Home sweet home!

We are finally headed for home. 

 A little person was napping so we didn't get out of the car:

 The weary travelers:

 All of the kids goodies and junior ranger patches:

 Our gas mileage log...look at how many miles we went:  3700!

It was a great trip and once in a lifetime experience.  Surprisingly, we are all still excited about going camping and can't wait for our next trip!

Sylvan Lake and Reptile Gardens

Took a nice morning jog along Center Lake to the Grace Coolidge Walking Trail. This was made even better since I took a dip in Center Lake both mornings to cool off and to clean up.

Hike: Grace Coolidge Walking Trail

Trails Used: Grace Coolidge Walking Trail

Distance: 6.03 miles

Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 5.1 mph
Overall Time: 1 hrs, 10 mins
Total Ascent: 918 ft.

After breakfast we headed out to Sylvan Lake down the needles highway.  It is aptly named:

 

 This is the view through one of the many tunnels you can drive through.

 

 Sylvan Lake is a pretty small lake with giant rocks to climb on.

 

Sylvan Lake is actually a reservoir with the large rocks acting like a dam and this little area being a real dam.

Hike: Sylvan Lake

Trails Used:  Sylvan Lake

Distance: 1.77 miles

Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 1.6 mph
Overall Time: 1 hrs, 04 mins
Total Ascent: 462 ft.

 

After the hike we headed towards Rapid City and Reptile Gardens.

 We saw the Alligator show first and that was awesome.  The kids loved the presenter.  They have lots of alligators but they all seemed pretty mellow.  We toured the buildings for a little while before the snake show.  It was the same guy who was very good.  The kids were able to touch the python at the end.  It was extremely hot the day we went (95) so it's a good idea to bring lots of water and snacks to fortify the troops. 

 Cool tortoises that the kids could go right up to and touch.  The place is very cool, expensive ($43 for three of us since Q was free), and busy.

 After the gardens we headed back to the campsite for a little R&R.

 

That night we traveled to Custer to eat at the Dark Horse.  They had a great selection of beer and good food.  What more could you ask for?

 We headed to the Ice Cream Pie Shop after and the ice cream and pie we had was just as good as how cute the building was.

The bumble berry pie was delicious. 

 We went to this fort on our way back from Custer.  It was built to protect the gold miner's from the Indians.

 The kids had fun goofing around here:

 

Swimming, wildlife, and Mt. Rushmore

Our next stop was Custer State Park after a dismal visit to Gillette, WY for lunch.  We were glad to get out of that city and away from all the traffic.  We reserved a spot on the road for a campsite at Center Lake.  We didn't want the stress of having to get a spot if we didn't arrive until latter in the day.  However, our camp reservation specialist didn't give us a site that had any flat spots for tents.   Again, I can't tell you how frustrating that is.  Not everyone has an RV.  It does matter if you have a flat spot when you sleep in a tent.  Luckily for us the upper loop at Center Lake was pretty empty so we had our pick of spots.  Unfortunately, we had to waste time driving through the loop writing down what numbers were okay and then find the reservation phone (cells didn't work) to change our tent site number.  Way more complicated than it needed to be.

After setting up camp we went down to Center Lake for a cool off dip.  It was a nice small lake with a little beach.  It was just perfect for what we needed.

 After dinner we drove the wildlife loop road and saw these deer,

and one burro eating food from the car ahead of us.  We were disappointed not to see more.  On our last trip here we saw so many.

 We headed towards Mt. Rushmore next to see the lighting ceremony. 

 

 It was a pretty cool experience.  The vets from any war were asked to come up on stage and the national anthem was sung.  Cheesy, but rah rah American.

 The view on the way out:

The ceremony didn't start until well after 9 so the kids were exhausted on the way home.  It was still worth keeping them up so they could see it.

This is the map for Custer State Park:

Bison, wolves, and moose

After the Lewis and Clark Caverns we headed for Yellowstone.  We had missed the Lamar River Valley and I figured since we were so close we could drive through around dusk, look for wildlife, and then find a campground outside of Yellowstone's northeast entrance.  This couldn't have worked any better.  We saw herd after herd of bison.  This experience was made better since they were all snorting, grunting, and purring en masse. 

We finally stopped at a pullout that didn't have buffalo knee deep for a quick dinner @ 8:15.  I was making the sandwiches when a bunch of cars and trucks started pulling up.  One of the guys asked us if we knew that there was a black wolf out in the field.  Of course we didn't, we were too busy stuffing our faces.  He was nice enough to let us look through his high powered scope so it was just like the wolf was right in front of us.  Later on we saw another bear from far away too.  I'm so glad we went through Yellowstone again.

We stayed at Fox Creek Campground outside of Yellowstone that night.  It was a nice place with good views of mountains.  Headed to Cody and Sheridan, WY in the morning.  Dead Indian Pass on the way to Cody had great views and was very curvy. 

 

Went to the visitor's center and the Old West Miniature Village before heading to the Chinese buffet on Main street in Cody.  The kids 'loved' it.  We were going to do the Buffalo Bill Museum but we ran out of time.

Stopped at the Shell Falls Interpretive Center (worth a stop).  We received  great info for our camping that night. 

 At the top of Granite Pass we saw three moose. (I'd been dying to see some moose that you could tell were moose)

Tried to camp at Sibley Lake but it was all reserved.  We turned around and headed back to Prune Creek and managed to get the last site available.  We probably would have stayed another night if we could have but they were all booked up the next day.  It was a pretty camping area along the creek.  There was lots of noise from the road that took away from the camping experience a bit. 

 

Did a little running while I was here and saw a moose and nine deer. 

Run: Prune Creek

Trails Used:  ?

Distance: 6.53 miles

Difficulty: Easy
Overall average: 6.0 mph
Overall Time: 1 hrs, 05 mins
Total Ascent: 573 ft.

We crossed over to South Dakota the next day on the way to Custer State Park.

We cheated a little since we didn't get the Wyoming sign the day before.