Still South Dakota

     Yesterday, I had to wake up in the morning at I suppose most would call a decent hour and prepare for my day. I don't know if I have mentioned this yet, but the camper has rather tight living quarters for five people and three dogs so it is usually pretty crowded.
    We had breakfast in the house with Aunt S. and Uncle E. Then we closed up the camper and said good-bye. Good-bye is generally not as easy as saying hello and of course in this case that was true more so than most times.
    I said good-bye to Jake also:

Jake looking through the porch railings

    Then we set out for Mount Rushmore. During the middle of the day, we ran into the time change. We drove past the badlands and stopped at Wall Drug.
    Wall drug was very nice and most of the things sold there were reasonably priced, but the whole thing was slightly overwhelming.
    We passed some gorgeous scenery on our drive and the South Dakota flat land that I had grown accustomed to seeing began to become more hilly.
    Here are some of the photographs I acquired:

South Dakota Cows

South Dakota Round Bales

South Dakota tree covered hill

    The trip continued without much interruption and we stopped early at a campsite for the evening. Jane and I went on the water slide and also took a short soak in the hot tub.
    Back at the camper we enjoyed a nice meal of spaghetti and meat balls before heading over to Mount Rushmore.
    It was beautiful. The mountain was absolutely amazing! I managed to obtain some images but they don't do the mountain justice:

    As we were driving past, Claire commented that some of the rocks near Mount Rushmore seemed to be sparkling and it's true as we got a closer look they did appear to be sparkling.
    It was interesting, because Mom and Dad were at Mount Rushmore 26 years ago and a lot has changed. We took the president's trail around. Here is the view we had on part of the trail:

     I got some different angles of Mount Rushmore:

President Abraham Lincoln

President George Washington

    We also learned that 1 inch on the model design of the presidents would equal 1 foot on the mountain. That's a huge difference in size! Mount Rushmore is really an incredible accomplishment.
    We walked through an entry way of flags. It was beautiful!

    We stayed for a short ceremony that Claire and I found very moving and they lit the monument.
    It's so different out here. Some people love the west, some love the east. I think it's just what you're accustomed to.    

Until Next Time,
    Katherine Rose