Wild West Day 6 September 26

Really, another beautiful sunrise. The campsites are in a circle and all face out into the hills and cliffs, so it's such a beautiful place.

We headed out early towards Rapid City, taking the scenic Highway 44 through the Badlands and Buffalo Gap National Grassland.

The rock formations were more in the distance, and the cattle fields were in view. Interesting how you'd first see an expanse of grasses then evidence of water then trees. We imagined that this is where the original and long abandoned homesteads once were.

Great shot of an Angus cow (#937) on a cliff. Silly cow.

Outside the town called Scenic, all of a sudden, the flats and rocks became trees and rivers. Amazing.

Best shopping mall so far contained a Casino, Hair Salon, and a Cash 'N Go.

We stocked up and decided, though we'd already been there years ago, we'd head to Mount Rushmore. We stopped at the Forestry Services Visitor Centre and got info on a biking rail trail and cheap camping.

Rushmore, though still magnificent, was spoiled from before by the addition of an $11.00 parking lot/garage. There were quite a few tourists there AND we think we saw ancient grafitti on Washington's shoulder (David thinks it says “Wanda”).

I was drawn to Teddy Roosevelt's glasses. I also felt George Washington need a nose job to fix his septum and we were amazed at how the eyes were so 3 dimensional with how they were carved out of the stone.

We stayed in Oreville Park, $10 for a beautiful campsite (Ontario has so much to learn). 

We met Gerry, an 80 year old, from Wyoming who shared good information about his home state (including a coffee shop/bakery we MUST try). We seem to attract lovely 80 year olds on this trip.

Here's today's view from my chair: