Black Hills- Day 3

We attended church at a local ward at 9am.  When we walked into church, we recognized a family, and they recognized us.  They had attended our ward in Wyoming the week before because their cousin was graduating from high school.  I also had someone ask me if I knew someone else in Wyoming.  The person they were inquiring about happened to be my home teacher.  It is kind of funny that you can meet people you have a connection to where ever you go.  The church is small.


After church we went to Mt. Rushmore.  We took a lot of pictures there. 

We also ran into the LDS family we meet at the water park.  While we were there, we went on the Presidential Trail.  This takes you around under the monument.  If you are to go, make sure you start the trail on the left of the observation deck.  That way you will be going down a lot of stairs, not up them.  I learned why those four presidents were chosen to be immortalized on that mountain.  Washington was put there because he was the first president.  Jefferson was chosen because of the expansion that happened while he was the president (Louisiana Purchase).  Roosevelt was in charge of development, such as national parks.  Lincoln was responsible for keeping the nation intact.

S thought is was amazing that they could make something so big out of rock.  DSH felt very patriotic and grateful for the things those presidents did for us.  R liked the rocks, and 2T didn't know what the thought about it. He was too busy checking out his muscles in the viewfinder of the camera.  He actually said it is amazing to see what people can do.  1T, who is my artist, thought it would have been interesting sculpting on that scale with the tools they had available to them.  He felt like it would have taken a long time.  But, he also commented that it was a lot smaller than he was expecting it to be.

While on the trail, S dropped her water bottle behind the rail.  I had her jump over an get it, but we have proof that she was trying to litter at a national monument!

While leaving Rushmore, we went up Pigtail roads. They are named that because they corkscrew up the mountain. They were kind of fun to see. We didn't go all of the way up, and now looking on line at the pictures, I wish we would have. There are tunnels that face to Mt Rushmore, and give you a fantastic view.  Something to remember for next trip.


We then visited the Dinosaur Park. It was established in 1936 and is on the National Registry of Historic Places.  The life size dinos are on the top of the hill, and can be seen from around the city.   2T decided that he needed to conquer one of the dinos.  So with 1T's help, he was able to get up to the T-rex. After 1T allowed 2T to stand on his back, 2T got stuck.

 They had to do some maneuvering to get him out of that tight spot. 1T then helped 2T down by allowing himself to be used as a step stool.  We all had our pic taken on the Stegosaurus.  S wouldn't scoot back anymore though, or she would have slid off the back!  

We also visit the Chapel in the Hills.  This is an exact replica of one of the Stave churches in Norway.  It was fun to visit and learn about.  There was an outside court to protect the church from the elements.  I needed to remind the kids to be respectful, because it is used as a church.

The last thing we did this day was go to the park to play frisbee.  When we got to the park, imagine our surprise when we saw this in the parking lot.

We had to explain to the kiddos what it was, and why they really did want their picture taken by it!

Then we had some fun at the park.