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Blogger has been giving me trouble. It won't let me download my pictures to the blog. So I am trying again.

Our South Dakota Adventure Continues

We, and thousands of Harley Davidson riders, stayed in Keystone, SD near Mount Rushmore. We were surprised at how much there was to see at the monument. It took us 3 hours to see everything and I took about 40 pictures from all different angles.

The four presidents are carved out of the granite of the Black Hills. The original plan was to have western heroes but the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum. convinced the park officials to have presidents. At first he was just going to have Washington and Lincoln but then Borglum added Jefferson and Teddy Roosevelt, whom he admired and was a close personal friend. There was also controversy and opposition to the monument by the Lakota indians. Where the monument is located is sacred land to the Lakota tribe. As a response, they decided to build their own tribute to their hero, Crazy Horse. The Ziolkowski family has been working on it since 1948 and because of lack of funds and refusal of government assistance, it will probably take them another 50 years to complete it.

We left Keystone and on our way across South Dakota we stopped at the Badlands National Park. It is located in the White Hills of South Dakota and was called the Badlands because it was desolate, dry and very difficult to move across. They are spectacular hoodoos and carved out hills and a real sight to see, reminds us very much of Drumheller.

We are spending 2 days in Sioux Falls, SD so Darcy can get some work done. It has been so hot here (the hottest was 34) that we were happy to spend a couple of days in an air conditioned hotel room. Now we are heading east and planning on being in Parry Sound by the weekend.

Leaving Billings we were part of a motorcycle caravan that grew to hundreds by the time we got to South Dakota. The reason we had trouble getting a hotel reservation near Mount Rushmore was because of the annual Sturgis, SD Motorcycle Rally. There were thousands of Harley Davidsons and other than the Japanese tourists, we were the only people touring these sites who did not have tattooes. I have included a picture of the parking lot at the Crazy Horse Memorial so you could get an idea of how many of them there were.

On the way to Mount Rushmore we stopped to see where the Battle of the Little Bighorn and Custer's Last Stand happened which is now on the Crow reservation. The army used white grave markers where the soldiers and civilians died. You can see them scattered around the hills. The black tombstone in the picture is Custer's. The bodies of the indians were taken away by their tribes and so one large monument was placed on the site to remember those who died. The story was told to us by a park tour guide from the Crow Reservation who gave us a very emotional talk about members of her family who died during these battles.

Then we headed to Keystone SD where we stayed 2 days and toured Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial but more about that tomorrow. It is going to take me some time to decide which of my 50 pictures of Mount Rushmore I should include.

On the road again

We got back on the road August 3 starting our trek east. We spent 3 days in Medicine Hat visiting Writing on Stone Provincial Park, Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park and Darcy got a round of golf in at Desert Blume.

Writing on Stone is about a 2 hour drive south and west of Medicine Hat. We got to tour the restricted area where there are petroglyphs and pictographs some up to 1,000 years old. Some are as recent at the early 1900's. We learned that it is a sacred place where Blackfoot today still go for their vision quest as their ancestors did 1,000 years ago. It is speculated that some of the petroglyphs are a recording of their conquests or success in hunting. It is well worth the trip if you get a chance.

Cypress Hills is about 45 minutes south east of Medicine Hat on the Elkwater Lake. It is a beautiful lush oasis surrounded by the Alberta and Saskatchewan prairie. We hiked up to Horseshoe Canyon where we got a beautiful view of the Sweetgrass Hills in Montana. The wildflowers were spectacular.

We crossed the border into Montana Saturday and spent the night in Billings on our way to Mount Rushmore. We had no idea when the border guard asked why we are going to Mount Rushmore during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally that we would be travelling to the same place as thousands of motorcycle riders. More about that later.