We left our hotel at 7:40 a.m. for the 20 minute drive to Mount Rushmore. Arriving, we were immediately struck by the size of the monument and the work involved in the mountain transformation. We toured the visitor's center, saw a file and then looked at the various exhibits which took us through the original idea to the completion. Its hard to believe men using dynamite and rills, could make a jagged mountain look like four presidents.From here, we left for the Badlands National Park. We drove most of the scenic drive, saw bison, pronghorn deer and lots of prairie dogs. This park was very diverse with prarie grasslands to canyons to large rock formations, it reminded us of the national parks in Utah.
The realization that our trip was about to end brought mixed feelings of eagerness to be home but, already missing adventures on the road and seeing new places. We have estimated, in our lifetime, we have visited about 20 national parks.
The rest of the day and tomorrow will be long driving days home.
Pictures can be seen at: https://picasaweb.google.com/tschick62/2011612MtRushmoreAndBadlands?authkey=Gv1sRgCPq0xtOF9aHhzAE&feat=directlink
More later . . .
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