The official slogan of South Dakota is "Great Faces, Great Places." Well, we saw both those in the last couple of days. Last night we did not have Internet access so I'll try to catch you up on both Friday and Saturday's adventures without running on too long.
Friday morning, we left Billings around 9:00 a.m. on our way to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Park. This is about an hour drive. However, do you know that if you miss the turnoff alon
g the highways of South Dakota that you will probably have to drive 16 miles out of your way before being able to turn around? My suggestion is to get off the highway if you just think you might need to. Then figure out if you are at the right place. Prevention is half the cure. All that to say that we did arrive at the Battlefield but not before seeing some extra countryside.
Even though we only expected to make this a quick stop it was actually very interesting and we spent several hours there. Add that to the wrong turn and lost time, it was later than planned when we left there for Mt. Rushmore.
Driving through South Dakota is mostly what you would expect. Lots of rolling hills covered with golden grasses and cattle and pronghorn antelope and not much else. It's big country and beautiful. But the surprise to us was the mountains. Okay, we're not talking Rockies here but mountains none the less. The drive to Mt. Rushmore was wonderful. (I really could use a thesaurus because I'm running out of descriptive words quickly.)
Everyone has seen pictures of Mt. Rushmore. I think it's required to be an American. It looks just like the pictures only more. It's big and magnificent and even a little awe-inspiring. The ability of Borglum to imagine this sculpture in the side of a mountain and then be able to accomplish it is amazing. We arrived in the very late afternoon and were there until dark. I'm very glad we took the time to go and recommend it to you as well. Go when you have the opportunity.
From there, we drove in the dark along winding mountain roads to our lodge in Custer State Park. The dining room had closed by the time we arrived but a very nice dining room host managed to get us some dinner and bring it to our room. End of a great day.
This morning we were able to actually see where we were staying and decided it was very nice. The lodge was built in the early 1920's and was the summer white house in 1926 for Coolidge. Custer State Park hosts the largest publicly owned buffalo herd. The Wildlife Loop Road winds through the park and we spent the morning exploring. We did see some buffalo but certainly not the entire herd. The road wound through pine forested hills, green grass covered meadows edged with golden leaved trees and made a great start to the day.
From Custer we drove a couple of hours to Wall, S.D. home of the famous Wall Drug Store. Along with all the other tourists, we stopped for lunch there and then across the highway to drive through the Badlands of South Dakota. This is where you will see the differences in personalities between Doug and Judi. The Badlands consist of eroded mud cliffs in unique formations and colors. It was hot, 94 degrees hot, and there are lots of these mud cliffs. They look a lot like sand castles on the beach and I will admit that it was unique and interesting but a fairly quick drive would have satisfied me. Doug, however, was totally intrigued and stopped at every turnout to gaze again at the mud cliffs. Do you see my prejudice for this afternoon's adventure? Doug wants to come back and believe me when I say he will come alone. Well, actually, I'll go anywhere with him if I just have a good book to read while he's exploring.
Once again the day ended with a long drive to our hotel arriving well after dark and dinner time. Once again we made a wrong turn which resulted in a 19 mile detour. Once again, it was a good day, mud cliffs and all.
Friday morning, we left Billings around 9:00 a.m. on our way to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Park. This is about an hour drive. However, do you know that if you miss the turnoff alon
g the highways of South Dakota that you will probably have to drive 16 miles out of your way before being able to turn around? My suggestion is to get off the highway if you just think you might need to. Then figure out if you are at the right place. Prevention is half the cure. All that to say that we did arrive at the Battlefield but not before seeing some extra countryside.Even though we only expected to make this a quick stop it was actually very interesting and we spent several hours there. Add that to the wrong turn and lost time, it was later than planned when we left there for Mt. Rushmore.
Driving through South Dakota is mostly what you would expect. Lots of rolling hills covered with golden grasses and cattle and pronghorn antelope and not much else. It's big country and beautiful. But the surprise to us was the mountains. Okay, we're not talking Rockies here but mountains none the less. The drive to Mt. Rushmore was wonderful. (I really could use a thesaurus because I'm running out of descriptive words quickly.)
Everyone has seen pictures of Mt. Rushmore. I think it's required to be an American. It looks just like the pictures only more. It's big and magnificent and even a little awe-inspiring. The ability of Borglum to imagine this sculpture in the side of a mountain and then be able to accomplish it is amazing. We arrived in the very late afternoon and were there until dark. I'm very glad we took the time to go and recommend it to you as well. Go when you have the opportunity.
From there, we drove in the dark along winding mountain roads to our lodge in Custer State Park. The dining room had closed by the time we arrived but a very nice dining room host managed to get us some dinner and bring it to our room. End of a great day.
This morning we were able to actually see where we were staying and decided it was very nice. The lodge was built in the early 1920's and was the summer white house in 1926 for Coolidge. Custer State Park hosts the largest publicly owned buffalo herd. The Wildlife Loop Road winds through the park and we spent the morning exploring. We did see some buffalo but certainly not the entire herd. The road wound through pine forested hills, green grass covered meadows edged with golden leaved trees and made a great start to the day.
From Custer we drove a couple of hours to Wall, S.D. home of the famous Wall Drug Store. Along with all the other tourists, we stopped for lunch there and then across the highway to drive through the Badlands of South Dakota. This is where you will see the differences in personalities between Doug and Judi. The Badlands consist of eroded mud cliffs in unique formations and colors. It was hot, 94 degrees hot, and there are lots of these mud cliffs. They look a lot like sand castles on the beach and I will admit that it was unique and interesting but a fairly quick drive would have satisfied me. Doug, however, was totally intrigued and stopped at every turnout to gaze again at the mud cliffs. Do you see my prejudice for this afternoon's adventure? Doug wants to come back and believe me when I say he will come alone. Well, actually, I'll go anywhere with him if I just have a good book to read while he's exploring.
Once again the day ended with a long drive to our hotel arriving well after dark and dinner time. Once again we made a wrong turn which resulted in a 19 mile detour. Once again, it was a good day, mud cliffs and all.
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