We ended up stopping in Custer, Wyoming. It’s is a cute little town named after the famed Civil War General George A. Custer. He did an expedition to map the Black Hills, and later they named the town after him. It’s a tourist town, with the cutest old western style to it. Old saloons and old stores that have been around for over 100 years. It’s a real fun place to walk around. While we were there they were celebrating the 4th of July… they had an old fashioned carnival in the park, with free games for the kids, Colonel Custer, and Calamity Jane walking around (actors). They had a farmers market going with lots of fun things to look at. There was live music, and contests. Jawbreaker and Spitz were in a hotdog eating contest. There were also a couple of old museums to visit.
My favorite was the old county courthouse turned into a museum. They have a great collection of 
things. An old replica mine the kids could walk into. The museum had lots of rocks and stuffed birds and animals. The old courtroom, which was beautiful, and looked like it was right out of a movie. (It actually was in a movie.) There was a prison cell in the basement, they had a replica store, replica school room, replica clerks office, a ranch room, and a knife and gun display. It was inexpensive to get in. Our large family got in for $10.
Other things we didn’t do but they have in town…magic show, and Flintstone campground, and amusement park. Custer is probably under 5 miles from Crazy Horse. So we stopped and took pictures in front of it, but didn’t go in the park. It’s $28 to get in, and you can see it from the road, for us, we didn’t need much more than just saying we saw it.
We got to Keystone, South Dakota in the afternoon. We decided to catch up on some things, so we setup camp, and did laundry/showers. We made it to Mount Rushmore by 7pm. We walked around the museums, and watched the video they have about Mount Rushmore. I kind of took for granted what a complicated project carving Mount Rushmore was. It really is quite a phenomenon. Their technique to create it was amazing. I love seeing what peoples ingenuity can do, and learning about it made it that much more magnificent.
I also have to say, there are NO photos I have ever seen that do justice to Mount Rushmore. The setting is spectacular. It really is a beautiful place. There are times when I get so frustrated at the limitations of a camera, and this was one of those, I hardly wanted to take pictures, because nothing was capturing what I saw with the naked eye.
After going through the museum, we sat in the amphitheater and listened to a concert by the “Brass in Blue”, an Air Force brass band.
They were wonderful, and at the end while they sang the National Anthem they lit Mount Rushmore. It was a great way to spend a 4th of July week.
Mount Rushmore’s celebrates the 4th of July on the 3rd (actually their biggest events were on the 3rd) and the 4th, so either day you can spend there. They usually shoot fireworks. But with all the fires lately, they canceled fireworks. Pretty much everywhere we have been in South Dakota fireworks are canceled. Probably the one thing we missed that if given a chance I would do, is the walking audio tour. They have an audio device you can rent for $5 and walk around the grounds to hear the history of Mount Rushmore. They closed renting at 6pm and we got there at 7pm, so we missed the chance to do that. We still could have walked the grounds, but never did get to that.
Mount Rushmore definetly trumped any 4th of July we’ve previously had. Even without fireworks, I’m glad that’s where we were at Mount Rushmore this year.
Summary of Day 5
Drove: 30 miles
Places we visited: Custer County Museum, Custer City 4th of July, Crazy Horse, and Mount Rushmore.
Favorite thing we did today:
Fireball: purchasing a bow and arrow in Custer
Jawbreaker: Climbing the mountain to Custer town sign
Starburst: Fair in Custer
Bazooka: Custer County Museum and Mount Rushmore
Spitz: Mount Rushmore Flag Ceremony and Custer Hotdog Eating Contest
Warhead : Mount Rushmore and parts of museum about George Washington
Mr. and Mrs. S: Mount Rushmore
godncountry 
I have NEVER seen Mt Rushmore, so hope you saw more of it for me!
Mount Rushmore has the mother of all gift shops. Its the the holy grain of gift shops. I’ve never seen so many products with the 3 faces on them, everything from shot glasses to golf tees to beef jerky. There is no equal to the Mount Rushmore gift shop.
Make that 4 faces. I know how many faces are on Mt. Rushmore.
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