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Saturday, May 31, 2014

Presidents

Rapid City High 73 Low 53

Today we went into downtown Rapid City. On some of the street corners there are statues of US presidents. We took some pictures of some of them. From the plaques by them, we found out that Rapid City is called The City of Presidents. I remember pictures of Truman, Kennedy, and Eisenhower. The Bronze Statues look quite life like. We were only able to visit a few of them. I found out from the internet that the project was started in 2000, and is all by donation. It said no public funds went toward the statues and that placement was all random, no party affiliations were considered in their spots. They are to honor the legacy of the American presidency.








On the way to Rapid City there is a new building going up that we thought look like Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Sure enough, on our way back to the RV Park, there is a new sign up that says: Independence Hall. And it is advertising life size statues of the founding fathers. I guess they needed one more tourist attraction in this area. The building looks finished and the parking lot is paved. It should be opening soon.

When we went back to the RV Park I washed some of the bugs and grim off the truck and trailer. It is not a perfect job, but sure looks nicer.

Right now, at 1:30, the sun is shining. It is starting to warm up. It’s a good thing we have hook ups. Cindy is busy sewing together one of her quilt tops. This morning when we left, it was very foggy.

Thanks for visiting.
  

Friday, May 30, 2014

Too Close For Comfort


Rapid City, South Dakota High 66 Low 57

Last night we were watching TV and there was a little lightning we could see in the clouds, when all at once there was a bright light and immediately a loud boom. Then the trailer shook. The lightning had hit in a grove of trees which are only about 100 feet from us. I was so nervous about the lightning, that I lowered our antenna. All the power was still on, so I guess there was no damage. We didn't have any other strikes, but it was kind of unnerving.

Today is a lot cooler than yesterday and it has rained off and on most of the day.

We decided to go see Mount Rushmore anyway. Our RV Park is right behind of Old McDonald's Petting Zoo. On the way out Cindy got some pictures of some goats on some kind of aerial ramp that has been built for the goats to climb on to eat. We both thought it was kind of neat.
We then went to see Mount Rushmore. The history of the Monument is very interesting. While we were there we watched a short movie about the history of the building. It took 17 years to build and originally the design looked like they planned on having more of the presidents bodies carved in the mountain. I saw one sign that said that if the original planners had known how big and hard a project it was going to be, that the project probably would never have been started. The original artist died before the Monument was completed, and his son had to finish it. The film was very informative and is well worth watching if you ever go to see Mount Rushmore.



There was a display with the US Flag that was used at the Grand Opening. Each star measured 27 inches. The total size of the flag was 39 feet by 67 feet. It was considered to be the largest flag in the world at that time. There are many more exhibits that tell about the construction.



The light and dark on Washington's face are from the rain!





After we left the Monument, there is a turnoff where you can see Washington in profile. We thought it was worth a few minutes stop.






We then went toward the Crazy Horse Memorial. On the way there is a little lake that has a nice view. I have put one picture of the lake on this post.

We had already seen the Crazy Horse Memorial, and since it was raining, we decided to just take a few more pictures and not pay the $22.00 it would have cost us to go to the actual visitor’s center. It has been almost 10 years since we were here last and they are now working on the horse Crazy Horse is sitting on. They have kind of marked out the horse’s head will be and you can see that in the pictures.

 
We drove to Hill City (to check out another quilt store. On the main street across from the quilt store is an art gallery. They have some statues that look like they have been made and welded out of junk.



Jan of Bill and Jan RVing the USA had suggested we try a pizza from Lintz Brother’s Pizza in Hermosa. We got the Supreme and it was very good. Thanks Jan for the recommendation. We have enough left for at least one more large meal.
It finally stopped raining at about 5:00 this afternoon, but the weather guessers are saying more tomorrow.


Thanks for visiting.

Thursday, May 29, 2014

More Highway Silliness

Rapid City, South Dakota High 92 Low 58

It was so hot today that we decided to wait until tomorrow to go see Mount Rushmore. Instead we went for a drive.

We went to Deadwood to see the old town and the Cemetery where Wild Bill Hickok is buried. From the literature he was first buried in a cemetery further down the hill, and then moved to where his grave is now.  




Calamity Jane is buried next to him and her last request was to be buried next to Bill Hickok.

They have a look-out site at the Cemetery, where you can look down on Deadwood. The road to the Cemetery is extremely steep, so we were a long way above the town. There are lots of headstones in the cemetery. The newest I saw was dated 1941, but I didn't look at all of them because there are just too many.






After we left the Cemetery, we  wanted to get a picture of the Adams Mansion, but they were working on it and we didn't get a very good picture. 










On the way to Deadwood we saw a giant rocking chair. It looks a lot bigger than some of the houses in the area. It seemed to be an attention grabber for the two businesses in front of it.










We stopped for lunch at a Forest Service Picnic area by a small lake. There is lots of beautiful scenery in The Black Hills.












We then drove up Spearfish Canyon to look at the scenery. Cindy got some pictures of Bridal Vale Falls, and some other scenery shots.













Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, so we are planning to go see Mount Rushmore.

Thanks for visiting.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Wildlife


Rapid City, South Dakota High 84 Low 59

It was another warm day (to us). Good thing for air conditioning.

We left Alliance this morning and our first stop was Hot Springs, South Dakota. The quilt store in Nebraska recommended the fabric store in Hot Springs. Cindy told me I could stop if we could find a place to park. We managed to find a spot on the main street about 1/2 block from the quilt store. It turned out to be as nice a store as we had been told. The owner was very helpful and let Cindy take as many pictures as she wanted.

After we left Hot Springs we went through part of Wind Cave National Park. Right away we started to see Buffalo and Antelope. At first there were only one or two, then we came to a whole herd by a small pond.


We got a lot of pictures of the herd, and even managed to get some pictures of some prairie dogs. Sorry, still no pictures of the antelope.



There were two babies with the herd and it must have been lunch time for  them.





Cindy got some good pictures of the scenery we were passing. We like the trees and green here in the Black Hills.


On our way to the RV Park, we passed by the Crazy Horse Monument. Cindy got some pictures, but we hope to get better ones when we go visit it.

We got to the Rushmore Shadows Resort. We are here for a week with our Coast to Coast membership. Total cost for the week..zero. It's kind of hard to beat that price. We got a nice long site with lots of shade.


The receptionist couldn't have been nicer to deal with. We really like our site. Not only is it long, but is very wide. We counter 6, what I assume, are new rental cabins going up in the Park. It seems like it is a very nice RV Park. It is the only free Park for us in South Dakota.

Thanks for visiting.