Day 10 – Thursday, June 29th 2007 - We took our time getting up today and feasted on the excellent breakfast fare at our hotel in the Black Hills. Sammie had a huge waffle and was very pleased. We stuffed ourselves in the car and drove the 20 some miles to see Mt. Rushmore. It was a rather pretty drive and we were rarin to see the 4 presidents. As we parked we knew we were in for trouble as the Mr. Hyde of Sammie’s personality began to show itself. The next 90 minutes could hardly have been called enjoyable as we tried to corral Sammie and tune out her whining. Outside of that it was great. The initial view walking up the avenue of the states is quite breathtaking and even pictures cannot do it justice. Both Laura and I got the audio tour and it was very informative. Again it was a very crowded venue (tour buses galore) – even though it was a Thursday and very early. Great little movie on the making of the monument as well – the quietest Sammie was the whole time. We also happened to stumble upon a Park Ranger giving a walk/talk around the President’s walk. 
It was quite interesting and the ranger had a good story telling delivery to keep it interesting. There was also a pulley line that was setup on top of Roosevelt’s head that went down to the path we were on. Right above the path a couple of Rangers were having a hard time moving something on the pulleys. They were steering people around it. It turns out it was a big platform of fireworks they were trying to move up to the top for the fourth of July celebration. Pretty classic – the Rangers did not look very happy about what was going on – they seemed very stressed out. I’m glad we didn’t know what was in there – re: Dynamite! 
Anyways the rest of the time was spent in the gift shop – or should I say the demolition derby. It was so crowded in there you literally bumped into someone at every turn. Brutal. Can you tell that Laura and I are very tired and are anxious to end the trip? Anyways we got out of there and went back to the hotel for lunch. Afterwards we went down to a place called Evans Plunge. It is a naturally fed mineral pool that has water slides. It is about 40 miles South of Custer. We had promised Sammie we would go there – just so she could do something to. Kind of a pretty drive and we ended up seeing some more Buffalo (sorry they are actually American Bison) – and even a family of 3 deer eating some plants about 2 feet from the road in Hot Springs. 
Evans Plunge was a welcome relief. It was not very crowded and was fairly cheap. The water was about 87 degrees – not too hot and not too cool and the main pool was indoors. They had a little kiddy pool and Lucas was having a blast going down a little whale slide they had. He is doing very well in the water. He just wants to jump away from us though. We have dunked him a few times so he can understand that he cannot just jump away from us but it hasn’t worked so far. Sammie was a little timid at first but she ended up going down one the waterslides a bunch of times. Seeing her gliding down the slide sitting up and holding her mat and screaming WOO HOO at the top of her lungs – has to be one of the highlights. After the mornings’ activities it was nice to see her having a good time. Laura and I tried the grown-up ones as we traded off holding Lucas. There were a couple of slides where I thought my stomach was in my throat – very fast! All in all it was a great break for us and got us all back in good spirits. Quick note on our car. 
It has been a true champion – knock on wood. Today it passed the 100000 mile marker and is going strong. Shhhh - don’t tell it- but we are going to get a new one when we get to AA. Laura and I were feeling ambitious so we went back and went to dinner. Both of us had the Buffalo burger again. We figured we are probably not going to get a Buffalo burger in Ann Arbor so what the heck. I even had mine with BACON! WOW. It was pretty good. Strange restaurant though – seemed like half the staff was under the age of 15. I guess I don’t know what the labor laws are in SD. After dinner we decided to roll the bones and take the kids up to see the Crazy Horse monument to see it and also the laser light show they put on at night. We got there about 7:30 and the show didn’t start until about 9:45 so we had some time to look around. It is a very ambitious project and it still very much in the works. The monument itself is going to be the biggest monument in the world. Mt. Rushmore will actually fit inside the area right behind the face of Crazy Horse. The project has been going since 1948 and it is completely privately funded – twice apparently the group creating it has turned down 10 million dollar grants to help build it. By contrast Mt. Rushmore took about 12 years to complete – and was, of course, a federal project. When we initially walked into the Museum we noticed how beautiful the building was. Very nicely done – and we walked in to see a very informative movie on the making of the monument. Then there is a very nice collection of Indian artifacts and arts. All very interesting. Sammie was behaving beautifully and actually looking at some of the things (Laura and I also had a couple of drinks at dinner so she was walking all over us). We walked out on the veranda where there were some pretty impressive views of the mountain. We found a bench and hunkered down for about an hour. While we waited they were pumping in some Native American music with drums and chants and Lucas and Sammie were charming the pants off of everyone by dancing together. Only problem was that Sammie’s nearly ear-deafening laughter could easily have been heard on top of the mountain – so we had to reel her in a little. 
The show finally started at around 9:45. Lucas was bundled in his stroller and was minutes away from falling asleep – Sammie actually did fall asleep on Laura’s lap for a few minutes before the start. When it started it was a little disappointing to me – although Laura liked it. There were just some cheesy graphics and one of the songs was a 70’s disco version of chopsticks. I just kept thinking of a bad laser show depicting something completely innapropriate and how I’m sure that if Crazy Horse were alive he would just laugh as I was (Jeff - this has the Simpsons written all over it). I kept waiting the whole time for a more in depth story of who Crazy horse was and why he was a hero and why it was important for there to be a monument to him, but it mostly just glorified the sculptor – which is okay I suppose. It ended with a VERY patriotic song and showed how Native Americans have contributed to our society – which in the end is the point so I guess it worked. Lucas watched most of the show, but faded when they played a very nice Native American chant song. Sammie was a good girl and enjoyed the show, asking many questions about Indians and how they lived along the way. 
Very sweet. Who knows maybe she will learn something along the way. Lucas was so tired he did not even wake up when we transferred him from the stroller to the car OR from the car to the crib. Sammie was gone almost instantly when she hit the pillow. A tumultuous day of ups and down – exhausting and frustrating, but fun at the same time. Much like our whole trip. Much like our lives right now….tomorrow we have a long haul to Minnesota for our last night in a hotel. Adios….
What we learned today – 90% of the rock sculpture of Mt. Rushmore was done with explosives; Laura likes waterslides – a lot; a lot about the sculptor of Crazy Horse, not enough about Crazy Horse; bikers like crazy horse;
Evans Plunge was a welcome relief. It was not very crowded and was fairly cheap. The water was about 87 degrees – not too hot and not too cool and the main pool was indoors. They had a little kiddy pool and Lucas was having a blast going down a little whale slide they had. He is doing very well in the water. He just wants to jump away from us though. We have dunked him a few times so he can understand that he cannot just jump away from us but it hasn’t worked so far. Sammie was a little timid at first but she ended up going down one the waterslides a bunch of times. Seeing her gliding down the slide sitting up and holding her mat and screaming WOO HOO at the top of her lungs – has to be one of the highlights. After the mornings’ activities it was nice to see her having a good time. Laura and I tried the grown-up ones as we traded off holding Lucas. There were a couple of slides where I thought my stomach was in my throat – very fast! All in all it was a great break for us and got us all back in good spirits. Quick note on our car. 
It has been a true champion – knock on wood. Today it passed the 100000 mile marker and is going strong. Shhhh - don’t tell it- but we are going to get a new one when we get to AA. Laura and I were feeling ambitious so we went back and went to dinner. Both of us had the Buffalo burger again. We figured we are probably not going to get a Buffalo burger in Ann Arbor so what the heck. I even had mine with BACON! WOW. It was pretty good. Strange restaurant though – seemed like half the staff was under the age of 15. I guess I don’t know what the labor laws are in SD. After dinner we decided to roll the bones and take the kids up to see the Crazy Horse monument to see it and also the laser light show they put on at night. We got there about 7:30 and the show didn’t start until about 9:45 so we had some time to look around. It is a very ambitious project and it still very much in the works. The monument itself is going to be the biggest monument in the world. Mt. Rushmore will actually fit inside the area right behind the face of Crazy Horse. The project has been going since 1948 and it is completely privately funded – twice apparently the group creating it has turned down 10 million dollar grants to help build it. By contrast Mt. Rushmore took about 12 years to complete – and was, of course, a federal project. When we initially walked into the Museum we noticed how beautiful the building was. Very nicely done – and we walked in to see a very informative movie on the making of the monument. Then there is a very nice collection of Indian artifacts and arts. All very interesting. Sammie was behaving beautifully and actually looking at some of the things (Laura and I also had a couple of drinks at dinner so she was walking all over us). We walked out on the veranda where there were some pretty impressive views of the mountain. We found a bench and hunkered down for about an hour. While we waited they were pumping in some Native American music with drums and chants and Lucas and Sammie were charming the pants off of everyone by dancing together. Only problem was that Sammie’s nearly ear-deafening laughter could easily have been heard on top of the mountain – so we had to reel her in a little. 
The show finally started at around 9:45. Lucas was bundled in his stroller and was minutes away from falling asleep – Sammie actually did fall asleep on Laura’s lap for a few minutes before the start. When it started it was a little disappointing to me – although Laura liked it. There were just some cheesy graphics and one of the songs was a 70’s disco version of chopsticks. I just kept thinking of a bad laser show depicting something completely innapropriate and how I’m sure that if Crazy Horse were alive he would just laugh as I was (Jeff - this has the Simpsons written all over it). I kept waiting the whole time for a more in depth story of who Crazy horse was and why he was a hero and why it was important for there to be a monument to him, but it mostly just glorified the sculptor – which is okay I suppose. It ended with a VERY patriotic song and showed how Native Americans have contributed to our society – which in the end is the point so I guess it worked. Lucas watched most of the show, but faded when they played a very nice Native American chant song. Sammie was a good girl and enjoyed the show, asking many questions about Indians and how they lived along the way. 
Very sweet. Who knows maybe she will learn something along the way. Lucas was so tired he did not even wake up when we transferred him from the stroller to the car OR from the car to the crib. Sammie was gone almost instantly when she hit the pillow. A tumultuous day of ups and down – exhausting and frustrating, but fun at the same time. Much like our whole trip. Much like our lives right now….tomorrow we have a long haul to Minnesota for our last night in a hotel. Adios….What we learned today – 90% of the rock sculpture of Mt. Rushmore was done with explosives; Laura likes waterslides – a lot; a lot about the sculptor of Crazy Horse, not enough about Crazy Horse; bikers like crazy horse;
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