Day 14-16 Mount Rushmore Area

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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.

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Photos

Chuck Wagon Dinner
This is a shot of the group that went on the chuck wagon dinner. You can see the wagons in the background.

Chuck Wagon 2
This is a prong horn antelope seen on our way to the dinner.

Chuck Wagon 3
Big horn sheep seen on the way to the chuck wagon dinner.

Chuck Wagon 4
Close up of the big horn sheep.

CW 6
Bison seen on the way to chuck wagon dinner.

CW 9
Cray being silly and having a good time at the dinner.

DT 3
Prairie dogs. These guys were so much fun to watch!

DT 4
Prairie dogs. These guys were so much fun to watch!

DT 5
This is a little Bambi that we saw right next to the road on our way to Devil's Tower. We were inside the park and mama was about 10 yards further up the hill side. Look at all the spots. So cute.

CW 1
More prairie dogs.

DT 6
Cray at Devil's Tower resembling a frog.

CW 3
Another prong horn antelope.

DT 8
The Three C's at Devil's Tower Wyoming. This is also know as the Grizzly Bear Lodge by the local native American tribes. There is a great tale that explains the creation of this awesome place. Me, I think it was made by aliens.

Devil's Tower
This is looking at the tower from a distance. It really is the tallest thing around for a long ways.

Blue Coyote B&B
This is the B&B where we stayed in South Dakota. Very nice place.

Museum of Woodcarving
We had to stop here on our way to Jewel Cave. We weren't sure if they had any of Colleen's famous whittling pieces. Turns out that they did not, so Colleen and Cray started to make them a couple of pieces.

Bambi and mama
Another shot of the Bambi we saw with its mama in the background.

Jewel Cave
Modeling the coon skin cap.

Devil's Tower Offerings
These strips of cloth are sacred offering and prayer items that local native Americans place in the trees around the mountain. This is a holy place for them.

Inside Jewel Cave
Colleen and cray inside Jewel Cave. It is a really interesting place, but very hard to get good pictures.

More Devil's Tower
Colleen going over Cray's Junior Ranger work.