Monday, July 14

Another in a series of beautiful days

Today's the day we finish up in SD. As we leave the grounds of the Triangle B&B we take one last picture of the grounds - the one that shows the decommissioned missile silo next to the driveway, known as D4. Our hosts told us that their cousin had received a declassified Russian spy photograph of silo D4...and their house, just a few hundred feet away. Kinda creepy, huh?

The fence is all that is left of Missile Silo D4

We headed straight to Mt. Rushmore on a perfect day with cloudless blue skies. I admit to being surprised that there was no admission fee for Rushmore but there was a parking fee of $15. The sculpture was smaller than I expected it to be, although still impressive. It was a quick visit. You see the mountain and the underwhelming exhibits they have to accompany the monument and you're done - at least we were.

The Crazy Horse Memorial was next. For those who didn't know there was such a monument, here's the stats. The project was started in 1948 and is a long way from being finished, decades away. Rushmore was completed in 14 years. Crazy Horse is huge, roughly 640 x 560 feet, when complete. The faces on Mt. Rushmore are 60 feet tall, by way of comparison. Oh, and after seeing Rushmore and being less than awed by it, we figured we would pass on an unfinished Crazy Horse. If you want to see it, google it yourself.

Needles Highway, our next stop, was simply remarkable. It's about 15 miles of twisty two lane road named for the granite spires that line much of the route. The Needles Highway is especially known for the two tunnels carved out of a granite hillside that you can drive through. A buddy of Lester's had recommended this and he was absolutely correct about this one.

Our final stop for the day was the wilderness loop in Custer State Park. It was purported to be a wildlife park but there wasn't an awful lot of wildlife to be seen except in small groups, including the complete domination of the parking lot at the visitors center by a herd of bison.

A Park Rangers worst nightmare.

The rest of the day was devoted to the drive from bisonville to Cheyenne, Wyoming. And it would have been completely uneventful except Lester tried to get a little fancy by overriding the advice of Susan, our GPS. She told us to stay on nice big roads. Lester thought we should cut off a corner and pick up lots of time. The problem was that Lester's road went from a nice paved road to a dirt road, and one of dubious quality. We should have turned back when we saw the sign that said "Open Range". We are not that smart. It added quite a bit of time to the trip but it was beautiful and ultimately well worth the trip.

All settled into our room and looking forward to Denver tomorrow where Lester can move on from the beer desert that is South Dakota. Sorry SD, but you don't know a thing about beer. The real draw in Denver is our almost older daughter, Saint Elizabeth and her husband Steve. For many years Elizabeth was our babysitter, the best ever, and remains an important part of our family.

Oh, and Wyoming has an 80 mph speed limit. Eat your heart out South Dakota.

A&L