Today was a very full day of sightseeing in South Dakota.  We first drove to Wind Cave National Park with no expectations.  It was wonderful, both the cave and the prairie over it.  The Custer State Park where we saw buffalo (American Bison), mule deer, Pronghorn Antelope, Whitetail Deer and Prairie Dogs was also a real treat.  Then we finished the day with the Needles Highway with its spectacular Cathederal-like spires and beautiful Sylvan Lake.

Wind Cave National Park...the 7th National Park, and the first to protect underground

Inside Wind Cave looking down the tunnel

Holes in ceiling from disoved limestone....no stalacttites or stalagmites

"Popcorn" & crystal formations

Smooth, hard flow...looks like snot!

Very rare "Box Work"

More "Box Work"

A "Box Work" speciman that someone had "taken" as a decoration....now
returned for display at Wind Cave.  Boxes are formed when the
limestone disolves, but the calcite that "glued" it together remains.

Custer State Park, South Dakota

Fawn & Doe

On the trail of BIGGER animals!!

NO, these Prairie Dogs are NOT the bigger animals.

TaDa!!  Here's the bigger animal that left the deposit two pictures ago.
The Amercican Bison!

Bison love to lick the salt at the edge of the road.

This herd in Custer State Park was started
from SEVEN surviving at the Bronx Zoo

LOOK OUT....here HE comes!

Mama & Calf...

Whitetail deer, 10 point buck

Wild "begging" burro

More begging burros

Family of Pronghorn Antelope

Custer State Game Lodge - historic lodge & restaurant featuring
native buffalo entrees`

Heading up the Needles Highway

Beautiful scenery along Needles Highway

Cathederal Court along Needles HWY

Custer State Park Valley from Needles HWY

Columns of granite along Needles HWY

Narrow & short tunnels in Needles HWY

Honk before entering one of these single-lane tunnels

The Eye of the Needle at last, on Needles HWY

A wonderful, peaceful reward after winding up Needles Highway,
beautiful Sylvan Lake, in Custer State Park

One more picture of Mt. Rushmore...this is when the US Veterans were honored.  I took it with my iPhone and just figured out how to get it on our blog.

Today was a short travel day...and then an amazing sightseeing afternoon and evening.  We left Chadron, Nebraska and headed to Rapid City, South Dakota and our next base camp at Ellsworth Air Force Base. After quickly settling in, we headed out for a late lunch and then on to Mt. Rushmore, just 25 miles away.  To say that Mt. Rushmore at first sight is thrilling is a gross understatement.  Our goosebumps had goosebumps as we made our way to this specatular memorial to four fabulous presidents.  We toured the museum, went for a hike to Gutzon Borglum's studio, and then ate dinner with Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln gazing down upon us.  The evening was topped off with the moving illumination program at the Mt. Rushmore Amphitheater.  Patriotic music, a stirring presentation on freedom by a young female ranger, along with a short movie about the four presidents, and our country's freedoms was rounded off with the audience singing our National Anthem as lights illuminated Mt. Rushmore.  What a great way to end our first day in South Dakota!

Our first glimpse of Mt. Rushmore...George Washington

Mt. Rushmore from the parking lot

Mt. Rushmore, as we come to the Avenue of State Flags

Avenue of  50 State Flags

Indiana & Iowa state flags on right...

Mt. Rushmore
Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, & Lincoln

George Washington, Father of Our Country
Our first US President

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence,
His Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of America

Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator
reunited our country after a great Civil War

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt,
preservation & conservation of vast

Mask with plumb bob, to show the point system
that Borglum used to transfer measurements to the mountain

Masks were 1/12th the size of actural sculpture, and helped the workers
by providing a visual comparison & measurement on the mountain

Mt. Rushmore from outside Borglum's studio

1/12th models by Borglum were often changed as the work
continued on the mountain

Some of the tools used by workers, along with dynamite, and courage!

Mt. Rushmore as seen through Borglum's studio window, just above the models

Mt. Rushmore before the evening lighting

The lighting of Mt. Rushmore, as the audience sang
The Star-Spangled Banner

Mt. Rushmore illuminated

All US Veterans were invited up on stage at the conclusion of the illumination,
and introduced.  Jim is in the back row, 4th from left!
Thank You Veterans!!

Just one more look at the spectacular Mt. Rushmore National Memorial