Rapid City Adventure - the Journey Home

November 29, 2008

(This is the last of a series of four posts.)

Woke up, relaxed, packed up and checked out of the motel. There were some things we learned over the last three days. First, we wanted to go back to Horsethief Lake. Second, there were closed roads in the Black Hills. Third, we hadn't seen even a fraction of what there was to see. Fourth, we didn't want to drive home after dark. And most importantly, we really like each other and like being together.

We decided to drive home another way. We looked at a few more things in Rapid City, but the chapel in the woods was "closed for the season". That was a little sad, because all of the pictures we saw of it looked real neat. We did drive by a children's park and got attacked by a flock of ducks.

We drove over to Hill City. I think if we had "known" about Hill City, we should have booked our last night there. It was a quaint little place with more personality that the average tourist town.

We then drove another path down to Custer. We went by way of the Sylvan Lake highway. It had another entrance onto the Needles Highway, but we knew from experience that it was closed for the winter. Still, the Sylvan Lake Highway had some incredible views - Mt. Harney, the highest point between the Rocky Mountains and the Alps - and a "tunnel", basically just a hole in the rock for one car to maneuver through.

Then after Custer we headed west to Newcastle (through the only snow we saw for the whole weekend), then south to home. We did stop and had "a date" and went to Sam's - what else is there to do on a date when your whole life is turning into a date.

This was a grand weekend - despite the elk. (If you want to hear about the whole weekend - read the previous three posts.)

Rapid City Adventure - Friday in the Black Hills

November 28, 2008

It was a fun, laid back kind of day. We got up and checked out of the motel. We then drove into the Black Hills. Our goal was to drive the Iron Mountain Road and the Needles Highway to get to the Crazy Horse Memorial. We found out about 1 mile down Iron Mountain Road that it was a bad idea - cause the road was closed for the winter. Alas, we had to back track and drive a more tame highway over to Crazy Horse. On the way, we stopped at the "profile view" of Mount Rushmore and then a little further on we stopped at a little lake - Horsethief Lake (more about that later).

We liked the Crazy Horse Memorial. We went into the Visitors Center and looked at all of the exhibits and watched the movie and generally found out about it. It is much different from Mount Rushmore. There are no government funds being used and the pace of work is a lot slower. It was actually commissioned by the local Native American tribes. For a long time, there was only one man working on it. And in the end, it will be so much bigger than Mount Rushmore. It will be the biggest carved monument in the world. But the end is not in sight. Still it is a beautiful place to be.

This is the Nature Gate at the Crazy Horse Memorial. See if you can find - dinosaurs.

We then went down to Custer, South Dakota, and tried another path to get to The Needles highway. Alas, it was closed six miles in, but we saw some more beautiful country. One place was called "Hole in the Wall".

Our trip back to Rapid City took us through Custer State Park, were we had a number of sightings. Then we checked into a new motel and went out and did a little bit of Christmas shopping. These are pictures of the inside atrium of the motel from the fifth floor - a bit more fancy than the other motel. Thank heavens for off season prices.

Speaking of sightings:

We saw herds - I mean flocks - of wild turkeys. The question is, why doesn't Colorado have any herds of wild turkeys?

We saw our first ever wild big horn sheep in the wild. They were just grazing on the yummy green grass at a ranger station. There were two bucks. Mar's pictures look like she got them fighting, but really they were just playing, but we did their horns crack.

We saw buffalo - sorry - bison. We had almost given up on seeing any of them, then there was a herd - really a herd this time. We sat and watched them as the crossed the road, hung up traffic and then went to graze - in a children's playground. They are magestic animals.

We saw skunks, and a lynx, and a moose and a rattle snake.

Oh, sorry about that - that was just a trip to Cabelas. We also saw bears - but that was as we drove past Bear Country USA.

Now this part is going to sound strange. It is our experience at Horsethief Lake.

When we stopped at Horsethief Lake, I got out of the car to just take a picture. As I did, I heard something across the lake. It was an animal sound - or not. Then I heard it again - no it was different - I almost thought it might be a turkey - but no - that was not right. I told Mar to turn off the car and come listen. We stood there by the side of that frozen lake and listened. It sounded like sonar - no not that mechanical. It sounded organic - but not really. It sounded like a flexed saw - but not that rough. It was mysterious and mystical and mythical and totally indescribable. And sometimes it came from there and sometimes it came from somewhere else. And it never sounded the same, as if something was having a conversation in a beautiful foreign tongue. And just as we figured out what it was, a moan came more intense and loud and long - enough so that Mar grabbed my arm from fright or startlement or surprise (I had fright and statement and surprise also) - it was a big, deep echoing whisper or sigh or moan or song from over the lake. In older days I could see people thinking it was the Spirits of the dead who make the Black Hills sacred. It was for us, a sublime moment in our lives. We had never heard anything like it - but I dearly want to hear it again. (We went back again on Saturday - but the Spirits were gone - mostly.) Do you think you know what it was? It was - - -

The ice. We talked to an ice fisherman and he said that when ice is new and not too thick, it sings as it freezes. Ice expands as it freezes and the pressure makes vibrations that sound other-worldish. Mar and I got there just as the conditions were perfect. By the next day, with another night of freezing, the ice was too thick. I don't ever want to forget that, and next year, when the lakes start to freeze, I will spend time waiting for the ice to sing. Waiting for the Spirits to speak.

Rapid City Adventure - Thanksgiving Day

November 27, 2008

Okay - lets get the hard question out of the way first. Yes, they do have Thanksgiving in South Dakota. In fact, we got to our motel room and there was a sign there that said the motel was providing a complimentary Thanksgiving dinner for all of their guest. Well, we were supposed to check out this morning and go to another motel this evening, but we went down and checked in for an extra day. So we had Thanksgiving dinner just fine. And then we got back this evening and asked them if there were any leftovers, and they said yes, so we got leftovers too. So don't worry about our Thanksgiving. Here is a picture of the GrandStay Motel - which happens to be the newest motel in Rapid City. Also, a couple of Rapid City pictures.

Now for vacation news. We woke up and spent the morning in the Black Hills. It is a place that the Native Americans thought was spiritual. They called it the Black Hills because from the plains, the pines made the hills dark.

We drove through a little town called Keystones. It is kinda like Estes Park. It is the gateway to Mount Rushmore. There are tunnels through the granite mountains. This one is right outside of Keystone.

Our main destination was Mt. Rushmore which is only about a half-hour from Rapid City. Yep, we did the real tourist thing. We got a recorded tour and went to a movie about it and walked through the museum and walked the presidential walk. It was very cool. It was a little bit chilly but the sky was crystal clear blue. Here are six questions. Do you know the answers?

Why is it called Mount Rushmore?

Why did he choose Washington?

Why did he choose Jefferson?

Why did he choose Roosevelt?

Why did he choose Lincoln?

How many people got killed making the statues?

Cool isn't really the right word . . .

Better words might be inspiring, memorial, magestic, beautiful, spectacular, awesome . . .

It makes you proud to have seen it.

By the way - one of the things we are really thankful for is Mar's knees. The trail we walked was about .6 miles and it was posted as "strenuous". There were lots of stairs. Here is a little sample.

We went to a movie in the afternoon - Australia. We liked it, but you will have to wait for my movie review.

And finally - the sightings:

We saw mountain goats. They were at Mount Rushmore. Actually, there are 6 of them. They are escapees from Custer State Park and went a few miles north and just made their home at Mount Rushmore. They care not at all about the people around.

We saw deer. There were some of them at Mount Rushmore also, but the impressive ones we saw as we were just driving around in the country north of Rapid City.

We saw wild turkeys - yep - wild turkeys on Thanksgiving Day. We told them to run and hide, but they just walked on down the road.

And we saw Santa Clause. He was at our Thanksgiving dinner. He was perfect. He had on a red shirt and red suspenders. He had snow white hair down to his collar and a snow white, curly beard.