Day three dawned with what we thought was a sound of rain....no, it turns out it was rustling cottonwood leaves in the wind. The day is bright, clear and crisp. After meeting cowboy, ranch owner, Phillip at breakfast, we can say we have met a real cowboy. In addition to Circle View Ranch B&B, he and Amy have over 100 head of cattle. The ranch has been in his family for many years and his 96 year old dad lives next door.
We enjoy a breakfast fit for a ranch hand and hurry on our way to Custer State Park near Mt. Rushmore. We make one last run through the Badlands Park, this time with the sun at our backs and the rocks take on an entirely new look. The park is truly amazing. Way beyond prehistoric. The promo materials coined the phrase "where rugged is considered beautiful.". We were all moved by the beauty as well as inspired.
Arriving at Custer State Park is a welcome sight. The land is much more rugged than the area we pass through enroute with peaks, valleys and grasslands abounding. We thought the Badlands couldn't be beat, but Custer is awesome in a totally different way. We enjoy a very nice lunch in the State Game Lodge (summer White House of Calvin Coolidge). We continued to tour the park with one awesome peak or spire after another. 
In the meantime, we are all looking for the massive herds of bison that are said to reside in the park. We are nearly ready to leave, having only seen a few bison. As we exited the park, the ranger told us where to find plenty of bison and we headed there in a hurry. ( along with all of the other visitors he had told the same thing!). We did indeed see our bison. There were supposed to be about 1,000 in the herd.
We left Custer State Park and headed to Crazy Horse. What a surprise for all of us. Lydia and Jerry had been there in the middle 1970s with the boys and they could barely make out the statue in the rock. Today, there is much more accomplished. There is an extensive Indian museum, large gift shop and excellent documentary on the beginnings of the entire Crazy Horse project.
Upon leaving Crazy Horse, we headed to Keystone where we had reserved rooms at the Battle Creek Lodge. We were promptly checked in and enjoyed drinks and snacks on the balcony deck. Our plans were to go to see Mt. Rushmore in time for the light show in the evening and we were there in plenty of time.
Again, much had changed since Lydia and Jerry had visited in the 70s. We found seats in the amphitheater and waited until dark for the show. We were not disappointed. After an excellent monologue from the park ranger with the history of this part of the country, mainly focusing on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. So glad we had brushed up on some of this part of history as it was much more meaningful. We then watched an excellent documentary telling why each of the four presidents was chosen to be honored with the Mt. Rushmore legacy. Again, an excellent program. As the presidential statues were lighted, all military active, retired and national guard were invited to come to the stage where they were each asked to give their name and branch of service. Six of them were asked to assist in retiring the flag for the end of the day. All in all, quite a moving ceremony.
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