Our second full day in the Black Hills was a full day.

Lily and I started off with a trip into Custer for an impromtu thank-you-for-squeezing-us-in visit to the groomers. It turns out as we were packing up to leave the Badlands, Lily got herself tangled in some sticky fly tape we had hanging near the dinette table. It was bad and Jessie had to cut some it out. The first groomer we called was booked full until November, so I was very grateful when someone offered to fit Lily into her already-full schedule.

After the quick morning of beauty with Lily the girls and I headed to the Cosmos Mystery Area. This is one of those places that promises to be in a special spot where people change in size and the laws of gravity don't apply. I've always wanted to go to see what it is like.

We started off cracking open Agates. Mysterious!

Jessie is shorter, Jessie is taller. Wha?!

You stand in strange angles because of the mysterious gravitational force!

Jessie felt really disoriented and sick. She said she nearly threw up.

Here's the shack where we viewed all the oddities. Notice that the gravitational pull here is so strong even the trees bend around it as they grow.

After lunch the girls went for a trail ride. The Mt. Rushmore KOA has a lot of activities for the family, you could spend all day in the campground and keep yourself plenty busy.

Jessie took this picture because at the top of the mountain ahead is Harney Peak. Important because...

Meanwhile, I went for a hike up to Harney Peak.

The mountain and its beautiful stone fire lookout sit prominently above the KOA camp so we have seen it many times and wanted to hike up to it. This was my time.

We had a big rain storm during dinner, after which the clouds in the sky got really interesting.

Then at 1 am the storm woke us up.