Saturday... In the Park...

And, yes, it WAS the fourth of July! The irony was not lost on us when that fine little ditty, courtesy of Chicago, played during our expedition through Custer National Park. Really, I'm not even sure how often the Fourth falls on a Saturday but I can tell you we don't go to parks all that often!

What a beautiful ride it was! When we first entered the park, there was a nice little lake surrounded by hills, trees and all the other glorious naturey-type things you might expect by a lake. Oh and lots of tourists too! The park is split into different areas because you can see many types of terrain without leaving the park. So we got outta that touristy lake area pretty quick and headed for the section called The Needles. We had to enter under this one-lane tunnel through rock just to begin our journey. The scenery was breathtaking! Hills and trees lay out before you as far as the eyes can see, but you're also surrounded by majestic spires of stone that seem to come up out of nowhere. The road through this area is full of twists and turns and hooks. Sometimes the speed limit was just 5 miles per hour due to the sharp turns. It was fun and there was so much to see.

When we got through that section of the park we were glad to happen upon a General Store with grills set up outside. The morning's complimentary continental breakfast was wearing thin and the aroma of freshly seared meat had our mouths watering! There was one choice - a bison burger. We thought at first that perhaps it would be dry, but to our delight it was quite the contrary. With full bellies and empty bladders, we ventured on to the wildlife loop of the park.

What a difference in terrain - you'd think you entered a different country! There were soft, rolling hills in the distance and wide open meadows. Early into this stretch, we came upon a huge traffic jam - people jumping out of cars, cameras flailing about - that surely could only be caused by a giant herd of buffalo or some other scarcely seen wildlife. I realized how much I must take Wisconsin wildlife for granted when we realized all this activity was for one tiny deer, waaay off in the distance. By a rock. Surprisingly this happened several times! We saw a group (pack? herd?) Of wild horses that were very beautiful. I was, however, disturbed to see several families approaching them, with little kids running full speed in their direction. Maybe its just me but that sure seemed dangerous! Finally, near the end of the loop, we also saw a prarie dog pasture. Those little guys are just too cute!

Earlier in the day we had purchased tickets to tour Jewel Cave, so on our way back to Newcastle we stopped off for that. Jewel Cave is the third largest known cave in the world. Exploration is ongoing and miles of new area are discovered each year. The scenic tour we took was approximately 732 steps up and down throughout the cave. One of my favorite parts was when we entered a particular chamber and the guide asked us all to turn off our cameras and phones. He then flipped a switch and it was the darkest dark you could ever imagine! There were many types of formations to see throughout the tour and at one point we were kind of inside a giant geode. Oh I think the neatest thing to see was near the end. There was a particular type of formation that literally looked like a giant slice of bacon growing on the side of the cave wall!! It looked good enough to eat!

Speaking of eating, guess where we went for dinner? If you said Pizza Barn, you would be correct! There's not much selection in Newcastle and on our way out we saw them hand tossing dough. Plus they have a stone pizza oven. It was a tasty choice and a nice way to end the day.

But the day wasn't quite over yet! When we got back to the Sundowner, Michelle realized that she did not have her purse. It turns out that while she was packing up their leftovers in the saddle bag, she set it down on the back of their bike. Then we drive away! Turns out that it was discovered by a veteran who lived a few blocked from the Pizza Barn. He called the Sundowner because he found the room key in the purse. So she and Dan went and picked it up and thanked a vet for our freedom while they were at it! Now that was a nice way to end the day!