Advertisement
Published: October 9th 2008
Rapid City, South Dakota
We see more of Rapid City this morning as we start our day's activities headed to the Black Hills. Rolling hills of different shapes, sizes, and colors blanket the countryside. It was nice to take a very relaxing morning morning before headeing out, though now running later than we had expected to get our tour stops in. No worries. We will see what we are able to see and leave the rest for other planning.
Bear Country USA
What a treat this was! For the most part, the animals here live in a pretty natural habitat for their particular species. You slowly drive through each area trying to heed the warning of the greeter to stay in your car and keep windows rolled up. There were warnings posted along the way as well - further instructing what to do if in trouble. So, as tame as it might seem, these were animals in the wild. Each major area is sectioned off only by a cattleguard in the road that would catch a hoof if the animal tried to leave. Yet, we did see one in particular that was on the wrong side of their
expansive enclosure. Luckily, not in a predator's space.
Our late arrival caught many of the animals napping but it was still a great visit to a very unique place. We drove through the area at the required minimum speeds, stopping often to look for the particular animals in their habitats or observe them just passig the time of day. The bear habitat was especiiallly interesting. They are free to roam right up to your car or frolic together as we caught two younger bears doing). The sun was very hot beating down on the open fields so even the bears had sought shade or protection in the man-made structures provided.
Babyland was set-up more like a zoo. So, Jerry scootered about at his own pace as we watched for the smaller animals in all man-made enclosures. There was also a larger area for the grizzlies - not as natural and expansive as the black bears had it. We're not quite sure why the difference but since grizzlies were one of the animals Jerry had so hoped to see, it was nice for him to finally see one, albeit it not in the truest sense of the wild.
There must have been about 15 black bear cubs huddled in the sahde, napping so cute you wanted to just go lay down with them to cuddle. However, there was one little guy that kept trying to rouse just one of the others to play, nipping at ears or pushing against them to get them up. Alas, one other cub rolled with him for a very little while and then he was just left there, wanting and waiting for a playmate. He looked so cuddly and cute - Rita would have loved to have gone down and spent some time with him. It was not meant to be.
We will let our pictures walk you through the numerous animals we saw. We took many more than we are sharing but we know in hindsight, there's only so many bear pictures a person might be interested in going through though at the time, they were all so different to us. Where we have gone the entire trip with only one bear siting, here, every turn of the car gave you a different view of different ones.
Having gotten such a late start to the day, it was all too
Greeter
He's not real but oh so cutequickly, time to move on.
Mount Rushmore
We rolled through the Black Hills and finally, caught the first glimpse of Mount Rushmore. Rita had not seen it for some twenty years - Jerry had never seen it. So, we might as well have been high school children, pointing excitedly at each view getting to the entrance. A lot has been done to make it more accessible so once again, Jerry's scooter came out and he was happy to roam freely. Though we might have felt like high-schoolers, there is such a greater appreciation for what one is seeing as an adult.
It took awhile but we finally found the Wisconsin state flag amidst the parade of state flags. Do you Wisconsinites know when Wisconsin became part of the Union? Jerry did. One of the pictures will give you that information - we'll let you think about it right now and ponder a guess 😊
We took the long, scooter accessible route and noted each president's information. Two you will find on pictures. The other two were on a path around the other way that was step-filled and thus, unaccessible for Jerry. So, we'd like to keep
you guessing on who the presidents are as well but will instead, tell you here. George Washington (1732-1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). There are many, many other historical facts we could fille you in with but realizing our goal here is not to provide history lessons, we'll leave well enough alone to have let you know who the four presidents are at Mt. Rushmore. For the record, we had three of the four correct but missed Jefferson until we were informed by an informational sign.
Having arrived later in the afternoon, there were already shadows crossing the faces but still believe we got a lot of great pictures -- too many for sure. It is difficult to delete simply because they all show just a shade difference that seems noteworthy to remember. We tried to keep them to a minmum so readers won't be bored but suspect we have still included more than you may want to see. Oh well.
While touring through, we noted a person to the left of Washington's head. We thought it was someone illegally trying to rappel down but fairly quickly discovered it was a worker, joined
by second worker. It was strange to see them hanging at the side, evidently repairing or validating all was well. Later, one stood atop Washington's head. It was rather intriguing though one could get very dizzy watching them. We can't imagine what it would be like to be up there - no guardrails, etc. Jerry had a couple of friends he thought would be great for the job!!
We started in shorts and t-shirts but eventually had to give in to sweatshirts and/or sweatpants. The wind was pretty chilly, especially once the late afternoon chill kicked in. Yet, after some serious souvenir shopping, ice cream was still a highlight.
Crazy Horse
You may or may not know that a similar hillside carving is in progress about twenty miles away for Crazy Horse. Seems like there is still a treaty complication about the land of the Black Hills and especially Mt. Rushmore. So, a separate site will eventually show Crazy Horse in a much bigger fashion than even the presidents. It is not known when this elaborate piece will finish as it is privately funded by donation, not federally funded as the presidents were.
We went to
Reindeer are kinda cute in person
Where's the snow? ...and the sleigh? ...and where's Santa? see the site simply because it is history in the making. We were able to see the face of Crazy Horse and some of the markings for future. They are currently working on the horse's head which will wrap to the side. Crazy Horse will appear sitting atop the horse in mimicked full action.
Given time and definite lowered energy level, we opt not to get Jerry's scooter out again and tour the area. It is pretty early in the process so the accessible area is limited to one viewing area and lots of shops. We have already exceeded our souvenir shopping needs so we were satisfied with the initial view of witnessing history in the making.
Overall, driving the Black Hills is beautiful. The area in between Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse is exceptional and included some deer and goat sitings. If you ever get out this way, don't just see the site itself or get caught up only in the tourist traps. The area abounds with exceptional scenery and wildlife. Many of the tourist trap things were already closed for the season. We, personally, didn't miss them a bit and definitely, did not miss the crowds
of people that must permeate this area during the summer.
Firehouse Brewing
Anybody who knows Jerry well knows that anything related to Firefighting, Fire houses, etc. is number one. So, we headed for a restaurant titled the Firehouse. It was quite interesting, replicating an old fire house sectioned off with different dining areas. We ate in the garage, an open area, to enjoy the pre-winter evening. Food was very good and ambiance of course, made it a highlight. One more shirt in memory of the place and another day is done. We have drawer cleaning to do when we get home to make space for new souvenir shirts!
Plan Change
In true nomadic adventure spirit, we yet again change our philosophy for heading home. Our plan was to pack up, tour the badlands, and then try to get a ways down the road toward home. Realizing that our major travels the last weeks, staying just ahead of chilly, rainy or snowy weather, has taken its toll. Thus, we decide to slow down, finishing our last touring site (Badlands) tomorrow and then taking the two days to drive home leisurely.
Thanks to our neighbors (papers and
mail have restarted since we're late), and our family still watching Cleo our dog, we are thankful for the freedom to extend our trip, now extending four day beyond plan. Tomorrow is another day!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.081s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 7; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0357s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
