Morning Breakfast at Fort Hayes and Mt. Rushmore Tours in Rapid City SD

So......  we bought tickets for the Fort Hayes bus tour through South Dakota.  We actually thought about doing this on our trip through the area in 2012...  but we decided to do our own driving, and explore on our own.

We reconsidered for this trip.  We still wanted to see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, but we thought doing it on a bus with a tour company might be a fun experience....  and it was!

So, for just a tad over a hundred bucks each, we spent over 12 hours hanging out with the guys at Fort Hayes and on their bus.

When you add up the fees you would have to pay on your own....  admission fees to Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and Custer State Park....  add in gas, plus breakfast and dinner, plus the cool music at the dinner show...  Well, we were happy with the dollar value of the whole thing!

We arrived at Fort Hayes around 7:30 in the morning.  There is a very nice cowboy breakfast.  You get a tin plate and then you get some food (I had biscuits, gravy and sausage...  my wife had pancakes).  It was VERY cowboyish.  Especially with the black coffee in a tin cup.  It wasn't Cracker Barrel but it was satisfying and good.  We enjoyed it!

Oh, there was a GREAT fellow playing patriotic and other songs on the piano!  He was right out of an old western!

After Breakfast, we explored the shops and things to see at Fort Hayes.  Fort Hayes has a very strong connection to the film, Dances with Wolves.  Props are here, and a building where some major scenes were filmed is here.  It was pretty cool.

We walked around the shops, fake jail, blacksmith, etc.  They had a couple of very cool gift shops.  There was a guy making metal medallions you could buy as souvenirs for $5 (yes, I had to buy one).  Also, you know those fun smashing penny machines at tourist sites?  Well, here they have a more primitive version of that.  You can still buy a smashed penny, BUT you have to buy it from a fellow who feeds the penny in with pliers!  WATCH YOUR FINGERS!

There are some fun photo ops here and there (the previously mentioned fake jail, some buffalo statues, and an old western wooden coffin).

After our breakfast and walking around the western village, announcements were made that the bus would be loading.  We all got ready and started to get on the bus.

Our bus driver, the Reverend Bill Martin (much more on him later) introduced himself and discussed our agenda for the day.  He told jokes, and was an incredible guide.  Again, I will tell more later, but Reverend Bill literally gave me the best laugh I have had in months!