We got to sleep in just a bit but then we had to get going because we had a fun-filled day planned. We started the morning with a visit to the Mammoth Site. I thought we we were going to see an active dig site where they had found one set of mammoth bones. I was wrong. It was so much for than that. It was the site of a sink hole from a long time ago, that was filled with water and was believed to be a watering hole for young mammoths. The sides of the hole were slick so as mammoths went in the water to feed on the grass, they were unable to get out. This trapped them all in this same spot as they died. There was a total of 61 mammoths found at this site. It was fascinating to take the tour and learn all about how it formed, the process of recovering the bones and the research and theories that have come from it. It was super cool. Lincoln did a great job of soaking it all in. Logan was good for the movie and the first few minutes in the dig site before he was bored and wanted to go to the gift shop.
We spent our early afternoon hours exploring Wind Cave National Park. This was a cave tour that took us for just over an hour through about 3/4 of a mile, and several hundred feet under ground through the cave. The most noticeable formations in the cave is box work and frost crystal. This was the first time that the boys had been through any cave. They were thrilled. Logan was beside himself with excitement as we went through narrow passage ways, looked in the crooks and craves along the path and descended each flight of stairs. Lincoln kept saying this was the best day ever. He thought it was pretty cool to be in the cave. By the end their little hands were freezing but they didn’t want to put their jackets on - they wanted to experience the cold air.
The afternoon and evening were spent riding the 1880 Train roundtrip from Hill City to Keystone. The ride was about each way with a short stop in Keystone for the engine to disconnect and reconnect on the other side of the train. We sat in the car with no windows so we got the full experience with bugs flying in, the smelling of the smoke from the engine, the wind in our hair and the beautiful view of the Black Hills Mountains. The boys were very engaged for the first leg over to Keystone but they way back they were face down in their ipads. I didn't mind considering it was the same route back and the kiddos had already had such a long day, they just needed some time to veg. It was a lovely peaceful ride through the mountains that we all seemed to enjoy.
After five days of very mediocre food, and more fast food than we like to eat, we were all ready for a really good meal. We went to the one chain restaurant near our hotel, On the Border. It was so nice to get a little variety and mix it up with Mexican food. It was the best meal of the trip up to this point! After dinner we retired back to our hotel for a few rounds of Uno, Yatzee and Trash before getting some much needed rest.
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