Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse

What a day today, touring on our own..  Gotta say that South Dakota is really a surprise.  It is a really beautiful state but I do have to remember how many times my friend, Paula McClary, has told me about the snow here in the winter.  

First we went to Mt Rushmore.  Was so much different than I expected. Thought we would get in free given our Golden Age passes, however, NO, the parking is private.  Still, not bad given all we got to see.  Amazing place.

In case you have forgotten, I sure had, the Presidents are from left to right, Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.  

Fourteen years were spent in caving this National Monument !  It is really a site to see.  

Going out to a big viewing area you pass through all the State flags.  We had to get picture of Oregon!!

Last pictures before we left.  We just had to have lunch where we could stare out at the Presidents one last time.  We shared a bowl of bison stew.  Never had eaten bison before.  This was very good ! !

On to the Crazy Horse Mountain, about 25 miles away.  This is a totally privately funded endeavor and will not be finished for many years.  The sculptor who started it was a Polish immigrant from New York who had worked with the sculptor on Mt Rushmore.  He was originally approached by the Lakota Indians to build Crazy Horse.  He has died but most of his ten children still carry on his work. 

Now up the hill...  The statue in the gift shop against the rock shows what the mountain will look like when finished.  Shows how much work is left.

There was a ride up the mountain but from what we could tell it was $250 for a couple, of which $210 was tax deductible.  Not feeling quite that generous today.  Sorry Crazy Horse.  

They have the best museum of Indian history that I have ever seen.  Some really cool stuff.  The bottles below are filled with tiny, tiny beads.  This is only a small portion of what they had.  Someone had donated them from a factory in Italy that had closed down and the collector bought all 70 tons of leftover stock.  I wanted to show my granddaughter, Alyssa.

We didn't get many pictures in the museum as it was hard to get good pictures with the glass and hard to get a good angle to really see.

While we were in the museum the rains started.  Nothing like South Dakota storms.  We witnessed one at the RV last night..  We stayed inside another hour to get most of the thunder and lightening past.  It rained most of the 40 miles back to the Hart Ranch.  One side trip we took was to Custer State Park. We were hoping to just drive through by a crabby, State worker got us to just go home.  Apparently, if you want to drive the "wildlife" loop you must pay $15.00.  We thought we could just drive though the State Campground just like home but they actually have a State road though the State Park that they charge you to drive unless you are just going straight through.  He threatened $110 dollar fines if you stop.  However, there were plenty of pull outs so not sure what he meant.  The only rough patch in our travels so far.  He will not ruin our day ! ! !   Terrific day of site seeing.  

Travel to Rapid City SD

We just had the most beautiful four hour drive from Buffalo Wyoming to Rapid City South Dakota.  We are staying in a beautiful RPI RV Park called Hart Ranch.  The landscape most of the way was beautiful, grassy, rolling hills. Some with forests on top and lakes and rivers all around.  One amazing thing was that we drove through Sturgis where the rally ended just a few weeks ago.  Didn't realize that Sturgis was on our way.  Signs posted that full hook up RV sites were $85...  WHAT.. that is amazing.  The gal here at Hart Ranch said that lots of places were double that.  We are paying $15 with our RPI membership ! ! !  and this park is beautiful ! ! !  No pictures today.  Just gonna veg and ride our bicycles around this huge park.  They even have a restaurant where prime rib is advertised for tonight.  Gotta check that out ! !

Friday, travel day

Well, last night in Cody was quite the experience.  We woke up about midnight to really high winds and rain, enough that we were worried.  So we got up and put all the slides in and all seemed better.  We had put the awning in earlier.  Woke up to a beautiful sky and proceeded out pretty early for us, about 8:30.  We traveled to Buffalo, Wyoming. Around Worland the landscape is pretty ugly this time of year, very dry but oil/gas rigs on every mound. Not really rocks or dirt, never had seen anything like it but then we got into the Big Horn Mountains and the landscape turned beautiful.  Forests, rivers and meadows, just beautiful.  We did get up to 9,600 feet.  Top of the world ! ! !   Then downhill to Buffalo!! Just a one night stay so we can get to Rapid City tomorrow.  Can't wait to see the Badlands.  

Remembered something that I was gonna mention in Yellowstone.  Hate those senior moments ! ! !  LOL.  We were in a construction area on one of the main roads and noticed that Knife River from Eugene was the road company doing the work ! ! !

Travel to Cody, Wyoming on Thursday August, 28

Heading out for Cody Wyoming is a short, couple hour drive.  Heading out the East Entrance we stopped at a Fire Fighters Memorial.

We got to Cody before noon so we set up "camp" and headed into town so Ken could get some pictures of the store fronts. Didn't see the Bill Cody Museum as we had seen the five buildings before.  Enjoyed the sun today.  Nice to be back in shorts and flips...

 On to Buffalo Wyoming tomorrow morning.  Another one night stay!!!

Tour to Lamar Valley on Wednesday August 27th 2014

Our last tour before leaving Yellowstone was Lamar Valley.  We saw more animals there in about five and a half hours than in the previous three days and had several bison jams ~! ! ! !  

Remember, we have to keep in our vehicles or at least 25 yards away.

The bus stopped many times to look at animals and/or features.  We stared and stared at these rocks looking for the mountain sheep that are supposed to be there.  Giving up, the bus pulls out and goes around the corner to find this mom and her baby right next to the road!!  So cute, they were in about the same place when we came back down the loop road...

Not a real good picture as it was taken out of the bus window but this is a pronghorn antelope.  We only saw them on this tour.

We learned some very interesting information about wildfires from our guide.  They have a very hard time with the media coming front and center to those kinds of events.  This is what the huge fire of 1988 looks like now.  The park does NOT fight fires except in the area of human and building protection. As a matter of fact she told us that the lodgepole pines need the heat of fire for the seeds in the pine cones to pop open and start to germinate.  After a forest fire approximately one million seeds per acre will be on the forest floor.  The park service feels that fire is necessary to get rid of the old trees that will die and give a start to the new, young ones as well as the grasses for the animals.  

We attended a Ranger led presentation about wolves in the park.  WOW, what an eye opener.  He was very good at presenting how every animal is connected to every other animal. 31 wolves were re-introduced into Yellowstone in 1987-88 and they now feel like there is a balance of nature in the park.  The park has taken kinda of a hands off policy in regards to trying to control animals now.  They neither take care of the sick nor give extra feed. It is really survival of the fittest.  This was also very interesting in that the outdoor auditorium was in "prime grizzly" territory.  The Ranger turned out the lights so that his slides could be seen.  A little nerve racking as we had been told several times to not go out at night and to make lots of noise! ! !  A couple people wanted to go to the edge of the Yellowstone Lake which was just behind the Visitor Center right next to where we were.  They were advised not too..   Sure happy when we were safely back in our car !!  Off to Cody tomorrow..

Tuesday, August 26th - Touring the North Loop

Today we are out on our own.  Pretty easy to do in Yellowstone as there are very few roads.  What we have noticed is a huge improvement in the roads and especially all the new pull outs.  Plenty large enough for every one and so no one is stopping right on the roads anymore, unless, of course, there is a bison jam.  Forget about traffic jams, it is the bison that stop traffic here and can happen any time, no predictability to time or place.  We loved it.  There are laws about how close you can be to wildlife and for bison it is 25 yards.  People can be really stupid chasing down these huge animals. 

We will see many more bison before we leave the park.  Fun bison jams included.  We went out to the North Entrance so we could see the Roosevelt Arch.

Right outside the North Entrance is the town of Gardiner. They have even put up fencing to try and keep the bison out of the town and into the park. Only because the town doesn't want them roaming.  Yellowstone National Park now considers itself naturally balanced.  They do not control any of the animals any longer.  That process was completed with the re-entrance of the wolf.  Thirty one were put back in the park in 1987-88.  

R

On the way back to Fishing Bridge.

Circle of Fire Tour - Monday August 25, 2014

Today was a looooong nine hour tour "Circle of Fire" from our campground in Yellowstone's Fishing Bridge.  The tour went over the entire lower section of the park's figure eight road system stopping at many "features" including, of course, Old Faithful. 

This is the Lake Inn on the banks of Yellowstone Lake.  Beautiful ~

These elk are safe from all you hunters ! ! !

We also got to see two other geyers blow, Beehive and Castle.  Our guide said that is a very unusual site.  We were only in that area an hour and a half.
Can you tell it was a cold day??  Haven't worn jeans or a jacket in months ! LOL~~

 



We have a lot more pictures but wi-fi is not so great in the park.  We have a hot spot and still it has taken about three hours to down load just these few. Hopefully I can add some more tomorrow, however, we are taking off on our own to see more of the park ! ! ! 

AAAAAH, much better Wi-Fi here in Cody so am posting more pictures from the Circle of Fire Tour on Monday.

Old Faithful has that name because it still "goes off" about every 92 minutes, the most predicable geyser in the park.  The "Circle of Fire" is mostly in two different calderas.  The guide told us that there was not near prediction of a volcano erupting in Yellowstone, it would probably be at least 100,000 years.  Don't think we will be around for that ! ! !  However, they are constantly moving boardwalks and sometimes roads because of new hot spots popping up.

These are inside the Old Faithful Lodge.  It must have taken a whole forest to build this lodge. It is absolutely beautiful!!  Yes, you do see a Christmas Tree.  Yellowstone does a Christmas Celebration on August 25th each year.

 

Had to pose by this 1937 bus.  Apparently about $200,000 was spent to restore it.  We didn't tour on it but was fun to see.  On another day when the weather was better, we saw it with the canvas top off.  Fun ! !

 





Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River in the Yellowstone Grand Canyon.  Pouring rain by the time we got there.  Having been to the "real" Grand Canyon in Arizona, this sure seemed small...   LOL

 

OK, I think that I am caught up for the tour day ! ! !