Black Hills, Keystone & Horse Thief Lake

Hello again! We have WAY TOO MANY pictures to share! Our time in Keystone was spent sharing the road with the hundreds of bikers at the Sturgis rally so we headed south. We went to Wind Cave National park where the Indians believe the earth was formed. Interesting story and had many similarities to the garden of Eden. We were able to do some hiking but missed the time slot to go into the cave, Why did we miss it?

Because I had a very exciting part of the trip planned to go to Moccasin Springs and then dine at Buffalo Dreams restaurant. The springs are natural hot springs and ranged from 87 degrees to 104 degrees. Yes, even on a 95 degree day we loved going in the hot springs! The amazing diner afterwards at Buffalo Dreams was such a treat. The whole menu was organic and gluten free so I didn't have to read about wonderful dishes I couldn't have. It was a decadent day and huge thanks to Joan Martin for the gift card that we used to be able to treat ourselves. 

Hated to miss seeing Emma face to face to wish her a big happy birthday on the 14th but we all sent her birthday greetings, yes, including the cats!

Cool view looking out at the Crazy Horse memorial from inside the Laughing Waters restaurant where we had traditional South Dakota fare: Buffalo stew, Indian fry bread and Kuchen. Apparently the Kuchen is a German desert but there are so many descendants here from Germany that they claim it as South Dakota's.

So, another sort of mix up in the schedule/stops (Note: Paladin pool people!)...I use RV Trip wizard to do all the planning for our trips and we booked Horse Thief Lake Campground for part of this stay. Would you believe there is a Horse Thief Campground about 15 minutes from Horse Thief LAKE campground? Yup, a bit of a challenging time when you have no cell service (so no GPS!) and all your planning ahead of time was to the wrong campground! It was all worth it because Horse Thief Lake was just amazing! There was a trail around almost the entire lake and gorgeous views from every spot. Even Noodle got to go on the hike in my backpack to enjoy it!

 

Not something you find everyday but along our travels thru Hill City, SD there was a huge car/RV wash! Love having Phoebe looking good as we head down the road!

Of course we went to Mount Rushmore! We got there early enough in the day to hike and do the visitors center but then stayed for the evening presentation. Not quite as spectacular as I remember from being there as a kid but maybe it was just because they don't do the fireworks anymore. Still, pretty amazing art carved in the mountain side!

So, time to mozy down the road like this buffalo... next campground at Devil's Tower and a special stop along the way. Stay tuned and thanks for keeping us in your prayers on our journey!