Pictures From Our Trip To Mt. Rushmore

In the summer of 2003 my friends, Bobby, Paula, Jake and I drove to Mount Rushmore for our vacation.

Our first stop was The Corn Palace where early settlers displayed the fruits of their harvest on the town
building exterior in order to prove the fertility of South Dakota soil. Each year the exterior decorations
are completely stripped down and a new mural is created.

There was plenty of breathtaking scenery on our way to the Dakota Bad Lands. After the Bad Lands we
stopped at Wall Drug. In 1936, the drugstore in Wall South Dakota was down on their luck but they made
a come back by giving away free ice water to travelers. Today they receive 22 thousand travelers on a
warm summer day.

On the day we arrived at Mount Rushmore there were people from all around the world visiting and
taking pictures. There is an amphitheater where they show short informational films showing the
various phases of the mountain carvings.

The Sitting Bull Crystal Caves has several rooms full of beautiful rock formations and the Black Forest had
an abundance of wildlife. The buffalo would easily jump the fence and graze on the grass outside the park.

Crazy Horse Memorial is a memorial to the famous Native American leader, in the form of a huge statue
of the rider on horseback carved from the side of a mountain. When completed, the statue will be larger
than the Sphinx.

While Mount Rushmore is both beautiful and breathtaking in the day, it is also awesome to see at night.

We started the next day off by visiting an animal museum on our way to the Bad Lands. This time we take a
helicopter ride and see the Bad Lands from the air.

We stopped in Rapid City for some sight seeing and shopping. Some of the souvenirs were as fascinating as
the stores themselves. Then Jake and I took another helicopter ride. This time we fly over Mount Rushmore.

We take a relaxing horseback ride in the mountains before heading to Deadwood South Dakota.  Deadwood is
a historic landmark in the scenic Black Hills where Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane shot up the west.

Before ending our vacation and going home we head out to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. The nearly vertical
monolith rises some 1267 feet above the river. It was made even more popular by the movie
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.

In Kiowa Indian mythology it was said that: Once upon a time seven little girls were playing in the woods far
from home and they came upon some bears that chased after them. They found refuge on a great rock that
rose into the sky with them on it, making them into stars. The bears tried to pursue them, but all their
efforts were in vain. You can still see their claw marks in the rock that makes up Devil’s Tower.