Day 7 - Sept. 3, 2011

We drove through historic Custer, South Dakota, on our way to our next destination. We made a note to return to Custer to look around.


What a surprise to see a really large elk cross the highway right in front of us. We had seen him crossing through the valley toward the highway, and I yelled, "Slow down, Sid. He's going to hit us!" He yelled back, "I see it and don't yell at me!" I yelled back, "Sorry about yelling!"

Later, we spoke to the people traveling in the car behind us who said they were certain they were about to witness a motorcycle/elk collision! Since elk are rather shy, we never expected to see any on this trip. We felt lucky that we had already seen longhorn sheep, whitetail deer, mule deer, Merriam's Wild Turkey, and lots of buffalo. On top of it all, I managed to get a photo while yelling at Sid! We are so blessed!


Of course we had to visit Jewel Cave National Monument, located in the Black Hills, not far from Custer State Park. Jewel Cave is a unique world of sparkling calcite crystals and other spectacular cave formations. The cave is currently the second longest in the world, at 155.12 miles. The most recent miles were found just last month! According to our ranger guide, this cave has many more miles yet to be explored.


Just a couple of the fascinating formations at Jewel Cave. We explored for an hour and a half and loved every minute of it. The longest cave in the world is Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, the cave that started our obsession with caving! We have been to so many caves, we can't remember them all...just can't pass up a great cave...