Rapid City, Wind Cave and Mt. Rushmore.

We tried to sleep in Tuesday morning but still woke up well before 7. Checkout was by 11 but the next stop was less than an hour away and charged $5.00 for early check in. So we took another walk through Wall. A long, brisk walk earned us a doughnut and "Free Ice Water" at Wall Drug.

 Carol was fascinated with the grain silos. Pretty much in the middle of town.

A short drive in the rain got us to Rapid City, SD KOA. Nice park, easy pull-thru site.  We made a trip to Wal-Mart and enjoyed a quiet evening.

The clutch arrived a little before 11 on Wednesday. We rented a car, picked up the clutch and took the truck to the transmission shop. We were on the road to Hot Springs, SD before noon.

We drove past Subway, Dairy Queen, and Pizza Hut because I refused to eat at a chain. We found The Vault on the main street. Very slow service because a group of 12 had ordered just before we got there. The kitchen had two cooks but one of them took a break just after we arrived. We had definitely found a "local" place. The staff were all very friendly to us. But they gave each other and many of the customers lots of grief. 





It was not on our original itinerary but our friends Karen and Alex said Wind Cave was a "must see."  It was really interesting. Not at all like VA caves. No water. No stalactites or stalagmites. It's a "dry cave" and has very rare formations including "boxworks".  The explored part of the cave is over 140 miles long. The Ranger told us that based on air volume calculations, they think the 140 miles is about 5% of the total cave.

The long lunch and an hour's wait for a Cave tour left us with no time to explore Custer State Park. It is most known for its herd of 1500+  buffalo. Carol believed me when I said that we would probably see buffalo on later parts of our trip. Mt. Rushmore was more important. And I promised her if we did not see any buffalo I would take her to Paint Bank when we got home.

Mt. Rushmore is spectacular and our experience there was even more spectacular.  First some pictures, then my thoughts.

Baby Goat.

Papa. Sorry picture is a little blurry but
Carol caught him with all four feet off the ground.

S

Who knew ---  Thomas Jefferson had a recipe for vanilla ice cream of which he was VERY PROUD.
It is for sale here at Mt. Rushmore and they insist it is his EXACT recipe.

Sunset taken from Carol's cell phone because our Canon wouldn't pick up the pink as well.

 The night illumination.  Why we came, we thought. And it would have been worth it if this was the total experience.

BUT it was so much more. The amphitheater seats 2500 people and it was full. A Ranger gave a short talk and said that after a film she would invite any active service members or veterans to come on stage for the lowering of the flag. Then there was a film discussing why these four Presidents were chosen. It was interesting but the magic started when the background music became "America" and we realized that almost everyone was quietly singing along. At the end of the film the Ranger came back out and asked all to stand and sing "The Star Spangled Banner". THEN she asked the active and retired service people to come down. Only a few came down at first, but as the rest of us stood and started applauding more and more went to the stage. We kept applauding until well after 100 men and women were on stage. We continued to stand as the 6 who were chosen lowered and folded the flag. THEN we continued to stand as the Ranger went to every single person and asked them to tell us their name and branch of service. A note here for Bucky Shepherd - only two mentioned more than their branch. One said, "US Navy SeaBees" and one said, "US Army, 101st Airborne."

I haven't felt more encouraged about the future of our country in a long time. I don't know if there are enough of us left who love this country to save it. But there were 2500 at Mt. Rushmore the night we were there. And I suspect there are close to 2500 there every night.

So, again. We went for good reasons but had no idea what a special night Mt. Rushmore had in store for us.

Our Last Day in the Badlands

I ended yesterday's blog hoping "for good weather". But today started out very foggy, a little drizzle and forecast for storms all day.

Well, everyone tells us that the Badlands are completely different with changes in light so we decided to go back anyway. Not a hard decision since my Senior Pass gets us into all National Parks for FREE !

"They" were right. It seemed the colors were brighter under an overcast sky. Unfortunately, the camera didn't show it.


So Carol took pictures of flowers instead.

And classic sports cars.  A Morgan 4/4 two seater with New Jersey plates. The driver wasn't in a talkative mood so I don't know what vintage. For a non-enthusiast it's hard to tell since Morgan has been producing this car with few changes since 1936.

 Gray skies but still beautiful scenery. Those endless stairs behind Carol took us to a wonderful overlook.

 After lunch the clouds starting breaking and soon we went from scattered clouds to a clear bright blue sky.

 One of many Prairie Dog Villages. Carol did an excellent job of FINALLY catching one standing up.

The end of another incredible day as we say "Good By" to the Badlands.

Wall, SD and the Badlands

The trip from Mandan to Wall was uneventful except that on the only two hills between Mandan and Wall the clutch started slipping. Not a lot but it is definitely not something I want to go to Yellowstone without repairing. Our stay in Wall will be followed by two or three days in Rapid City while a stronger after market clutch is installed.

We got to Sleepy Hollow Campground on Friday evening with time to visit "downtown Wall" and Wall Drug.

Picture Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge two blocks long.

Our plan was to just relax Saturday. We did that. We also did laundry, watched PSU beat Kent State and attended Mass at St. Patrick's.    

We got up early Sunday and headed to the Badlands to catch the morning sun. Carol took 195 pictures. I will not share them all. But they are all good enough to share ! Remember, if you "click" on a picture it will open full size in another window.

We had planned on going back this evening for sunset pics but thunderstorms eliminated that. Maybe tomorrow.

Regular readers know about "Inbetweens", those little moments of joy, peace, memories or happenings that make you look up and say, "Thank you God. I know that was you."

In the summer of 2008 a big one happened and I blogged about it. Click on this link and scroll down to August 14th to read, "A Big Musical Inbetween".  I have remained friends with Karen and her mother. I enjoyed following Karen through her degree from Colgate. She is now in Boulder, CO where she has completed her Masters and is close to completing her PhD. She got married two months ago today to Alex Crawford, a fellow PhD candidate that she met while at Colgate..

I txtd her last week and said that we were heading West and asked where she was for the summer. She said, "Boulder" and I told her we'd have to put off meeting because we weren't going by there on this trip.

Yesterday she posted on Facebook that she and Alex were taking the long holiday weekend to make a whirlwind trip through Wyoming and SD, including a stop at Wall.  A couple of phone calls later and we met her and Alex at Wall Drug today.

We had a wonderful visit. She is still playing the Hammered Dulcimer and is close to releasing another CD. Check out her Facebook page by clicking here.

What a wonderful surprise.

Hoping for good weather tomorrow to enjoy another day in the Badlands.