses.


then we hiked around a bit and stared up the presidential nostrils and talked a bit about history--the good and the bad--with kids who were tired, hot, hungry, dehydrated, and rapidly wilting.

but everyone revived with a hotel check-in, a shower, a bison burger dinner, and a post-dinner hike around on some big rocks next to our hotel. it was an epic day.