Our Summer Vacation, Part 2 - We Just Wanna Have Fun

After our big adventure atop Mt. Rushmore, we hooked up with Paul & Vicki, friends from Pantano Christian Church Motorcycle Life Group, who happen to be work-camping for the summer just 8 or 10 miles away. They took us on a road trip through the Black Hills, with our first stop being . . .

Sturgis! Since we didn’t bring our motorcycle, everyone piled into our rental car. Sturgis was a neat little town, but Sam and I are glad we missed the big motorcycle rally in August. We aren’t fond of masses of people or crazy bikers. But I did get the t-shirt!

Up the road, we saw the Roo Ranch (sorry, Roo, we didn’t go in).

In Belle Fourche, SD, we found the “Geographic Center of the Nation”.

Then Sam learned the actual spot is 20 miles further on a gravel road, in the middle of a field. They just put the marker in town. But we came close! We ate lunch in Deadwood, drove down beautiful Spearfish Canyon, and had a great time with our friends.

Paul & Vicki’s campground, Spokane Creek Resort, is on narrow, winding Iron Mountain Road. Hairpin curves, pigtail bridges and granite tunnels framing views of Mt. Rushmore make it one of the most scenic roads in the Black Hills.

Just 16 or 17 miles from Rushmore is Crazy Horse Memorial, a fascinating place.

It’s a big chunk of mountain and is going to take forever to finish carving. Built entirely with private donations, it’s been 55 years in the making so far.

Another day we visited Reptile Gardens, one of many roadside attractions between Mt. Rushmore and Rapid City.

Loved the atrium and a chance to hold a snake!

Wherever we go, Sam finds beautiful flowers to shoot with the macro setting on our little camera.

There was an alligator show . . .

And a baby alligator, with his mouth taped safely shut.

Weren’t these guys in “The Jungle Book”?

I think this beautiful Anaconda was the biggest snake, but Sam spotted the most poisonous. Called a Taipan from Australia, the venom from one bite is powerful enough to kill 150 people! Fortunately, they were all behind glass. The people and the snakes. Click here for more reptiles! Reptile Gardens.

This giant tortoise, aptly named Methuselah, was celebrating his 128th birthday. I rather liked the other big guy in the picture.

We popped in to see the prairie dog town . . .

Where Sam waited patiently to capture a ferocious brawl between two rival rodents.

Our favorite show featured birds of prey, which swooped over our heads flying from one handler to another.

The bald eagle was especially popular.

But this guy had the most visitors – hold out a folded dollar bill and he takes it from your hand in a flash and stuffs it in the donation box.

Another favorite vacation pastime involves food. Sam found the Piece of Cake Bakery & Café in Rapid City and consumed this peanut butter concoction in honor of his friend, Johnny, whose favorite saying is “piece-a-cake”.

Not to be outdone, my birthday dessert was a chocolate buffalo, which we admired then quickly devoured.

We soon found ourselves in need of a diet.

But found that a different perspective works just as well!

A few more vacation photos coming next week . . .

Our Summer Vacation 2009

A couple weeks ago we went on a week-long vacation to Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills in South Dakota. Wow, what a beautiful area of the country! A few months ago, we had the good fortune to get to know Nick & Carolyn Clifford, who live at our RV resort, Far Horizons, in the winter and Rapid City, SD during the summer. They peaked our interest in Mount Rushmore, with Nick’s stories of working as a winchman and driller on the famous faces in 1938-1940, beginning when he was 17. He even wrote a book about it! Mount Rushmore Q&A. Nick is the last surviving workman from the project.

Carolyn and Nick graciously offered to let us stay in Nick’s childhood home in nearby Keystone. It’s a beautiful little house, built in 1895 and restored in 1996. When we arrived, Nick was still working in the gift shop at Mt. Rushmore, answering visitors’ questions and selling his book. Carolyn showed us around the house and announced a change in plans. A park ranger friend of theirs was taking family to the top of Mt. Rushmore, and agreed to take us along!

We met at 7 a.m. the next morning at the memorial. What a sight!

The forested hills include ponderosa pines not unlike our southern Arizona mountains, though South Dakota has gotten a lot more rain this year. We followed the ranger along the walkway to a secret trail(!) up the mountain.

And what a climb it was. Scrambling over rocks, trying to keep our footing while gazing upward at the faces growing bigger and bigger.

Lots of breaks to catch our breath and look down on the visitor center and amphitheater.

Then countless steps ending at the Hall of Records.

We climbed past remnants of the 16 years of drilling during the 1920’s and ‘30’s.

And finally made it to the top.

Oohs and aahs as we looked down on the faces of Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln. Teddy Roosevelt is set back between the two.

The rounded hump on the right is George Washington’s head! Also a great place to rest, as Sam discovered.

Then everyone pulled out their cell phones and called friends & family! Above all, we were excited to be there, but it’s also one of the few places in the Black Hills where you can get cell signal.

Much too soon, the ranger herded us down the mountain and back to reality. But what a privilege to have been there. We will cherish the memories of that day.

More of our vacation photos coming soon!