We started our day a couple miles from the campground at Fort Hays for a $.99 all you can eat pancake breakfast.
The movie Dances with Wolves was filmed 16 miles from this location. In 1993 the owner of Fort Hays purchased 3 of the buildings constructed for the movie and transported them here. After we finished our meal we walked around this area. There was so much to check out. In back of the buildings you could get a gorgeous view of the rolling green hills that stretched for as far as the eye could see.
The first thing we checked out from the movie set was the Headquarters Building. In the movie this is where the Major’s office was and the room where he shot himself. The bullet hole was still in the window.
The other two buildings from the movie set were the Supply House and the sawmill. In addition they recreated a whole little village around these buildings complete with a post office, rope shop, and tin shop. The plates used in the Chuckwagon restaurant where we ate breakfast are made at the tin shop on site.
Outside of the saw mill there was a section with all kinds of wood carved statues. I fell in love with one of the bears and had to “adopt it” (read, purchase it) so I could bring a piece of the Black Hills back to Glen Mills.
The girls were really getting into character and having a great time trying out all they could. Ella went into the standing coffin, tried her hand at being a prisoner and was having fun giving orders standing high atop the corn shucker.
They loved pretending to ride the wooden bull sculpture.
When they saw the lookout point on top of the Fort Hays Stockade they ran up the steps to continue being a part of it all.
At one point along the boardwalk was an alligator with a leg in his mouth. We all got a good laugh when Adam pretended it was his leg being eaten.
The girls and Adam pretended to ride in the open air covered wagon.
Next it was my turn to try to rope and reign in a bull with the girls.
Lily was enamored by the life size statue of Kevin Costner’s character, Lt. Dunbar, and loved the old fashioned horse ride.
We all enjoyed spending some time in the Headquarters Building and looking at the candid pictures taken during the filming of Dances with Wolves, checking out the movie posters for all the films made in this area and seeing pictures of these buildings being moved here. It was pretty cool to see the red jeep used in Dances with Wolves too.
We learned from Liz, our gold mine tour guide, that the owner of the mine named it, Holy Terror, after his “dear” wife. She also told us there is a coffee brand named for her. The past few days we continued to drive past The Holy Terror Coffee Shop in Keystone, SD. We figured we couldn’t leave this area without trying it, so we went to get a cup of Holy Terror next. It was a beautiful day so we decided to sit outside with our coffee. While we were walking over to the tables the girls noticed there was an ice cream parlor so of course we had to get some.
Just down the road from here was Rushmore Tramway Adventures which was home to a 2000 foot alpine slide. Adam asked the girls if they wanted to do it and they replied with an emphatic “yes” in unison. I am not a fan of heights and in order to get to the top the riders had to go on a ski lift. I found the spectator section and sat there ready to take pictures of them coming down the slide. Lily was too young to ride on her own so she went down with Adam and Ella went on her own. They all had a blast! When they got to the bottom they were excited to tell me about the very clear view they had of Mt. Rushmore at the top.
Next up on our list was to take a scenic drive along Iron Mountain Road through the Black Hills National Forest to get to Custer State Park. This road is an engineering wonder that is part of the Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway which links Custer State Park, the Black Hills National Forest, and Mount Rushmore National Memorial. There are many very cool features on the road including three tunnels designed to frame the four faces of Mt. Rushmore in the distance.
We headed through the Doane Robinson Tunnel which was extremely narrow. We had to put our mirrors in to make it through.
C.C. Gideon Tunnel was just past this after a short drive on a narrow, curvy road.
Not much past this we came to the Norbeck Overlook. There was parking at the overlook so we took the opportunity to get out of the truck to walk around and enjoy the scenery. We kept our time here brief because we still had so much left on our agenda for today.
Just a few miles before entering Custer State Park we noticed Elk Haven Horse Camp on the side of the road. The sign said they had a cafe. The girls weren’t very hungry but Adam and I were hoping we could grab a little something for lunch.
This place was so charming! There was an enormous wrap around porch with tons of seating, including some rocking chairs. Sitting here provided a spectacular view of the countryside with the American Flag flying high. I couldn’t help but stop in my tracks to admire and fully experience this moment of true Americana.
We were in luck and they did have sandwiches and such. Adam and I shared a sandwich. While we were waiting for it to be ready we browsed through their little market/gift shop. They were selling Dances With Wolves and we decided to get a copy. I noticed a sign in front of a grouping of brown paper bags that read alfalfa cubes to feed the donkeys. The clerk saw me stopped there and started telling us most people buy those to feed the wild donkeys that live in Custer State Park. Sold! At only $1 a piece we added a bag for each of the girls to our purchase. We struck up a conversation with the husband-wife team who were helping us (they turned out to be the owners/operators). Their dog was with them and the girls were petting her. When we were on our way out there was a couple sitting on the porch with their gorgeous chocolate lab. Of course we went to pet this dog too.
It was just a few minute ride to the entrance of Custer State Park. We headed to the Visitor Center first.
They have a park movie, Spirit of Tatanka (narrated by Kevin Costner) that plays every half hour. By chance our timing was spot on and the next one was starting in five minutes. There was a lot to see and do in the Visitor Center but we had to keep our time here short. It was somewhat easy to pull ourselves away knowing we were going to drive the Wildlife Loop Road next.
Almost immediately we spotted several antelope roaming.
As we continued to drive and admire the landscape we all had our eyes peeled for animals. We started to see the wild donkeys in the distance. Thankfully the owners at Elk Haven told us they will come put their head in your windows. We heeded their advice, rolled up our windows and jumped out of the truck quickly. When we pulled up all the donkeys were a nice distance away in the meadow.
We could not wait to get over to see them. There were so many donkeys to see, ranging in age and coat. I was so happy we had the alfalfa cubes. Sadly people were feeding them whatever they had. We noticed people feeding them wheat thins and cheese puffs. Those certainly cannot be healthy. There were also people with carrots and apples too. The donkeys were thrilled to have any and all of it. They were super friendly and came right up to you. We especially loved the babies.
After awhile the donkeys started making their way to the parking lot. As we were told they were going right up to the cars and sticking their heads inside. It looked like people were feeding them from inside of their cars too. It was fun to see but we were all glad this was not happening to us in our truck.
All of a sudden we heard a donkey call from back in the meadow. The momma donkey we were somewhat close to started blowing out of it’s nose. We backed up right away. She then stomped her paw several times and did a donkey call herself. We considered that a sign our time here should be over. We carefully got into the truck and continued along the Wildlife Loop.
The next thing we came upon was a buffalo jam. Even though we saw the buffalo in Yellowstone we were still fascinated by them and elated to see so many so close up. We realized a momma was nursing her baby in the middle of the road.
Once we got through that area a little further down was one lone buffalo lying on the side of the road. We pulled over and observed him for a little bit.
After finishing the wildlife loop in Custer State Park we continued on the Peter Norbeck National Scenic Byway making our way towards the Crazy Horse Memorial. We had visited this a couple days ago but left because it started raining. With the nice weather today we could return and see the night time laser light show. This part of the scenic drive was called the Needles Highway. The “needles” are natural tall, thin stone formations and was originally where Borglum was asked to make the sculptures that are now Mt. Rushmore. When he came to check it out he decided the type of stone could not stand up to being carved and would also ruin the natural beauty. The Needles Highway was a very narrow, curvy road filled with sharp turns. While we were driving we got to see some deer on the side of the road. There were more tiny tunnels to go through on the Needles Highway too. The “needles” were unlike any kind of landscape we had ever seen and we were captivated by them.
[Slideshow of pictures along Needles Highway]
[Passing through the Needles Eye Tunnel]
When we got to Crazy Horse we were all ready for dinner. The girls were very excited to have the buffet again. They had a large group and the buffet was supposed to only be for them. The waitress was very kind and let the kids have it anyway. Adam and I ordered their signature stew from the menu. We finished about 20 minutes before the show was about to start. While we waited we noticed a cat jump up on a table. There was a family sitting there eating a snack and the cat was trying to get some of their food. The girls could not believe it. The laser show was very cool and we were all glad we came back to see it. After a very full day we were all ready to head back to the RV for the night.
