Hill City SD

After we had completed everything to establish our domicile in South Dakota, we still had some time and lots of things we hadn't seen yet.  We decided to move to a more scenic RV park closer to some of the attractions of the area.  We chose Rafter J Ranch in Hill City SD.  It is a large RV park that is spread out with different groups of sites.  We ended up facing a large meadow.

Crazy Horse Monument is only 5 miles from there.  It cost $10 per person admittance to the visitor center.  We really didn't spend a lot of time there.  We could have paid more to take a bus tour that went closer to the monument and we could've paid additional money to visit the museum.  We got a return pass for an additional visit so we could come back at night for the laser show.  The laser show was pretty good.  The native american music set the mood.  The final display was the outline of what the monument will look like when completed. 

We took a ride on a steam train while in Hill city.  For some time we have watched the programs on PBS on steam trains and thought that would be something fun to do.  We enjoyed it... riding in the open cars between the granite walls and hearing the whistle blow (19 times) for crossings.  It was surprising to find out that the train does not burn coal...it never has.  It runs on recycled motor oil.  If it ran on coal there would be too much danger of sparks causing fires.