We
traveled from Gillette, Wyoming to Rapid City, South Dakota today
with the main attraction being at Mount Rushmore for July 4th.
First we checked out, got breakfast and hit the road to Devil's
Tower. You might recognize the mountain from the movie Close
Encounters of the Third Kind. It is the one Richard Dreyfuss is
making out of mashed potatoes. Anyway, it was impressive. What made
it more interesting to me than the shape was the surrounding rock
formations. None of the surrounding mountains have this color rock.
It really does look like something alien to its surroundings.
Afterward, we drove to Spearfish, South Dakota for lunch at a cool
little pizza joint, the Dough Trader Pizza Company. The town's
Fourth of July parade had just come to an end so the town was busy.
From
there we made our way through the Black Hills National Forest. We
made stops along the way including Bridal Falls. We drove through
Spearfish Canyon, where some of Dances with Wolves was filmed, and
stopped in Lead and Deadwood. The Town of Lead's Fourth of July
parade was just about to start as we drove down Main Street so we met
the whole town at once. We walked around the Town of Deadwood. This
was a neat little place that we could have spent the day if we had
more time. The pictures we took do not really capture it.
We
continued south through Hill City and Custer with a stop at the Crazy
Horse Monument. Since it was getting late, we skipped a few stops we
had planned to get to Mount Rushmore. There we stayed for the
lighting ceremony which included a presentation and film in an
outside amphitheater. We all enjoyed it; however we were a little
disappointed there were no fireworks. We arrived in Rapid City late
tonight. Tomorrow we will explore the area further and might go back
to see some of the places we skipped today.
No comments:
Post a Comment