Mount Rushmore...

Mount Rushmore was the day’s destination. Although we went there on our honeymoon, it is yet another of my amnesic un-memories. All I remember about our Mount Rushmore experience is the helicopter ride we took there. It was a glass-bottomed machine and the pilot was a crazy man who thought it might be fun for us to view the dead presidents from a nosedive position. Well, I guess it WAS fun, but it was scary, too.

Anyway, back to present day…We stayed at another Flying J last night and took to the road in the morning in search of faces carved in stone. Mount Rushmore is very visible from the main road, so we didn’t bother to pay the $25.00 or so it was going to cost to park and go in to the visitor’s center. We can find all we want to know online, I’m betting.

There’s a very cool curving, looping road that has what they call “pig-tail bridges” (so named for the curlicue roads they help to form). The scenery and the close edges of the road were plenty to keep everyone busy ooh-ing and ahh-ing. Some oohs & ahhs were uttered in awe and some in fright, as the curves on the road were so sharp and the road so narrow that we often thought we’d meet ourselves coming and going.

There were a few spots to pull off and hang out. We found one we liked, where we all got out to stretch our legs. The rocks here are pretty amazing; I’ll have to agree with John Wesley on that. Even the dullest sandy colored rocks have this gorgeous metallic sheen. After we spent a few minutes messing around, we drove on into Custer State Park.

Custer is very cool. It has its own resident herd of buffalo, as well as mountain goats and bighorn sheep. We got stuck in a Custer Traffic Jam, as they call it, which is buffalo crossing. We, again, had the pleasure of observing the buffalo up-close-and-personal-like.

There is also a swimming area in Custer State Park, where Harold took the “biggers” to play in the water. The littles & I did some preschool work and colored for a bit, then we snacked and relaxed waiting for everyone else to come back.
We found a campground with a nice, grassy playground where everyone could work out their wiggles. Here, we even found a solution to the problem of Matthew’s wandering…Just kidding! Actually, of all the things we might miss from the Van Lear house, the one thing we miss most about it is Matthew’s play room. That little 12’ x 12’ area was so nice. He had the half walls so we could all interact with him, and he had the large picture window that allowed him to have natural sunlight and views of the outdoors; and I had the peace of mind, knowing if I was changing a diaper in the back room or cooking dinner that he was safe. When we ever build a house, I sure hope to be able to include something similar for him there.