Our first night we stayed at the State Game Lodge inside the Park. It was a really beautiful place to stay. We wandered around nearby to blow the car stink off us. The main visitor center was neat, loved the architecture. But the Peter Norbeck Education Center was amazing! The kids loved all the hands on displays. We stayed there for about over an hour. My favorite was watching the bird feeder and identifying the birds coming into to get a bite to eat; River and Skyler liked building a course for a rolling ball; And Robin happily played in the sandbox.
 |
| Image Via |
The Next Day we got up and out the door and headed to Wind Cave National Park, a "hidden world beneath the prairie". We did a walking tour where we entered through the natural entrance. It was really neat inside and the kids liked it, especially River. We learned about "box work" and "popcorn" formations. Robin liked saying "popcorn" and "echo". It was really kid friendly, but by the end, Robin was done. She just wanted to run around and touch everything. River earned his Junior Ranger badge and took the oath.
After wards we drove the Wildlife loop in Custer State Park and visited the old death march- I mean hike, I took Skyler on the first time we visited 5 years ago. We didn't do the whole trail Just wandered in a little and stretched out legs.
Best part was venturing out on an unpaved road all by ourselves through fields of flowers and bison. We unbuckled the kids and let them ride free with the window down. (Robin sat on sky's lap, remember riding around with no seatbelts as a little kid? those were the days". Sky and River explored the ponds and found all kids of stuff - turtles and Water snakes to name a few. At the top there was a Prairie Dog Village with tons of the cute little critters.
