Who are the Flintstones?

There are so many things to do in the Black Hills that I was trying to decide what to take the kids to and what to skip this trip.  They both have seen enough bears apparently and weren't interested in Bear Country so that was crossed off our itinerary and when I asked about Flintstone Land, they both yelled, "yes!" Only later did they ask, who are the Flintstones? 

What!?  Who are the Flintstones?!  We definitely had to go after that nonsense question!  These kids needed a lesson on good cartoons!

They loved the train ride to Deadrock.

 

 

 

We sat in the theatre for a while and caught up on some episodes.

Now Ryker understands why Clayton called him Bam Bam.

 

In the air, below the ground, and somewhere just plain weird!

This is the Crazy Horse carving.  We just stopped along the road and didn't actually go in.  It isn't done and may never be as it is privately funded via donations slowly coming in. 

Kya and Grandma taking the ski lift to ride the concrete slide down.

Ryker is wishing he had gone with Grandma, because I didn't pull the bar down in front of us until I looked back and them.  He's not exactly trusting me as far as his safety is concerned right now.

There's the track!

 

  Loving the ride now that the bar is down.

We probably should have switched partners because Kya was telling Grandma to go faster and Ryker was yelling at me to slow down!  Haha....he hasn't seen anything yet.  Just wait until he's old enough to ride the big rides at the fair.  Just ask your Aunt Kara kids.  I hope you have strong stomachs!

 I would have never have gone on this mine tour, but Ryker wanted to.  I went into a mine shaft in Nevada with Seth and Clayton and I think we all came out of there thinking we could go the rest of our lives without going into another underground shaft.  I wasn't scared or claustrophobic, but I have to say, I didn't LOVE it.  Ryker wanted to go the moment he saw it and he hadn't changed his mind by the next day, so into Big Thunder we went.

Mostly amazed the entire trip.

 

Ryker came home wanting a gold mine birthday cake.  It didn't work out this year, but I'm ready for next if he still wants it.

Panning for gold

We loved cruising around Keystone.  We found an out of the way business called the Rock Shed with $5 grab bags.  They were the best!  Polished rocks, unpolished rocks, necklaces, arrowheads.....the list goes on, there was a lot of stuff in those bags.  For those of you that didn't know me in my younger years, I was a bit of a rock nerd....polisher and jewelry maker even.  I can totally relate to the excitement they felt pulling out each rock/gemstone and figuring out what it was and what part of the world it came from.  As soon as we got home, we borrowed Grandma Mary's rock tumbler and got to work shining up all our new treasures.

Next stop:  Cosmos of the Black Hills.  The kids were amazed and amused by this place.  The strange gravitational pull here makes balls appear to roll uphill, allow a chair to sit on a wall, make it feel like you are walking on uneven ground, and much more.  Here our great tour guide, Tori, shows us some tricks.

 

It's best just to hang on to something....

We were in a really small group so my hand raising, always volunteering kids got lots of opportunity to participate.

Ryker wasn't so sure about this one....

The chair of truth.  If he didn't answer her questions honestly, the chair would fall.

 

He didn't fall, but he also had to admit to her that he didn't brush his teeth that morning. That was my fault though.  I packed his stuff up and put it in the car before he had the chance.  She also asked him if he had a girlfriend which he didn't really understand.  All the questions and the demonstration was pretty funny with him up there.

Kya's turn to volunteer.  They needed a shorty!

 

 

What a Rush!

I'm surprised by how much Ryker and Kya loved this place.  We spent a lot more time there than I thought we would.  They were amazed to say the least.

 

1980

 

1986....Hey Dad, you cut Mount Rushmore out!

Kya thought Abe looks like Seth.  I was a bit confused but upon further explanation, it was because of the beard.  Haha, I guess all men with facial hair look the same.

 

We walked the loop below the carving and saw some goats.

 

I couldn't remember if it was Jefferson or Hamilton that was the second face on the car ride down.  Now Kya's messed up too, because she kept telling people after we got back that the second face was Jefferson Hamerson.  It's kind of a joke between her and Ryker now, but I hope she's not sitting in History class someday stuck on a test because she can't get Jefferson Hamerson out of her head!



This was the model they made before the carving.  I didn't know that they had originally planned on carving full busts of the presidents and not just heads.  Time and money shortages resulted in just the heads being finished.  Ryker and Kya loved this building too.  They had a lot of questions that I never expected.  Learning about the secret room behind the carvings really peeked their interest.

 They were even intrigued by the black and white movie that showed how it was built.  I thought it was great, but I thought the film quality might make them lose interest quickly.  It didn't and boy did they had a lot of questions about dynamite after. They needed one more picture after they got their Jr. Ranger vests and their Mount Rushmore patch.