The Black Hills area of South Dakota had so much to offer we decided to stay there an extra day. There were a few things that we tried to jam into our first day that we just didn't get to do and had to fit in. In the morning we set out from our rest stop and headed back down through the Black Hills with our destination being Wind Cave National Park for a cave tour. Our plan was to take our time getting there enjoying 
the scenic views the Black Hills had to offer. We rode through the winding roads and pigtail bridges of South Dakota's Iron Road enjoying stunning views of Mt Rushmore along the way. The road eventually led us into 
a trap and forced us to travel through Custer State Park which of course charged an entrance fee. Since we had to pay anyway we figured we would take an even more scenic route, the wildlife loop. Immediately our decision paid off 
and after about a half hour we were no longer bitter about the entrance fee. We passed dozens of Pronghorn Deer, hundreds of buffalo so close you could touch, and even got to pet some donkeys from our car. After taking a few of the back roads around the state park and doing some bird watching we finally made our way into Wind Cave National Park. This was officially the first National Park we visited and we got to
stamp our National Parks Passport for the first time also. We signed up for the longest most
strenuous tour they had and then ate some PBJ sandwiches in the parking lot while we waited for the tour. The cave was amazing and had some very unique structures which were awesome to look at while we walked around. The strenuous part of the tour was a complete joke as was the tour itself. There were simply too many people on our tour and in the cave in general to get a genuine experience out of it. Still we were both happy to have done it and agreed it
was worth while in the end. After the wind cave we had planned to visit the Jewel Cave. However, after our first cave tour experience and because of the unplanned expedition we took on our way down in the morning we decided to scrap the jewel cave for some bigger and better things, namely the Mt Rushmore Waterslide Park! This was my idea and I was super excited about it. Katie was for it but more annoyed at my boyish excitement for a water park. We ended up getting in for half price since we arrived 2 hours before it closed, but this proved to be more than enough time to enjoy the park and take a free shower afterwards! For dinner we headed back to Rapids City and ate at a sports pub and shared a pizza. Afterwards we headed back to our trusty rest stop for our final night in South Dakota.
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