Days 76 - 82 (7/31 - 8/6): Trip to the Black Hills

Leslie arrived in Pierre on 7/31. We enjoyed a great prime rib dinner that evening at the Cattleman's Club with Joan & Jim, Mary & Colin and two of their three daughters, Meredith and Jordan. The prime ribs were absolutely fantastic, as Mary said they would be. The quality of these prime ribs explains why Mary never orders beef in New York City--she knows that it would not be any where near as good as what she can get in Pierre (at a much more reasonable price).

On 8/1 we drove to the Black Hills with Mary & Colin, taking two cars. They took us through the South Dakota Badlands, then to their cabin deep in the woods but actually quite near Mt. Rushmore. We spent the evening at Mt. Rushmore, which I had never seen before, and had another excellent dinner. For the "foodies" out there: the restaurant we went to in Hill City serves only two things, a small filet mignon and a large filet mignon. It comes with a baked potato and a wedge of lettuce with a house dressing, so to place your order all you need to do is specify "small" or "large," and how you want the steak cooked. The choices were certainly limited, but the dinners were excellent.

On 8/1 we went back to Mt. Rushmore for breakfast, and then on a long car tour of the local area, guided by Colin and Mary who have explored it so thoroughly.

This was the week of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, so literally several hundred thousand bikers from all over the country had converged on the Black Hills area. One highlight of the trip was being stopped in Custer State Park by a herd of buffalo who were milling about on the road, blocking traffic. We loved seeing the buffalo close up, from the security of our car, but many of the bikers recognized that they were in a very precarious position, and were getting nervous--a Harley Davidson is no match for a 2,000 pound bull buffalo.

On 8/2 Mary and Colin returned to Pierre, leaving Leslie and I to explore the area on our own. We had a wonderful time, using the cabin as a base to sightsee in the surrounding area. Among other things, we went to a very interesting site in Hot Springs where they are digging up skeletons of mammoths and other extinct mammals; Wind Cave in Wind Cave National Park, one of the oldest national parks; the awesome Devil's Tower in Wyoming (which you might remember from the movie Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind); the site of a recently discovered, centuries old buffalo jump; the town of Deadwood, once one of the wildest towns in the west, where Wild Bill Hickock was murdered. From start to finish, a great trip in a beautiful area.

Don't be fooled by the name, as I had been: the Black Hills are not hills, they are rugged mountains. Big mountains. Mt. Harney, for example, at 7,242 feet, is the highest point in North America east of the Rocky Mountains. This whole area, apparently thrust up from the earth in the same violent movements that formed the Rocky Mountains, is filled with geological wonders, wildlife, and places of historical interest. Mount Rushmore may be the major draw, but there is plenty here for a great summer vacation.

Following are a number of photos:
Leslie and Mary, in the Badlands;
scene in the Badlands;
prarie dog;
rare fauna;
the cabin in which we stayed, with Mary, Leslie, and Colin on the porch;
baby mountain goat (next to its mother);
Mt. Rushmore;
standoff between buffalo and bikers -- note that (a) the guy in the yellow shirt wasn't nearly as cocky as his shirt's slogan indicates, and I suspect he was secretly thinking "Please, big buffalo, leave me alone and I promise to get out of your park as soon as I can" and (b) the young woman on the right, with blond hair, was quite nervous and got off her friend's bike in order to scurry back, away from the buffalos, at one point asking if she could hop into our car for protection, if necessary;
buffalo (two photos);
the gigantic sculpture of Crazy Horse (which, if/when completed will dwarf Mt. Rushmore), in progress since 1948 -- his profile is well defined, and the extension in front of this will be his horse's head and neck.