September 10, 2011

Had an excellent day today! Left our motel shortly after 9am and headed to Mt Rushmore and arrived around 9:45. We didn't leave until after noon. The weather was perfect, cloudless and in the low seventies, and, even though this was a Saturday, huge crowds had not yet arrived. We took some pictures from the viewing area and then took a walking guided tour led by a Park Ranger that wound down a trail closer to the mountain. The views of the Presidents was amazing, and the guide was very informative. We then watched a short movie about the monument and it's creation and then left for the Crazy Horse sculpture, which was only about twenty miles away. Crazy Horse is not yet finished, unlike Mt Rushmore, but the work continues. If wen had visited on a weekday we would have been able to see the people working on the mountain. Even though it is far from finished it was also amazing in size and scope. We left there close to 2:00pm and drove through Custer, WY. I thought it might be a classic old-west town but I was mistaken as most of the stores were the cheap touristy places we saw in Seaside, OR. I decided to take the scenic route back to Keystone and we were glad we did. The road wound through the Custer State Park and the Black Hills National Forest. We passed two huge buffalo eating grass by the side of the road, and saw several beautiful Pronghorn Antelope climbing a small ridge. We drove over several historic "pigtail" bridges and went through three one-lane tunnels. As we came out of two of these tunnels Mt Rushmore was right in front of us. That was spectacular even if the mountain was several miles away. We arrived back in Keystone about 3:30, poured ourselves an icy bourbon, and relaxed for a couple of bourse before we went to dinner. We are exhausted now not only with the length of the day but also with the experience of the majesty of Mt Rushmore. I don't know that I would ever tire of visiting this National Monument.