Day 77

Mt. Rushmore Tour

Jul 22, 2013, 8:58 AM

We started the day in a panic, well at least I did. Last night when I went to bed I set the alarm for 5:00 AM, we wanted to leave at 6:00 AM. At 5:17 AM I sprang out of bed realizing the alarm had never gone off. Oh shit, not a good way to start the day. I took the world's fastest shower, made Steve's cappuccino, made the bed and we were out the door in exactly 42 minutes. That is for sure a record for us. Now I probably should tell you that we were foolishly allowing about twenty extra minutes for traffic, not thinking about the fact that we really haven't had to deal with traffic since we left the middle of Lower Michigan. So to say that we were early is an understatement. We were told to be here about 7:30 AM and we were the second one's here. So we got our tickets and had our breakfast. It was served on tin plates, pancakes, sausage gravy and biscuits, sausage links, coffee, and orange juice. 

At 8:45 AM we got on the bus, that's when I realized I lost my Hoodman, it's a piece of camera equipment and I'm not happy about it, but hopefully before the end of the day it will be turned in. Steve and I were giggling cause this guy was walking around about ten minutes before we were supposed to get on the bus and he was dressed like a cowboy/gunslinger. He had on a black vest, white shirt, black cowboy hat, and cowboy boots. He has gray hair about shoulder length and gray mustache, he is slender and he really looks like Sam Elliot, that's where the similarity ends. Steve kept saying that's the bus driver, you wait and see. I thought for sure it couldn't be, but damn if it wasn't. He has got a continual gab going. God help me, I'm trapped. It is going to be a long day. 

Mt. Rushmore

Jul 22, 2013, 10:51 AM

Oh Mt. Rushmore was just beautiful. The scale is incredible. We did this just right too. The bus driver/guide told us on the way that the sculpture was intentionally carved so that it catches the morning sun and that causes it to almost glow. As we were coming into Keystone we got our first glimpse of the mountain and it looked white in the sun. It is a glorious site. You get such a lump of patriotic pride stuck in your throat when you see this carving. This is a sight I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd see. We got "several" photos of the monument and I just wanted to take more. After we left the monument the bus ride was hair raising. Some of the hairpin turns and bridges that it crossed, I was ever so glad Celeste wasn't with us. The bus driver did send out an interesting fact that wasn't an age old joke or just nonsense. He told us the pine trees growing on the boulders were Ponderosa Pines and they can grow on the rocks because their roots secrete an acid that eats away at the rock to allow the roots to sink in, however, the acid won't break or make the rock crumble. Thats kind of cool!!!!! It just amazes me how nature will always find a way. 

My Hoodman was found!!!!! Thank God too the damn thing was expensive. Anyway we stopped at the Game Lodge in Custer State Park for lunch. It was some of the best food we have had. Now as you can imagine, when the bus unloaded and forty some odd people got off it was a crush at the restaurant, so they paired people up at tables, or at least they did with us. We ate lunch with a really nice couple from Salt Lake City, Utah. We talked and laughed at lunch and before you knew it the hour was up and it was time to get back on the bus. Steve had some buffalo stew, I didn't even try it. Last night for dinner I made us a buffalo steak and although Steve loved it, it didn't do anything for me. 

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this so I'm just going to put it out there. The roads that the bus was taking were so twisty turny, and there were three tunnels you go through that are hardly large enough for a VW bug let alone this bus. Well at the last one, the tightest one, the driver has to pull up then back up to be square with the opening cause as you get inside the tunnel if there are too many coats of wax on the bus it's going to scrape, are you getting the idea of how tight this tunnel is, a sheet of paper can't be passed between the bus and the rock wall, it's a freaking rock coffin, anyway, the driver and his constant prattle, tells us he is going to freak out the people at the other end of the tunnel. He's going to pretend he's stuck. So he stops, turns on the flashers, reves the engine like he's stuck. The people t the other end, that I might add are waiting to go through the tunnel, freak!!!!!! They start to come in, try to help him navigate, etc. I'm sure there were calls to 911, "yeah um, hi, we are like up on the Needles Highway, yeah and we are at a tunnel, and um, there is this bus and um, I think it's stuck in the tunnel. Honey, can you see, is he stuck? Yeah, my husband is saying he's got that thing wedged in there good. I think you better send up a wrecker or something. . . " Now I think this is sort of mean, those poor people, and when we did finally get going again, there was a LINE of people waiting to go through. It creates such a bottleneck! I don't know, maybe it's just me.

Crazy Horse Monument

Jul 22, 2013, 5:13 PM

We saw the Crazy Horse Monument/Sculpture. I thought it was much more complete. With Mt. Rushmore as done as it ever will be most likely, did you know that the presidents on Mt. Rushmore were supposed to be a sculpture to the waist?, yes we saw that in a special on PBS, but Borglum died and funding dried up and they called it done, anyway I thought the Crazy Horse Monument was much further along. What you can see is still very impressive. I also think it's so fitting that they will not take any government funding for the project, and I say good for them. The treatment of the American Indian has been so disgraceful, but I'm not going any further with that. They said the four heads of the presidents together on Mt. Rushmore would fit in the head of Crazy Horse. You don't really get a feel for the size cause the viewing area is further away, but the model is something to see if nothing else. Now we are on our way back to Ft. Hayes for a dinner and show. It has been a long day and at this point I'm ready to go home, but dinner will be good to have someone else cook and clean up. 

At dinner our seating was on the tickets. When we got into the dining hall there were several rows of tables that were picnic tables set end to end. Each row had a letter and each seat had a number. Steve and I were on Row E, Seats 7 and 8. This was perfect because we were the first two seats at the end of the table, Steve prefers to be at the end of a row. Anyway we weren't seated for more than a minute or so and we hear a cheery hello from behind us, we'd been sitting with our backs to the table, when we turned around there was Bill & Eva, the couple we ate lunch with. This was such a great coincidence. We were able to spend dinner talking with them again. It was really fun getting to know them and we have promised to look them up when we get to Salt Lake City.