The Rest of the Story

Sooooo Wednesday evening  we have a descent room (Big Sky Lodge) in (Rapid City, S.D.) I finally remembered where we were.

We couldn't take "The City Tour" because they closed that down after Labor Day, but they do have one called "The Trolley Tour" - sorry we missed that.  However, we did drive around the city, it's a quaint city.  On many of the corners down town there is a life size statue of one of the presidents of the United States.  Did you know Rapid City, S.D. was voted the most patriotic city in the US??  Well now you know, it was fun to drive around and try to identify the presidents.  We had dinner at The Colonial House (CH) located on Mt. Rushmore Street on Hwy 16.  The food was wonderful sorry we didn't have time to go back.

We drove to Mt. Rushmore, Does anyone know how Mt. Rushmore got it's name??  Kind of an interesting story, for the evening show.  They closed the evening show the end of September, it was very nice.  They explained why the 4 presidents were chosen and the process of getting all 4 faces up on that mountain and a patriotic program. 

The next day Thursday we were "On Tour" from Hayes Fort, beginning with breakfast then the bus took us to Mt. Rushmore - All over the Black Hills and ending up at the Crazy Horse monument.

 

"Where the deer and the Buffalo Rome - we didn't see many buffalo because they had just had their roundup - the keep the herd manageable.

Chip monks living in these rocks, there were dozens of them looking for a hand out.

This was the narrowest of 3 tunnels the bus had to go through.  The bus was an old (30 Years) greyhound bus.  When we got into this tunnel there were several cars waiting at the other end, out driver stopped in the middle of the tunnel and pretended to be stuck, (we had about 3 inches on either side of the bus)  The expressions of those waiting at the other end of the tunnel was the best laugh of the day.  Our driver Matt, had a ton of interesting stories, did a great job.

Remember the movie "National Treasure" with Nicholas Cage?  In the second movie Cage sticks his hand in a crevice of a rock and then lets out a yell?  Behind us to our right is that very rock.  This is a man made lake and is very beautiful!!

Can you make out the Indian's face?  They are working on the horses Head now, they might be finished with it in another 50 years - not in my life time.  This project is 100% privately funded, the foundation will not accept government funds.  It's an interesting story - ask me some day and I will attempt to enlighten you. 

 

We ended up back to Fort Hayes for a "Cowboy Dinner" and a program.  The band was good, sang some good old Cowboy songs.  We went back to the Big Sky Lodge ready for a good nights rest. 

 

We had another adventure on the way home, I'll do that later!!  So, Stay Tuned!!