Mount Rushmore

Travel Journal
Destination: Mount Rushmore
Start date: Sunday, June 20, 2010
Traveling companions: Sara & Barrett
Goal of trip: site seeing, recharging, relaxing

Day 1

Started off early, car packed the night before. Got to Palisade St. Park in South Dakota where Mom, Dad, and William where camping. Went swimming in cliffs with Mom and William. Barrett went for walk with Dad. Picked Gooseberries. Dad and Barrett took naps. Taught William to play rummy. Weather HUMID. Storms in the night.

Day 2

Woke to rain. Had breakfast in the camper. Rain stopped; took Opportunity to take down camp. Played cards with William and then all played ball. we left around 11 for Angostura State Park, S.D. Long stretches of road laid out before us. Cloud shadows, rolling hills, cattle, and billboards entertained us. With 5 miles left of gas, we got taken by Clarks and Dittys Gas Stations. Only places on the exit, gas prices at the pump were 20 c higher than advertised. Several people, us included, stopped at one, realized, drove to the other and gave in to their evil scheme. Our arrival at Angostura was met with the realization we did know our campsite # and the check-in station was unmanned. Our friend Amanda came to our rescue and we set up camp and at supper. Our tent is along the shore of a huge reservoir and we were treated to a spectacular hour long lightning storm. A good day.

Day 3

We started out day taking the Peter Norbeck scenic route. It was breathtaking. Twisting roads curving in, out, up and through the hills. The sight of big open skies and panoramic vistas of the Black Hills were amazing. The route took us through Custer State Park were buffalo, mule deer, prairie dogs and prong horn antelope abound. We stopped at the many pull offs and scenic overlooks turning the short drive to Mount Rushmore into an all day event. It was glorious. Mount Rushmore was impressive. It left me pondering the ingeniousness of how Mount Rushmore was made. I was prepared to be disappointed. That I was not. We headed back to camp on the Needles highway. Tall “needles” of rock speared up towards the sky. As we made our way back, the skies darkened and the wind started to blow. Dust storms gave impressions of forest fire smoke off in the direction we were headed. We were greeted at our site by hail, a semi-collapsed screen tent, our tent struggling to stay strong, and lake waves crashing at our feet. Barrett and I pulled together and set things straight. Our reward: a rainbow and grilled pork chops.

Day 4

We woke to the sound that lulled us to sleep: gently lapping waves. The shore is a mere 15 feet from our tent and we have really enjoyed this. We headed straight off to the Crazy Horse monument. This far exceeded my expectations. It included another example of man’s tenacity, vision, and skill. One single man was approached by elders of the Lakota Sioux Tribe to erect a monument to show that they too have hero’s. The story continues as the man, Korchek V begins this project with a single tool scaling the mountain everyday. He eventually collects more and more tools along with the attention of the public. He maintains it’s status of a non-profit projects; declining more than one offer of 10 million from the federal government. It continues past the death of this man in the hands of his family who work on the project to this day. After a picnic lunch, we stopped at a glass blowers in time to catch the last demo of the day. We purchased a piece as our trip souvenir. Our last trip of the day was a tour of the Wind Cave National Monument. You can’t go wrong on a cave tour; unless, like a gentleman on our tour, you find your self claustrophobic and need to be escorted out. Supper was grilled shore side; brats, roasted turnips and radishes with thyme (all from the CSA share), and anniversary marshmallows.

Day 5

Today was marked in our itinerary as the day we hang out at camp. We started with a leisurely breakfast of corned beef hash (Sara’s favorite) and pancakes (Barrett’s fav). Our plans changed when we found that the two person kayak was already rented. As this was what our day was to revolve around, we changed our day’s plan. It turned out to be the busiest yet. We headed north to the Museum of Geology at South Dakotas Mining Technology College. We had brought with us a possible fossil that Sara had found at Lake Waconia earlier in the spring and wanted some educated opinions on the make up of the fossil. 4 people looked; 4 people professed being stumped! Most agreed that it may be fossilized coral or plant material but attached a fossil of something else. Very intriguing. The Reptile Garden was next on our list where we saw among other reptiles a fun little show on uncooperative crocodiles. Sitting Bull Crystal Caverns amazed us with it’s unique crystal structures. It was beautiful. Unlike any cave tour we had ever been on. This was a privately owned cave and tour business; very informal. The Wind Cave National Monument from the day before had us going down, down, and down with a delightful elevator at the end. Today’s cave, no such deal. You went down 300 some cold slick metal stairs in a ladder formation, turned around at the end of the tour and climbed right back up. Worth every minute; or as Barrett was found of saying this trip, “ Lovin’ every minute of it.” The last activity of the day was very entertaining. Called the Cosmos area, it’s a show up in some hills where the “center of gravity is a little stronger”. Fun Fun Fun. And hokey. The rest of the evening was spent by the fire. Campfire taco’s and falling asleep by the fire. Could it get any better!?

Day 6

Why yes! It did get better. Friday was spent at the campsite. The weather was sunny with minimal breeze. We each got a daily fishing license for South Dakota and rented that two person kayak. The day was spent alternating between poking around the lake and swimming at our site. A nap was even had! We were quite excited when Barrett caught a walleye with a spinner bait in 3 feet of water. We did some preliminary packing for the next day’s departure. The walleye and small mouth bass were grilled over the campfire and another night spent relaxing by the campfire was…take that back…while we were out enjoying our time the rest of South Dakota checked in for the weekend. While it was true that the rest of the night was spent by the fire, the relaxing was spent with children running through our site to the water, mother’s caterwauling, and party barges running up and down the shore blasting music and “yee-ha’s”. It definitely helped make the leaving easier.

Day 7

We woke to clouds and forecasted rain. The rest of the camp was taken down quickly, as we did not wish to wait for the rain. Things were quickly taken care of and we were on our way around 8:30 a. The trip home was quite eventful. A good 5 hours into the trip finds Sara driving and Barrett resting. The radio starts indicating storms in South Dakota. Sara shrugs her shoulder believing them to be past the storms. Shrugs her shoulders again when she clips the edge of another storm and keeps on going into storm free sky. Barrett wakes and calls Sara’s Dad to inform him we will be heading straight home and that we are ahead of the storms and all clear. Not exactly. Just into Minnesota, we stop for gas in Luverne and head to the Pizza Ranch. The Ranch was abuzz with talk of the storms. We took with a firm “We’re out of here” when we heard Luverne was next. 10 minutes later, Luverne was hit with 60 mile winds and quarter size hail. The rest of the trip was spent storm watching. The storms we behind us, by our side, and in front of us. Sara didn’t know what was freakier; the zero vision at times, the storm watchers racing past us or Barrett’s maniacal laughter. Hairy.