Saturday, February 27, 2010

day 2: cheyenne, wy to sioux falls, sd: rock on!

Today was a very looooong driving day, but we broke it up with a little bit of fun. I wrote before that we were going to detour through South Dakota to go see Mt. Rushmore, and that's what we did. We drove and drove through the plains of Wyoming, and then suddenly when we crossed into South Dakota we entered the Black Hills, and they were so beautiful--definitely a welcomed change of scenery!!
Back in 1988 there was a big fire in the Black Hills region, which burned millions of acres. I'm guessing that is where all these dead and fallen trees come from. Pictures can't even capture what it really looked like and how beautiful it really is.
I had read about the mountain goats that roam the roads close to the memorial, but didn't think we would really see any, at least this close. We got lucky and happened on this group of about 5 or 6 mountain goats. Note the sign next to the one above!

What are these guys looking at??
Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. We made it!! It was truly amazing to see. Jake was still sick at this point--maybe you can see the look of "get-me-out-of-here" on his face! After we left there, we drove and drove and drove, clear across South Dakota, to Sioux Falls. It was dark for most of our drive, and it was very foggy. People around there must be used to driving in the dark fog because I would slow down to 40mph, both hands clutched on the wheel at 10 and 2, when cars/trucks/whatever would fly by me at 60 or 70mph. It was a little scary sometimes, to say the least, but we made it safely there just before midnight. By the time we had everyone settled into their beds we caught the re-run of primetime Olympics. Good times!

1 comment:

Julie V. said...

That mountain goat shot is awesome! When Madison was 3 1/2 we went there and she called Mt. Rushmore "the Four Heads" So to us, it is still "the Four Heads"