"I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing." ~Socrates

Lusk rarely had firework displays. It was too expensive for the city to put together. The shows that were done were not very good, thus, making July 4th less than special. This is why grandpa loaded us up, hitched on the Airstream and drove my brother and me to the Black Hills every first week of July, so that we could always see the huge show put on in Custer, South Dakota.
It always started with weeks of anticipation. Camping was the best part of the entire summer. Grandpa always planned our activities in advance, choosing places that he thought us kids would really enjoy.
The first day of vacation, we'd leave home around 9 a.m. and coast the highway at 55 for over 3 hours, jamming to Ray Stevens, to arrive at Palmer Gulch. Palmer Gulch is a KOA camp, but it's more than just a lot with trailers parked and tents popped up with a small barbeque pit. Granted the camp did have this, but it is set right behind Mt. Rushmore and so the camp is surrounded by the legendary Black Hills, in which Marc and I wandered and hiked through repeatedly. There is a pool at the front and a pool at the back, plus a pond for fishing and peddle boats. There is a huge waterslide that came second only to the Whale Slide at Evan's Plunge (of which I'll explain later). There is a cozy eatery, as well as an ice cream shop, and a small arcade. The camp provides horseback tours, holds Native American Pow-Wows and dances, and has weekly watermelon feeds.
There are actual tipi's set up in the hills, along with forts, for the kids to be able to play Cowboys & Indians in a realistic setting. To help with the game, you could stop in the gift shop and pick up items for your costumes (Full feather head dress and a tomahawk were my annual purchases, while my brother picked up guns and cowboy hats).
Such an amazing place...designated to the same file as home is in my brain.
So, anyway, the first day...
We'd get there around lunch time and just run off to see if anything had changed from last year as gramps set up the trailer and got everything ready and livable for the week. We'd run for hours, meet our new best friends for the week and then finally go back to camp for night.
The days that followed were full of action. Every year we returned to some of the tourist attractions (Rushmore, Crazy Horse Mountain, the Flintstones Park and Evan's Plunge), but we'd also check out new places (Reptile Gardens, The Maze, The Mammoth Site...too many to name).
Our favorite annual destination was always Evan's Plunge in Hot Springs, which is - in fact - a pool from the hot springs below the surface. It has three waterslides: the Whale which is just a huge winder slide, a speed slide straight down for you to hydroplane across the water, and this crazy slide that lasts forever turning this way and that at an incredibly high speed just to shoot you out into a pool they built outside of the building. I never tired of shooting down one slide and running to the next, and I did this for hours on end. When I wasn't sliding, I was diving to the bottom for rocks (as this is, remember, a natural pool) or watching the bigger kids crossing the pool on the rings.
Damn that place is a good time...
My favorite place of those that we only visited once was The Cosmos. This part of the world is backwards, up is down and left is right. It is one of the few "mystery spots" of the planet where gravity doesn't make sense. For example, they had me sit on a chair that after being picked up to show no strings were attached was propped only on one leg and I sat perfectly balanced with no sign of  toppling over. Balls roll up hill and there is a cabin where you walk in on a floor and end up on the walls. Amazing just doesn't really describe the place.
After the week wound down, I'd always be sad to go back home where there were no slides, no mountains, no history, and no theme parks, but I'd remind myself that I'd be back next year and I knew it was going to be even better.
Those were the days, full of fun, camp stew with ketchup, and marshmallow roasting. Oh that life could have continued to be so carefree and easy...