Sept 7, 2010- Day 5 Mt Rushmore area toured

Sheila wrote:
Less than 100 miles driven today and it was on a rented automobile!
Since we were told that the RV could not make it through some of the one car tunnels we decided to rent a car and tour Mt Rushmore area.

1. Crazy Horse Monument-  This monument is being carved out of the mountain side and is being financed through donations, profits from the attraction fees and the sculptor's family.  When it is finished it will be the largest of all sculptures!  It is meant to honor all the different native indian tribes throughout the USA.  The Lakota indian tribe is native to this area.  (I will write more on this monument later).  The movie that they showed and told about the monument was very heartwarming and made both Joyce and me cry.  This was one of the main monuments that Randy wanted to see and he was the one that told us about it.  So this was in his honor too!
2. Custer's State Park-We were told we needed to visit this park and take the wildlife loop so we could see some of the animals.  The first thing we saw were the buffaloes and Joyce was so excited and amazed that we keep snapping pictures.  She couldn't believe how they just walked up in the middle of the roadway and stood there so the cars couldn't go past and how the got so close to the cars it was like we would run over them.  However, I told her the buffaloe could turn this little car right over if they got mad and steamed toward us, but of course they didn't.  They are very layed back and just slowly walking and grazing in the grass.  We got some great pictures I'll post later.
3. Animals in Custer Park- Buffaloe, Pronghorns and Burros, Oh My!!!  The pictures are the only thing that will explain the fun and laughter that we experienced on this wildlife loop but here goes.  Actually, the first thing Joyce saw on this trip was the Buffaloe Poop Piles and she said is that buffaloe poop?  Then we saw the pairrie dogs and the Pronghorns.  What are pronghorns you ask, well they look like deer sort of but have short horns, black strip on their faces and white and brown strip under their necks and white butts!  They are really pretty animals.  Then came the Burros (Joyce called them jackasses) and I guess they are really.  They were animals that were used to haul stuff in the mountains.  Well they were certainly friendly and wanted to climb in the car with us a couple of times.  We think the people had been feeding them and they would walk right up to the car window and stick their head in or lick the window and show their teeth!  Some of them even had bad breath! (that's just how close up and personal we got with them)
4. Mt. Rushmore-Atlast!!!! after the wildlife loop we need to stop for a potty break so we stopped at the Elk Haven camp and did our business.  We then bought some ice cream and sat on the front porch watching the day go bye but atlast we were headed to Mt Rushmore!  What can I say except it is magnificent!  The drive was a bit tricky like the mountains of NC with lots of U turns (Randy called kiss your ass turns) and some real steep grades.  Thank goodness we were not in the RV because we would not have been able to do the turns or the grades and now way could we drive through the small tunnels.  Mt Rushmore was not busy so we got to see it all and then decided to go back to the campsite for a couple of hours and go back at 8pm for the lighting program.  It was great and bought tears to our eyes again.  Very informative about the 4 presidents and why they were chosen to be on the side of the mountain, how the carving was done, who the sculptor was, etc.  At the end they asked all the military to come up on stage and we all clapped.

Much more relaxing day and spiritually moving.  We talked with some people at Mt Rushmore and at the campsite and even the park ranger had a trivia question for us.  Let's see if you can name the 4 states that have capitols that start with the same letter as the state starts with.  Example: Minneapolis, MN but that is not correct because St Paul is the capital of Minnesota.
Good night until we meet again!