Day 3...

Day 3 had us on the way to the Crazy Horse Memorial... this is a site that is funded all by private donations... it will take decades for the sculpture to be finished but it will be very grand and very large once it is done.

We watched another amazing video at the visitor center... I LOVE those documentary shows!! This told about the sculptor and his legacy... his vision for the project and the overview of the project itself... it is so much more than just a carving in the granite.  This center when fully finished will be the Indian University of North America... it will protect the culture and traditions for all North American Indians.

The finished carving will be large... in fact all of Mount Rushmore would fit inside just the head of the Crazy Horse Monument!

The quote that goes along with the statue is very sad... "My lands are where my dead lie buried"

From here we were off to Custer State Park. This was an area we definitely want to come and stay a week to explore... LOVED IT!

First up was the visitor center...

We watched an AMAZING documentary film about the park that was made using aerial drones.  The theater we sat it was small and the screen size was quite large... it felt like we were actually in the movie... I felt a tad queasy at times but it was really cool to see a different view of the park that had us wanting to return and hike.

They, like Yellowstone, have a large herd of buffalo..

on the wildlife loop we did see a herd...

and a big guy who had me rolling up the windows quickly...

We also saw a lot of stupid people out of their cars trying to take photos... idiots!!  The babies were so much fun to watch... rolling in the dirt and playing.  I would love to hear the rumble of the buffalo when the park does their yearly round up.

Next on the list was Wind Cave National Park...

where we were denied entrance...because we are honest and answered yes to the question, "Have you been in a cave recently?"  Technically we could have entered if we had other jackets and shoes that hadn't been worn in Lewis and Clark Caverns but since we didn't have other jackets and it was starting to rain we opted to just come back another day and drove to the hotel in Casper Wyoming.  Skipping the cave and arriving at the hotel early had us looking for a good last hurrah to our vacation.  We opted for dinner at Texas Roadhouse... and then the Olympics in bed!  Love this time of togetherness...