"Take me back to the black hills, the black hills of Dakota..."
Dunno if any of you actually know that song, but thats where we are now! In the Black Hills of Dakota! Rapid City, South Dakota to be exact!
So what have we done since we blogged last???....?
We flew to Rapid City, South Dakota- we had a tiny airoplane, powered by propeller!- I didnt realise you could get propeller planes anymore!
Had a mini panic, when we arrived in Rapid City airport, and realised it was tiny, and there was no taxi rank or taxi's anywhere!! Luckily we managed to find a express shuttle thing, that wasnt full, so managed to get in on that! phew!
Our hotel is really cool again- called the Alex Johnson, and really old and cool. Loads of American Indian stuff in it, which is cool. Rapid City itself is supposedly the biggest city in the black hills which is worrying, as its tiny! It like nowheresville, USA! nothing here.
But of course the main reason for being here was to see Mount Rushmore, so all good. We headed over to tourist information on our first day (after stopping to play in the snow!) and luckily managed to find some tours still on- nearly everything here is "closed for the season"- a sign we are now sick of seeing!!! Luckily, we found a family run tour going, and booked on that!! The tour was really cool, it was just us and one other guy from India, and the lady who ran it, called Ann. The company was affordable adventures, and was really good- we went to Mount Rushmore, which was interesting and imressive as it looks in pictures- was cool to see, and once again made us realise how patriotic the Americans are, and how they like to remember their history, again making us feel a bit bad about England. It was interesting to hear how the whole project changed, it started off meant to be on a totally different mountain, and of American Indian figures- but the guy who ended up doing it, found a better place to build it, and said it should be of influential Americans, so it ended up how it is! Wont bore you too much, but it was interesting!
We then went to the Crazy Horse memorial- which is amazing! The Indian Elders approached a sculpture (who had actually worked at Mt Rushm. for a bit) to build a statue of crazy horse, so that "the white man can see that the red man has heroes too" which is cool. The story of it is really interesting too- again, wont bore you too much, but worth finding out about if you are interested- The guy who started it, refused Government funding, as he beleived they would intefere and change the plans, like at Mt Rushmore, so its funded totally by donations and tourist money, and he started working on his own, build his own cabin to live in and everything. Then he got married, had 10 kids, and all the kids started working too. sadly he passed away, but his kids all still work there, his wife still lives in the cabin there, which you can look round, and 7 of the 10 kids (now adults!) all still work there- and they still refuse government funding.
After that, we went through Custer state National Park, which was very cool- saw wildlife, including buffalo. Anne, the tour leader was really friendly and informative.
The next day, feeling brave, and realising there is actually hardly any traffic here, we went and rented a car, and Lisa drove in America!! May not sound that great, but I think its brave- driving in a different country, and in a car you have never been in before etc, I was actually also jealous- I have never really had that much interest in driving before, but the roads here are big and wide and empty, and for the first time in my life, I actually felt a real yearning to drive. We had a great day today, drove all round the black hills and the badlands, had a cool car too- a funky, sporty, yellow Chevrolet. Cool! We went to Jewel Cave, apparently the 2nd biggest cave in the world. It was interesting, and cool to be so deep underground etc. Then we went to Deadwood, which is the strangest place ever, like a cross between Vegas and Weston!!! The whole place is full of casino's and slot machines, and it seemed like the entire over 60's population was there gambling!! everyone was so old!! lol!! weird place though, just casinos and slot machines everywhere!!
Thats our last day here, and we fly to Bozeman, Montana tomorrow (via Denver- have to change planes) to try and see if we can get into Yellowstone- a lot of that looks like it might be shut for winter too! doh! Have a room booked in a hostel there, then work out if/how we can get into yellowstone!!

Quick food update, tried buffalo meat on our first day here- I had all you can eat buffalo ribs (mmmm!!!) Lisa had a burger. was nice, like beef, but a bit meatier and tastier. No other interesting meals really, just standard fair!
Not really much in rapid city, do havent really done much drinking oor going out, just having quiter nights, as we have been up and out early.