Family History Day

Today was family history day.  I said earlier Jim's mom's side of the family came from this area.  Both sets of her grandparents were early settlers here and we were off to find their grave sites.  One set of great grandparents are buried in Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood.  There is a lot of history here.

We originally thought we could just find them. Wrong! Jim went back down to the office and got a better description of the location of their grave sites.

We found them!

Not too far from their site are some very famous "residents".  Wild Bill Hickok (left) and Calamity Jane (right) are probably less than 30 yards away.

Our next stop was back to Spearfish to find Jim's great grandparents and great great grandparents.

Thank goodness there was a book with the locations of the grave sites.  We were able to find his great grandparents pretty quickly.  This great grandmother was the first schoolteacher in Spearfish and his great grandfather was one of the first settlers here.

Then we found his great great grandparents.  They were the parents of Rebecca Pettigrew Evans above.  They were heading to California in a wagon train when Indians attacked. A party from Spearfish came out and saved them.  They decided to stay in Spearfish.

Mount Rushmore

Today we headed to the iconic Mount Rushmore. We are staying just 15 miles from there so it was a short drive.

After you park at the parking garage, you walk up the steps and there it is.  It is so impressive, a picture just can't show its actual size.

After hiking around the base of the memorial, we headed towards the Needles Highway.

The highway includes 14 miles of sharp turns, low tunnels, and impressive granite spires.

This is Sylvan Lake, absolutely beautiful.

Another impressive sight are the tunnels.  You can actually park here to the side and watch vehicles go through.

This part of South Dakota has so much to see and do!

Wind Cave National Park and Lots of Nature

The weather did clear up and today was wonderful.

We headed out to Wind Cave National Park about 40 miles from where we are staying.

On our way to the cave, we saw two wolves in a field by the road. We watched them for a few minutes from our car and then continued on.

As we turned into the cave entrance, a giant bison posed for his picture.

We arrived at the cave in time for the next tour.  I have to say I love traveling this time of year before the big crowds arrive.  You can go anywhere and not have throngs of people.  I'll take the colder weather in order to enjoy having so many place to ourselves.

As we waited for our tour to begin, we heard a turkey gobble and saw this gorgeous fellow.

Our tour began and the first thing, the ranger showed us is how there is a natural breeze coming from the cave, hence the name.

The other thing unique about this cave is the boxwork formations throughout the cave instead of the regular stalagmites and stalactites.

After the tour, we headed back via Cody State Park.

We took the Wildlife Loop where we saw lots of bison and the cute little calves are all over.

There were also lots of pronghorn, but this beautiful group was just hanging out in a field by the road.

What a fun day and looking forward to more!