Please indulge my entertainment, we’re driving north after a day of sightseeing and the high prairie is beginning to look the same.  Our day started out with a couple of short walks through Badlands National Park.  The total walking mileage for the day was less than 4 miles.  There are several hiking trails, but we opted to be casual stollers today since we wanted to also go to Mount Rushmore, so from a time management perspective short vista trails were what we opted to do.   The animal highlight for us at BNP was seeing Big Horn Sheep and Prairie Dogs (plus mule deer).  The park has a wide variety of geological landscapes that include buttes, spires, canyons, and rolling grasslands.  We heard a lot of different bird calls, but only saw a yellow bunting, swallows, and prairie sparrows.  BNP is adjacent to Buffalo National Grasslands; however we were disappointed that we didn’t see any bison.  This reminds me that we had Bison burgers for lunch at the famous Wall Drug, Wall ND.

Mount Rushmore National Monument is off the beaten path in the Black Hills of South Dakota, with the closest town being Keystone.  Keystone is a western version of Gaitlinburg TN, only smaller.  In 1994 a visitors center and US flag avenue was opened at Mt Rushmore, along with a night theater that does a nighttime light history show in the summertime.  Some trivia about Mt Rushmore:

-          Gutzon Borglum was the sculptor.  He began work in 1927 but didn’t live to see it finished in 1941.  He built a 1 to 12 inch model, which was used to complete the project by his son.  Precision dynamite blasting techniques learned from Stone Mountain GA, helped keep costs down and sped up the process.

-          Skilled workers were drawn from mines.  They received better pay and worked in a safer environment.  No lives were lost in the construction process.

-          Borglum had the final say on who’s face was on the monument.  Of course, Washington was picked as the father of our country.  Jefferson as the author of the Declaration of Independence, master mind behind the Louisiana Purchase, as well as the driving force behind the Lewis and Clark expedition.  Lincoln for his role in keeping our nation whole.  There were some that were surprised at the inclusion of Theodore Roosevelt.  However, Borglum had the foresight to know that TR’s role in establishing the National Park system merited his face on the monument.

-          George Washington’s nose is the largest at 21 feet high.  The rest are 20 feet.   The eyes are about 11 feet wide, while the mouths are about 18 feet wide.

After we left Mt Rushmore we headed south to Custer State Park.  There is a very scenic drive through the park, which also has signs telling people that Bison can be Dangerous.  This got our hopes up that we might see some bison, but no joy.  We did see antelope and several jack asses, I mean feral donkeys that were being feed by jack asses who weren’t obeying the signs “Please don’t feed the wildlife.”

 We then took another scenic route from Custer State Park north to Deadwood.  Unfortunately we got stuck behind a senior driver that made the trip extremely frustrating for Roger.  The lady was terrified of curves and rode her brakes, but would speed up whenever we tried to safely pass her.   Now we’re on the road to Medora ND, which is right outside of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  We’ll be getting to the campground around 9, but since it was raining in Deadwood we decided to mosey north so we could get some decent hiking in tomorrow.  Along the way on US 85 we saw some pheasant trying to walk across the road, (I wonder if those silly birds know that they can fly?)  We also passed bison, albeit on a farm to be raised for meat, which is leaner and tasty.  That’s it until tomorrow…