Mount Rushmore

This week (Thurs-Sunday) Jaren and I went with his parents to Rapid City, SD. We had a BLAST! On Wednesday Jaren's parents came up from Utah. We celebrated Jaren's last day of his didactic school year with a delicious meal at Rib and Chop. We had never been there before, and it did not disappoint. Now Jaren will begin his clinical rotations in a week and a half.

On Thursday we drove to Rapid City. On the way we stopped at the battlefield of Custer's Last Stand. I was pretty surprised by how much I enjoyed this site. We had a very educational and interesting presentation by a former high school history teacher. I learned so much! What a crazy time in the western part of the US! It is so weird to think that just over 100 years ago the world was very different than it is today. Afterward we drove past Devil's Tower. If you have ever seen Close Encounter's of the Third Kind, you will recognize this landmark. (I have only seen the movie once and I do not remember it.)

Friday we took a tour and saw Mount Rushmore, drove through Custer State Park and Needles Highway (where one of the needle tunnels is literally only 8 feet, 4 inches wide). We went to Sylvan Lake (where they filmed scenes from National Treasure 2), saw the film set of Dances with Wolves, and visited the Crazy Horse Mountain/Memorial. At night we had a chuck wagon dinner (which was delicious) with a music variety show afterward (the Fort Hayes Wranglers). The music show was great! We had such a fun day. South Dakota is a true beauty! I was very surprised by the gorgeous scenery. I was expecting everything to be flat and dull, but I was completely wrong!

Saturday we went to a place called Cosmos Mystery Area. Everyone in Billings told me this was a "must-do." It's a 30 minute tour of optical illusions. However, you are not looking at optical illusions, you are in them! This place is freaky! I wish I would have taken more pictures, but I was too freaked out at the time to pull out my camera. There are no explanations. You have to "See it, Feel it, Survive it" as they say. Jaren did snap a whopping one photo of his dad in this place. In part of the tour you go into a crooked, very slanted house built on a hill. In the house you feel as if gravity is pulling you in a certain direction. Everyone looks like they are slanted, and you definitely feel that way. I got kind of sick, actually. It's funny how your mind can play tricks on you. In the house water runs upwards and you magically grow or shrink by walking across the room. After Cosmos we went to Mount Rushmore again. Mount Rushmore is amazing! I am so glad I had the opportunity to see it! I love learning about history and the Mount Rushmore story is very intriguing. Random fact (not about Mount Rushmore): Did you know Thomas Jefferson had the first recipe for ice cream in the U.S.? They serve the original recipe at Mount Rushmore. We had some and it was delish!

Tomorrow we will head back to Billings. Vacations always go by way too fast! Rapid City is awesome! There is SO MUCH to do here, we didn't even scratch the surface! This is a perfect family vacation spot! I told Jaren that if the opportunity arose I wouldn't mind living here. We had a great time with Jaren's parents! We had our share of good laughs! I'm so glad we had this trip with them before they head to Germany next Spring to serve a mission.