Summer Vacation 2010 Part 4

Day 8:

This day was for travelling. We went to Hill City, South Dakota, which took all day. Travelled through Cody, Wyoming, which is the rodeo capitol of the world. The most beautiful parts of the drive were also the parts that slowed our progress: the mountains, which we had on the west side of the state, as well as the east. But I love the mountains, so I’m not complaining. Saw several mule deer in the eastern part of the state.

Day 9:

Today we saw the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore! Between the two parks, we drove through Custer State Park, where a buffalo stepped in the road in front of us and just stayed there. Leslie, who was driving, obviously stopped the car, as well. I leaned out the window to take a picture. You gotta know we were like 5 feet away from this huge mammal. From the backseat, Justin could only say “for the love of God, would you please back up?!?”

Unlike Yellowstone and the Tetons, I had never been to these great American tourist sites. Crowded at both attractions, but a wonderful experience, overall. These rock sculptures take years to complete, with lots of dynamite! The horse alone at the Crazy Horse memorial will take 10 to 15 more years to complete. And did you know that Mount Rushmore was never completed? It’s OK, though. I can’t imagine it looking any other way, can you?

It’s one thing to see pictures of these great monoliths, but nothing compares to being there. “Huge” doesn’t even come close to describing these things. To give you some perspective, sculpturing Mount Rushmore began in the 1920s and took 14 years. Crazy Horse, which is much larger, was begun in the late 1940s. The stories behind these great works of art are incredibly interesting, and worth looking up.

We saw a mountain goat while we were at Mount Rushmore. And we saw an introductory video about wildlife in the park. The narrator talked about the very common mule deer, as opposed to the rare sighting of white tail deer. “Ha!” I thought. “Just visit my front yard. You’ll be able to see all the white tail deer you want!”