Sightseeing Day:
- Bear Country USA
- Rushmore Borglum Museum
- Mount Rushmore
Up and off early this morning. We drove into the outskirts of Rapid City and had breakfast at the Roadway Inn--it was recommended to be a good tasting and reasonably priced breakfast. Dave really liked his meal, but mine was just ho-hum. However, we had free entertainment as a young girl (probably early 20s) rear-ended a couple in their 70s. No one was hurt, but the girl shed quite a few tears at the damage to her car. The older couple's car seemed relatively undamaged.
Our next stop was at the Black Hills National Park ranger station. We got some good tips on how to take the drives around the area and the things that are worth seeing--of course the ranger couldn't comment on privately owned attractions, but we got some good tips. Dave had to take a picture of me with Smokey.
I just couldn't resist getting MiniMoose a pal. So, now Dave is doubly upset with me because I have also given MiniSmokey a new name. HER (yea, see why he's mad) name is Smookie. Much better than Smokey. Isn't "she" adorable?
Bear Country USA was our next destination. It's a drive-through "zoo" where we are in cages (our cars) and the animals are relatively "free." If you call being within fenced areas as free. We saw elk, mountain sheep, rams, wolves, mountain lions, donkeys, bison, and peacocks; but, the bears were the highlights. They have over 100 bears in this facility--yes, it's large.
The bears' antics were entertaining and you could see their individual personalities. We even had a nature lesson that stopped traffic! The bears walked right up next to your car. There was a bear sentry that walked back and forth in front of the gate that let cars in. It's really a driveway that has a cattle grate, so he couldn't venture past it. But, he paced back and forth only letting one car through at a time. A bear tried to jump on the back bumper of the car right in front of us. It was really funny, the more the driver tried to move the car forward, the more the bear tried to hop on board.
After the driving portion, we parked our car and walked to a more zoo-like setting to view baby animals. The wolf cubs were cute and energetic. The bear cubs were all but tuckered out.
We finished walking around just as there was a thunder cloud burst.
Our next stop was to the city of Keystone. This is a quaint tourist town with a Western flavor. We wanted to visit the Rushmore Borglum Museum before viewing the monument at Mount Rushmore. We thought we'd have more of an appreciation for the monument if we understood how it came to be and more about the man who designed and carved the monument. We were sure glad we visited this first.
Naturally, Dave spotted a nest of Robins just above the entry door to the museum. Aren't they cute?
Not only did we learn so much about the man, but we were in for a surprise. He also was instrumental in getting Stone Mountain in Georgia carved. Of course, we have been there several times. Gutzon Borglum had a difference of opinion with the Stone Mountain powers-that-be, so he smashed all of his models, left the project, and his work was removed from the face of Stone Mountain. But, his innovation and design were enough to get it all started. The techniques he developed for carving Stone Mountain enabled him to create Mount Rushmore.
By now we are getting hungry and finding a place to park is a bit of a challenge. So, we finally found a place to park right in front of a Mexican restaurant. Well, who would have "thunk" we'd be eating Mexican in a Western town. Leave it to us!
Our next adventure was to drive to Mount Rushmore. The drive is beautiful and the landscape changes quite dramatically to large granite stones. Soon we rounded and corner and there she was. What a thrill. We pulled off the road at the small turnout and just gawked.
I took this picture with a car in it to give you some perspective of the monument's size.
The entry to the monument is framed with flags from all 50 states. Each state is etched into one of 4 sides on the columns along the walkway. Each column provides the date the state was admitted to the USA.
At the base of the monument is an amphitheater. There is also a museum that explains how the monument was created, but because we had already gotten a dose of that at the Borglum Museum, we skimmed right through that display. We did watch two videos that showed movies and events at the time of the building and unveiling of the monument, which we did not see at the Borglum Museum. The park service also presented a video about the flora, fauna, and wildlife in the area. Of course, when the birds were discussed, Dave was all ears!
We took lots of pictures and then sauntered on to the HUGE gift shop. I have never seen such a large gift shop. We left after purchasing our usual souvenir charm. On the way back through Keystone, Dave spotted a couple of western stores so he had to stop and shop. We also stopped at the Dairy Queen for a blizzard. I sat in the car enjoying my cool, refreshing, Girl Scout Mint Cookie blizzard while Dave shopped. His milk shake, meanwhile, was melting.
We enjoyed the scenic drive home. As soon as we got back to the RV, Dave crashed for the night. I just wear him out!! I warmed up the Mexican casserole that I had made a couple of nights ago and ate that--it really wasn't very good, so glad Dave slept through that meal.
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