Mount Rushmore

Our second day in Custer, SD, we visited Mount Rushmore National Monument.

On the drive from Custer to Rushmore, you also pass an in-progress carving of Crazy Horse.

While the faces on the mountain make Mt. Rushmore worth visiting, the gift shop was one of the best I've been to ... as a national monument, it has all kinds of American themed gifts like pins, hats, etc. Very patriotic.

The monument itself includes the gift shop, a museum that shows a 15-20 video clip about the history of the carvings (narrated by South Dakotan Tom Brokaw), a mall of flags from all fifty states, an ampitheater for special events (George H.W. Bush spoke there when the monument was officially dedicated), and a walking path that goes near the foot of the mountain.

A great American vacation/tourist destination (also only $10 for a car ... that is good for a full year).

Enjoy the pictures.

Crazy Horse carving ... this is from the highway.

Scenic views in the Black Hills Forest

Wildlife at the base of Mount Rushmore

Next stop ... 1880 train that runs from Hill City to Keystone!

Jewel Cave - Custer, SD

After leaving Little Bighorn, we drove to Buffalo, Wyoming, for the night.

This is apparently a popular stopping off point for travelers going to and from Yellowstone, and we enjoyed a nice night at a brand new Hampton Inn.

From Buffalo, we drove to the Black Hills of South Dakota to spend three days and nights in the Mount Rushmore area. There we explored Jewel Cave (well two of us did anyway), visited Mt. Rushmore, and took a ride on an 1880 train.

Here are pics up through the cave. Enjoy.

Stopped at a great rest area in Moorcroft, Wyoming (rest areas or exits with anything on them are few and far between) ... good playground, historic marker to show this area was part of the Texas Trail (read below), and a brisk, fresh wind blowing at least 35 mph steady. We stayed a good thirty minutes or so, had it to ourselves, and really liked it.

If Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call had been real (instead of fictional characters in Lonesome Dove) ... this is the path they would have driven their cattle. This was a real neat place.

Into the Black Hills of South Dakota.

A forest fire and pine beetles had left some devastating effects on parts of the forest.

Here you go Ronny K

Jewel Cave ... not my idea of fun, but these other two explorers were gung ho to go down the 2nd largest cave in the world.

This little contraption is meant to mimic what these spelunkers at Jewel Cave call "the miseries" ... there is a tour you can take where you have to be able to crawl through this opening in order to go on the tour ... I was pretty sure I could do it, but didn't want to show off. These cave explorers crawl through 700 feet (!) of space this size to get through the miseries ... then they have to crawl the other direction to get back. Crazy.

You knew who would give it a try. We got her out after twenty minutes or so.

Back at a nice Holiday Inn Express in historic Custer, SD.

Filling in the grandparents on a cold, rainy night.

Finishing a long day off with pizza on the balcony.

Next up ... Mount Rushmore!