1328 miles from home.
Started our day at Mount Rushmore and this time we were more impressed.
Yesterday when we arrived in Keystone and checked into the hotel (mmm…cinnamon buns) it was already past closing time at the park. Restless, after unloading the car we took a drive towards the park to see if we could get a sneak peek on the road up. We followed a couple of cars right to the entrance booths. Stopped for a moment and then drove in. We got to the window and realized there wasn’t anybody in it, so we too drove in and parked. The viewing area was open, but none of the shops or displays were. We and about a dozen other people stood around taking pictures. Maybe it was that we could get so close to Devils Tower and the big heads were so far away that they didn’t seem that grand.
Today for some reason they seemed to be more, well, monumental. There is a trail that takes you closer to the mountain, but we could only get halfway around before we ran into a trail closed sign. It was still too icy. Because the place was practically deserted, we spent 20 minutes or more talking with one of the Rangers about the monument. Turns out she is originally from this area and after a 25 year career teaching, she returned to Mount Rushmore to become the head of Educational Services. She has an interesting connection to the monument, her grandfather was one of the four speakers at the mountain’s precarving dedication back in 1927.
Too much more to talk about, Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park (where the buffalo roam and the dear and the antelope play), Carhenge, 4 geocaches with not enough time to write about them.