Day 3 - Custer State Park

Right now all 6 of us are cozied up in the girls' tent reading and playing cards (and blogging)... a lovely end to a lovely day.  After a breakfast of bacon and eggs cooked on our new camping stove (thank you Walmart) we headed off to explore Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The day brought more rolling hills and forests that took our breath away, but also animal encounters, rock structures and man-made monuments.

Not 5 minutes into the park, we were surrounded by a herd of at least 200 buffalo, including young calves, nursing moms, and rutting males. They crowded onto and around the road within inches of us - the pics were great; the odor not so much.  Later we saw prairie dogs (the girls' favorite part of the day), deer, antelope and an eagle.

The highlight for me and Barb was probably climbing the many rock formations with the girls (ok, maybe it was the chocolate bar we snuck when the kids weren't looking).  And we also saw Mt. Rushmore from a variety of angles, including through a series of tunnels that framed it beautifully.

We' re getting a hang of the camping thing a bit, too. Seems almost normal now to spend the day in the same clothes we slept in and end every meal with 5 marshmallows...