Day 5 Custer, Wind Cave, Crazy Horse, Devil's Tower

We drove to Custer State Park. To get to the park, we had to take a very windy road through tunnels. When we got there, there was a lot of wildlife like the rare pronghorn, billions of buffalo and donkeys. The mama pronghorn was feeding her babies. The big daddy buffalo was rutting on a sign next to the road. The donkeys were like a roadblock. They would come up to your car and if you had your window open they would stick their heads in. They were all over the place because they live there. Some people were feeding them. Then two of them came up to our car and stood right in front of it so we couldn't move. On the car next to us there were six donkeys...one in each back window and two in each front window. That was funny!

Then we went to Wind Cave National Park. We got the noon tour that started at the natural entrace to the cave. I love my mom, but I think she would have gotten stuck if she tried to enter through that tiny hole. So we entered through a man-made enterance. We went down 300 stairs and saw big caverns with boxwork that is stronger than the surrounding rock. It looked like petrified spider webs or a bee's nest. When the ranger turned the lights off inside the cave, it was pitch black. You think you've been in something dark, but this was SERIOUSLY dark. Then we took the elevator up. Phew!

Next we went to Crazy Horse Memorial. Crazy Horse is a Native American who beat General Custer in battle. For the memorial, they only have his head, his arm, and a drawing of the horse's head finished. They are still carving it.

Then we went to Devil's Tower National Monument. My mom and I took a walk around it. It was a 45 minute hike. We could see little clibers on the tower. Devil's Tower looks cool. It is very tall and it has these weird lines running down it that no one can explain. The Native Americans thought a giant bear climbed up and scraped it. Scientists now believe it was caused by a volcano.