The Black Hills

 For my birthday this year, Caleb took me to the Black Hills for the weekend.  I'd never been there before, so I was excited to go!
I learned that there's pretty much nothing in north central/west Nebraska other than endless rolling hills and a few cows.  When I moved to Central City from Lincoln, I told people we were moving out pretty much to the middle of nowhere.  But I was wrong.  30 minutes from Walmart and Hy-Vee is nothing compared to 30 miles to your nearest neighbor! 
I didn't take any pics of that part of the trip...
We camped at Big Pine Campground just outside of Custer, SD.  It was the best camping place ever!  They had free wi-fi!  And the cleanest bathrooms I've ever seen at a campground.  And hot showers.  I was very impressed.  Caleb rolled his eyes at me because I was sitting outside my tent checking Facebook while he built a fire.  I'm not much into roughing it.  =)
To get out of the hot sun on Saturday afternoon, we took a tour of Jewel Cave.  I had never been in a cave before and was a little nervous...  But it was huge, so I was not claustrophobic at all.  It is a little creepy just because it's so barren.  It's amazing how God's creation speaks of His glory even 300 feet underground! 
We also drove along the two scenic, twisty roads.  That's where most of the pictures are from. 

Caleb dangling over the edge of a cliff...

We drove through there!

We thought this one looked like a castle.

My attempt at being artistic...  =)

We saw several tree stumps like this.  How on earth do they get all twisty???

 We went to Mount Rushmore for the evening lighting ceremony.  It's amazing to me that they can carve things out of a mountain like that!  And the ceremony was pretty neat. 

 We had a fun, relaxing weekend!  Next time we'll have to take the kids.  =)