So it’s been a couple days since we posted. It was a combination of no WiFi access and low battery on the computer.

Mount Rushmore

We spent much of the morning at Mt. Rushmore. We drove up and Bea took pictures, and then we parked and walked out onto the Grand Terrace and took more pictures. Then we walked out onto the Presidential Trail closer to the monument and took more pictures. The photo here is of me trying to pick George Washington’s nose, something I’m sure thousands of 13-year-olds do every year. Really, if you think about, it’s what the founding fathers would want.

Quick cool facts: Granite erodes at about one inch every 10,000 years, so this monument should be here awhile. Also, the eyes are about 11 feet wide each.

Crazy Horse Memorial

Though it’s not done, this memorial was unbelievable. Once finished, it’s going to dwarf Mt. Rushmore. Crazy Horse’s head is 87 feet high; the presidents’ heads on Rushmore are only 60 feet high each. Plus, Crazy Horse will be riding a horse and whatnot. You can get an idea of what it will look like when it’s done here. Looks like we’ve got an excuse to return to the area — we’ll have to see this when it’s complete.
Custer State Park

This park is in the Black Hills also, and we got to see some great wildlife here.

We didn’t see much during the first half of the park, but then we hit an area with a lot of animals: buffalo, deer, prairie dogs, elk. At one point a herd of buffalo were on the right side of the road, close the edge, and I was able to take a pretty good close-up.

Later on, a donkey was half-blocking the road and Bea drove up beside it and took this cool photo. The donkey was about two feet from the camera when she snapped it.

We both loved the Black Hills and think we could have spent a week just there, hiking and biking and camping and sleeping. There was a wildfire there the night we stayed there, though, and I guess one person lost their life. There was some thunder and lightning that night — not much rain — and a lot of wind. So far we’ve been lucky that these crazy forest fires haven’t affected our trip.

Driving to Cody, Wy. via Walgreens and Bighorn National Forest, and the dog show conversation, on the jump…

Driving to Cody, Wyoming

After Custer State Park we stopped at a Walgreens to pick up a prescription for Bea. She has conjunctivitis and needed some eye ointment, but she continues to be a trooper and not let it stop her from seeing all the sights.

So we headed West again. We wanted to stop at Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, but just didn’t have time for the detour. We also wanted to head north into Montana to check out the site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, but again, we didn’t have time. We did make sure we drove into Montana, however. Quick in and quick out. It was very green.

We did drive through Bighorn National Forest right around sundown, which was amazing. Every corner we took was a new view, with walls of trees, red soil, and windy zig-zags up and down the mountain repeatedly. It reminded us of our late-night drive from Yosemite Park to Yosemite Bug last year.

Dog show conversation

We didn’t get to the Cody KOA until late, almost 11 p.m., so we were beat. The next morning, Bea had the following conversation with a woman while they were both in the shower area.

Other woman: Is there a dog show around here somewhere?

Bea: I don’t think so, why?

Woman: It’s just that there are so many dogs here at the campsite.

Bea: I think that a lot of people just like taking their dogs camping with them.

(Uncomfortable silence, as woman doesn’t like Bea’s rational response.)

Bea: Well, did they look like show dogs?

Other woman: Oh yeah, they really did!

Bea: Oh. [Exit stage left, quickly.]

If you own a show dog, don’t you put it up in a fancy hotel or something?

And then we headed out for Yellowstone. Report on that in the next day or so.