Mount Rushmore/Custer State Park/Black Hills National Forest

Our RV Park is close to Family Housing so I took Maggie for walk on the manicured sidewalk through housing before calling it a night last night.  It was a cool crisp fall Friday evening, and the children were playing up and down the street.  The basketball goals in the driveway, little toddler girls riding their big wheels with baskets on the front down the sidewalks trying to run over the little boys who were riding their dirt bikes and skate boards.  Came around the corner to see the house with about 20 kids and various riding toys piled up in the front yard.  That would have been my front yard many years ago.  It brought back many warm memories especially when I saw the soccer team practicing in the adjoining field.

Billy slept in this morning while I jumped out of bed and got into my GA football "pace."  It was not a good day to be a GA Bulldawg, but I am proud of our team and the integrity of our coach.  About halfway through the game Billy and I loaded up the truck and took off on one of our "excursions."  Following the advice of one of the campers here at the Fam Camp we went to Custer State Park prior to going to Mount Rushmore.  Going that "back" route brought us around mountain roads, and we were able to view Mount Rushmore in ALL of its glory without even entering the park.   The drive through Custer State Park is beautiful, and $12.00 gives us a pass to enter the park at will for the next seven days.  We saw beautiful deer, pronghorn antelope and buffalo up close and personal.  One buffalo was intent on walking straight toward our truck.  The park is home to as many as 1,500 head of North American bison.  Bison can grow to 6 feet tall and weigh more than 2,000 pounds.  The Pronghorns live mainly on the open grasslands.  The name pronghorn comes from the bucks' large pronged horns.  If the females have horns, they are small and unpronged.  These animals possess remarkable endurance and can run 40 mph or faster for great distances.There were many many side roads that we weren't able to take because we had to go on to Mount Rushmore.  It is definitely an all day trip. 

Neither one of us was super excited about seeing Mount Rushmore, but it came alive by coming in the back winding roads, going through naturally made tunnels, and viewing Mount Rushmore through the trees at a distance and viewing it in profile from the side.  Coming out of one of the naturally made tunnels provided a perfectly framed photo of "the faces."  Wouldn't have missed it for the world.  As Billy said, we wonder what would make a person wake up one morning and say "I am going to carve faces in those rocks on that mountain."  Crazy!  But "Life is Good (Again) Today!"