Buffalo can be quite solitary creatures. This we have learned after driving hundreds of miles through both prairie grassland and "black hills" forest. Today we also learned that--despite what the thrilling movie National Treasure 2 led us to believe--there's not really any cave laden with gold near Mt. Rushmore (or is there? We didn't exactly stray from the cement trail while peering up the Presidents' noses). There are some really great national treasures in the western portion of South Dakota, and we found several of them during the day's journey.
We drove back through the Badlands this morning. We will have to show more, hopefully better pictures of this place later because I can't really explain how crazy it is. We are driving down a highway--like, normal, 75+ mph highway--and, out the front window stretches the road on and on, to the right stretches miles and miles of prairie with some cows here or there, then to the left it's grass to this...drop off point (yes! Think Nemo!). Sometimes the rocks shoot up in spires, sometimes the ground just drops away, and sometimes the hills are capped with grass but beneath that top are bare rock with small valleys etched in their faces as the hills slope to the ground. Google some pictures. It's absolutely amazing and a little bit freaky. We're still wondering how the pioneers made it across...
We also found a Starbucks.
The next national treasure for the day was Mt. Rushmore. We had been here before, but Ashley and I were both much younger, so we didn't have a really great recollection of the place. We walked the loop that gave you many different viewpoints of the monument. George and Abe are definitely the most visible of the carvings. Tom and Teddy get tucked in between so sometimes they get missed. It was a beautiful day to be at Mt. Rushmore. It was a bit like being in DC on a bright, blue-sky, sunny day--the contrast between the white-washed presidents and the blue sky was just gorgeous. A treasured memory for sure.
We wandered a bit through Black Hills National Forest, so named because the ponderosa pines on the hills look black from far away. The roads were a bit twisty, but we saw some deer, some pronghorns, more buffalo, and a couple prairie dogs. Then we got to Wind Cave National Park.
Now, Wind Cave is a very special place, said our tour guide again and again, and it really is true. For starters, this park was the seventh national park to be created. It was the first park to be created to protect a cave. In one square mile, surveyors have discovered 136 miles of cave path--they think that's about 5% of the total possible mileage! There's this special kind of cave formation called Boxwork, and apparently 95% of all the world's boxwork exists in Wind Cave. It's called Wind Cave because of the crazy breeze that blows out of it--up to 70 mph at times. The wind can blow in too; it depends on the barometric pressure outside the cave. Finally, according to our guide, there are lakes way, way deep down which hold the world's most biologically pure water. Now, I think the cave has a lot of the "world's most" or "world's best", but I do have to say it was a very nice cave. The boxwork is cool. There were no bats. And it saved us from being outside or driving during a thunderstorm. National, world even, treasure at Wind Cave.
Then, guess what we did? Drove and drove and drove some more. In fact, I am writing this blog on my phone, and I'm going to email it to my blog here pretty soon, all whilst driving down the road. There was all of a sudden really awesome cell service when we got to Upton, WY.
Oh yeah, funny/disappointing story for the day. There's this town here in Wyoming called Gillette--you know, the razor brand? I was really hoping there was a razor factory so I could get a razor for cheap, but alas! No razor factory. Their campground wasn't even open!
The sun has dipped well below the rim of today's world, and darkness is slowly creeping across the land which is quite unfortunate because the land out here is kind of crazy too. Weirdly-shaped hills keep popping up. We are approaching mountains though, REAL mountains.
I'll have to post pictures of today's adventures later since none of them are on my phone.
Nightio.
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