The Lee Family: Summer Vacation Day 2: Needles Highway, Custer State Park

CK and I were up at 5am, when the sun rose! We got up at 6m and it was a lovely 48 degrees outside. We got the girls up and ready around 8am and walked down the hill to Lotus Up, the local little coffee shop. We had coffee, muffins and oatmeal, which was all really good. We sat outside on the patio overlooking the huge gold pit that just close down 15 years ago. We met two lovely local men who were playing cards together and asked where we were from and tried to convince us to move to Lead! We balked when they told us that they "only" got 250 inches of snow this past winter! They were so friendly and fun. After the girls were done eating, the went across the street to play in the park while I walked up and got our car. We gathered and headed out for the day.

We first drove to Crazy Horse along some very beautiful landscape. Along with the beautiful views, the two-lane drive was not crowded other than a few motorcyclists. Our plan was to drive and see Crazy Horse, about an hour from Lead and then take the Needles Highway and stop at Sylvan lake before making our way to Mount Rushmore. The drive went smoothly and we made it to Crazy Horse, where we had to pay $30 for our car and then had full access to the compound. The compound included a welcome center and a movie about the idea behind the Crazy Horse Monument. The monument has been in progress since 1948 and was started by the sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, who was chosen to design and build the monument by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder. The construction was and continues to be run by the Ziolkowski family. The movie highlighted the Ziolkowski family and their commitment to creating an Indian university which was helped the community. The Ziolkowski family is still in charge of continuing the work and maintaining the effort to finish the project. However, since it is under private construction, the work is slowly progressing. The welcome center included a smaller version of the finished Crazy Horse as well as a portion of the Ziolkowski cabin which the sculptor built by hand. Before he built it, he and his wife lived in a tent, which I honestly can not imagine. Not only is the weather extreme especially in the winter, but the monument is really in the middle of nowhere. Then the Ziolkowskis had TEN children! I couldn't believe it! Sofia piped up and said "They had 10 kids and Mommy can hardly handle 2!" Ha ha. Regardless of their life choices, Crazy Horse is a very amazing undertaking! The welcome center also included a bin that held different sizes of granite taken from the monument which the girls donated some money for two pieces! The girls love collecting rocks from locations we visit.

After our tour of the visitor center, we loaded up and headed into the Black Hills and Custer State Park. Just after we entered Custer State Park on the Needles Highway, we stopped at Sylvan Lake. Sylvan Lake was one of the places that was recommended to us to stop and visit. It is also the location of the movie National Treasure, one of our favorite movies. It really is breathtakingly beautiful and doesn't feel real! Coupled with the perfectly sunny and 75 degree day, the lake really was perfect. We walked around it and took too many pictures. Along the far-side of the lake was a swimming beach with lots of kids and families. The water was shockingly cold, but I guess kids must be locals. Next to the swimming beach was a huge rock and the girls ran off to climb it and explore. The love all the climbing and hiking.

After they returned, we made our way back to the car and decided to go to Sylvan Lake Lodge, which we'd passed just before the lake. The lodge was really cool ad replaced the original lodge, which was literally right on the edge of the lake until it burned down in 1935. The current lodge was built in 1938 and seemed like a fun place to stay for next time we visit. CK and I had the bison salad while the girls had burgers. The salad was amazing and the bison was so delicious. We had the girls try the bison and they both loved it. There was also a small gift area that included local artists and had ceramics. I bought three small bowls from a local artist which would make a great souvenir. CK was not impressed by "more ceramics" in our house!

After lunch, we returned to Custer State Park and drove the Needles Highway, which was really one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen! Again, it just wasn't terribly crowded so it felt like we had sections of the road to ourselves, which was really cool. The girls loved it, especially any chance they got to climb around like billy goats. We had to drive through several one-lane tunnels through the rock which was really amazing. We stopped several times to take pictures and to let the girls climb around as much as they wanted. It felt like every corner brought even more spectacular views and I wanted to take SO many pictures. I really wanted to see Bison but it was beginning to look like that wouldn't happen as we headed toward Mt. Rushmore. But, just before we were out of the park we came across a large herd of Bison! Of course, they were right in the middle of the road with no intention of moving. So, were were stuck several cars back waiting for them to move out of the way. It was really cool to be able to just watch them and see how huge they are in person. We waited probably close to 45 minutes, with CK trying to convince me to drive into the other lane and push them out of the way, which I absolutely refused to do. Finally, one of the park rangers came along in his truck and slowly moved them off the road. They were completely unfazed by his truck though and just barely moved off the road. By the time our suv got up to them, they were moving back onto the road! We barely squeaked by them before they were back in the road! Our final one-lane tunnel had Mt. Rushmore in the background which was incredible!! Our final stop was at a meadow with Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills in the background. It was just incredible! Such amazingly beautiful country!

Our view of the gold mine from our morning coffee spot, Lotus Up.