Mount Rushmore area--May 17-20,2010

We stayed outside Hill City,S. Dakota in Horsethief Campground nice and secluded. Nice place and nice owners. The first night we arrived we just went back into town and ate steaks at the Alpine Inn --an old hotel--very cozy, good food and reasonable. We are usually travelling on 2 lane roads and thru small towns and the population in all the areas is small;therefore, it is more likely than not that you will receive few if any tv stations using antenna or satellite which also means many times there is no phone or internet reception. I do miss those things plus it is hard to keep current with my blog. The next day we took off up the scenic Needles Hwy. so names because of the rock spires and the splits found in them. A beautiful drive and a slow one because of the curves. We even saw some piles of snow.There were 3 tunnels we went thru on that highway and they are only big enough for cars and when you went thru one you saw ahead thru the break in the trees, Mt. Rushmore--what a sight.

At Mt. Rushmore in the gift shop there was an elderly man signing books and he had been a driller on the mountain for 3 years when it was being done. It was interesting hearing what he had to say. The museum was really good and it had several short films: one about the sculpting process and one about the animals in the park. When looking at the mountain we saw 5 people up on the area just below their heads and when we read the newspaper it told us about them. They were from the Historic Scotland and Glasgow School of Art in coordination with the National Park Service and the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial technical ropes team. They were there to record 3-D digital laser scans of the mountain. The scans will be used for interpretive purposes, viritual tours and a realistic visual record of the mountain for posterity in case anything might happen to the mountain. At night at 9pm they light the mountain and a ranger gives a talk and music plays. We did not stay or go back for this--maybe if we come this way again. We also didn't get around to seeing the Crazy Horse sculptor which is not finished.

Bob needed to go to the chiropractor and I needed to see an eye Dr. for an eye infection so we had to go into Rapid City in the afternoon and by the time we hit a couple of hardware stores, two pharmacies, a GNC store, shoe store and a restaurant and both appointments it was time to head back to our RV Park. While going thru the city however on many corners were statues in bronze of Presidents in different poses. They were very neat. It would be interesting to walk thru the area and see them all up close. That day was gloomy and foggy up in the hills and only slightly better in the city.

We left Hill City for Deadwood on the morning of the 20th.