Mt. Rushmore / Deadwood, SD. June 3rd-9th

We picked the perfect RV Resort to see Mt. Rushmore and the surrounding cities. Two thumbs up for Larsson's Crooked Creek Resort! LOVED our spot right on the creek with lots of grass and a great deck with chairs and a fire table. Perfect place to end each day with smores or cocktails and chocolate.

Go across the wood bridge that you can see in the pictures and we could ride the Michelson Trail on our bikes for over 100 miles. Don't get too excited - we didn't even ride 10% of the trail but we did right it into Hill City for lunch, shopping and cocktails. Beautiful, easy ride.

I found a YMCA in Custer that had a great gym but I only managed to get there once. Tried to get a second workout on Sunday but they were closed. Damn it. Found a small local gym but you had to sign up for a day pass at the local newspaper office. Probably owned by the same family. Well, guess what? The newspaper office isn't open on Sunday. Welcome to small town USA. :)

Mount Rushmore was impressive. Nice visitor center and short, enjoyable walk to get pictures.

Crazy Horse Monument might be impressive when it's finished in about 400 years but personally I didn't get it. I think we were there for a total of 25 minutes and that was 15 minutes more than we needed. Visitor center had some decent info but also some strange stuff. Shaq size 24 sneaker, Richard Petty wall of fame, Wizard of Oz stuff, etc. Not kidding. Frankly, for the $30 admission (which was $20 more than Mt. Rushmore), they should have included some peyote to make it more interesting. Just keeping it real.

Took a drive to Deadwood and that turned into a great day. What a cool, authentic western town! Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried there. Very dog friendly. Rita & Stella were welcome everywhere including shops, pubs, saloons, and even the Elks Lodge. That's right - Elks Lodge in Deadwood was great. Bartender Bill made the best Mezcal Old Fashion for me and a delicious Last Call for Melissa. Ran into a few girls in town for a bachelorette party at an Irish Pub and Melissa hit it off with them. Next thing I know we're doin' Jello shots with our new friends. Super fun day!

Went through Sturgis on the way home. Not much to get excited about in the town unless you happen to be there with 500,000 of your closest friends for the motorcycle rally in August.

We enjoyed an afternoon visit to Jewel Cave Monument. Pictures are kinda boring but the cave was pretty cool. Currently 220+ miles have been explored but they think that they've explored less than 10% of the total cave.

The girls enjoyed it here as much as we did as you'll see in the pictures. One night stop in Pierre, SD and one night in Aberdeen, SD before we join friends at their lake house in Alexandria, MN.

One final note about South Dakota. The public restrooms are VERY public but when you gotta go, you gotta go!