Westward Ho - Day Six

Mt. Rushmore
Keystone, South Dakota - Casper, Wyoming

We had planned to stay a whole day and another night at Mt. Rushmore, but now that we were trying to get Rick back for the Saturday night flight, opted to hurry on to Casper, Wyoming that evening in order to try and make it to Salt Lake City the next day.

I was worried that it wouldn't be enough time for me there - but it was. I would still love to spend a long weekend there at some point in the future, and see other things around the town of Keystone. Hopefully we'll make a return trip when the little one's are older.

I LOVED Mt. Rushmore. The site probably benefited from my overall love of South Dakota, and the joy I was still experiencing being there - but really, it was great. The park is very well managed, and did not seem too crowded. Super clean, well organized and very easy to get around. It only cost $10 for our car to get in - and that's a year long pass. I wish we lived closer, because I'd surely go again.

Rick and Rebekah rented the hand-held audio tour devices, but I figured I'd be so busy keeping track of the kids I wouldn't use one. Every now & then Rick handed his to me to hear something interesting.

Gutzon Borglum - the sculptor of Mt. Rushmore. Did you know that he also sculpted the Lincoln Memorial in DC?

The avenue of flags - this is the walkway leading up to the entrance plaza. Each state in the union, with information about when they joined, etc carved into the pillar beneath it.

This is actually the best picture I could get of the three of them ....

Emily, working on her Jr. Ranger booklet.
Bravo to Rick for knowing that South Dakota's state bird is a turkey vulture!

Jacob & Jane got younger versions to work on, so they could also earn their Jr. Ranger badges. When I asked Jane what color rocks she saw on the mountain she said "purple" - it's her favorite color. Although there was no purple to be seen, they still gave her her badge.

We were delighted to see these ladybugs on the side of the trail eating aphids. We released 1,000 ladybugs in our garden right before we left - I hope they are busy doing this very thing while we are gone!

The trail was less than a mile, wide, clean, not strenuous (even though Jane fell asleep on my shoulder I managed it easily), and covered in most places with boardwalk. It circled the monument, and I loved that we could see it from so many different angles.

At the end there is a sculptors studio which shows how Gutzon Borglum had intended it to look. (He died before it was completed.)

After we did the trail we had lunch in the fantastic cafe there. I think it was the first time on the trip that I felt like we had a real meal and definitely the first time Jane ate anything significant. Again, very well done. The cafe is huge and well organized, the entire side consists of huge windows giving a great view of the monument. The food was great too. Rick, Jane and I had bison stew. Like the jerky we tried, I was impressed with how tender and lean it was. They had great whole wheat rolls too. The other kids had pasta. Yum.

After lunch we piled back in the car and went to the crazy horse monument.
I have to say it was much less impressive. It was $27 to get in, just for the hour we were there, and it's not even finished! It actually doesn't seem like they've made any progress in the past 10 years (since unveiling the face.)
You can't really get close to the monument, and the museum was not all that impressive either. For a tribute to the Native American people, we didn't spot one Native American looking person anywhere there. I'm still glad we went, since it was on our way - but if we return to Sth. Dakota, we'll give this a miss until it's finished.

After Crazy Horse we went to a Mammoth excavation site. Does anyone remember when Rebekah was 6 or 7 and spent about a year obsessed with archeology, especially the Mammoth? It was pretty cool to see and we added a big Mammoth & baby to our plastic animal collection.

Then, it was onto Casper, Wyoming. We stopped in a small, small town at a grocery store to get dinner. I'm always fascinated by places like that & the people who live there. The lady in the grocery store knew we were traveling. I wondered how, until she called both people in line behind us by their first names. Oh, she knew we weren't from there, because she knows everyone in town!

South Dakota, you are beautiful. I will miss you, and be back someday.