Day 14-16 Mount Rushmore Area

On Wednesday July 8, we woke up in Gillette WY, and saw the "Devils Tower" National Monument , which is more properly called the Bear Lodge National Monument. All the Indian nations called it something like Bears Lodge, and the caucasian explorer just came up with his own name, but claimed Devils Tower was the Indian name. Devils Tower was the backdrop for the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, so we had to see it. Cray earned his fourth Junior Ranger badge there, after we heard a great talk from a Lakotan (Sioux) Indian woman about the Indian tradition there. We then ate lunch in Strawberry Hill National Forest in SD before going to Mount Rushmore in the afternoon.

WOW...... I really thought we had so much fun in Grand Canyon that the other sites would not be able to compete. But the whole trip was truly amazing. Mount Rushmore was as moving to me as sites in DC. Sure you know what it looks like, but seeing that in person really touched me (Colleen). Sometimes I think Council is challenging, and it was a humble reminder of the awesome responsibility our Presidents have. Wow. Indeed, this was the day that Greenpeacers had climbed Mt Rushmore, and furled a banner regarding global warming, but we didn't get there until the afternoon, and the rangers were not mentioning it. Cray earned his fifth Junior Ranger badge of the trip. As we left to find our B&B, a hail storm found us on the road and followed us to our B&B, Coyote Blues. Great place.

That night we saw the Crazy Horse Memorial laser show. This is a place dedicated to honoring the Indian nations, but yet the builder apparently ticked off the Lakotan and Dakotan Indians, who asked him to build it, so they do not participate any longer. They are making progress on the horse's head. The laser show was interesting.

Thursday, we went to Mammoth Site where there are 150+ Columbian mammoths, much larger than wooly mammoths. Cray participated in a Jr Paleontological Dig, where he found a faux mammoth femur. We then went to a Chuckwagon Cookout at Custer State Park, where we took a hayride and sang cowboy songs and did the Chicken dance. Then we saw the inspiring night lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore. On the way home (our temp home) from Rushmore, again it hailed. I'm talking popcorn sized hail for 5 minutes. We had to pull over. There seems to be some connection between Rushmore and us, requiring hail. Is this some message from the heavens? We don't know what the message is yet.

Friday, we saw Jewel Cave National Monumnent . We went 379 feet underground in the Scenic Tour. It was a very safe tour underground, unlike what Colleen experienced in ATM in Belize back in 2007. Cray earned his sixth Junior Ranger Badge. Then we headed for Colorado to fly out Saturday from Denver. We had a great dinner in Fort Collins on College Ave. Neat town.

[Chris will enhance this blog with pictures and videos.]

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