A visit to South Dakota to see the Mount Rushmore National Memorial was a trip full of interesting surprises. The road trip from Rapid City to get there was a great adventure in itself.
We began the day with a stop at the Crazy Horse Memorial. This mountain carving began in 1948 and is still in progress now. Its purpose is to honor the Indians of North America and is funded only by admission fees and private donations.
Our next stop on our scenic road trip was beautiful Sylvan Lake. There was a trail around the lake for hiking and people fishing from its banks. A great place for a picnic!
We continued our road trip on Needles Highway, a 14 mile adventure winding through granite spiked mountains and sometimes through one-way tunnels so tight you wondered if the car would fit. It was a masterpiece of a road!
The views were spectacular up close
or in the distance.
Needles Highway led to the entrance of Custer State Park. Here the 18 mile Wildlife Loop Road wandered through open grassland and pine speckled hills. We quickly spied deer and turkeys, but the stars of the park were the buffalo. They held up traffic while crossing the road to join other buffalo.
Often the they walked right by the car so it was easy to take up close pictures.
A mother donkey and her young colt did keep their distance out in the field with the prairie dogs.
We continued our road trip to Mount Rushmore on the 18 mile Iron Mountain Road. This road twisted and turned through the magnificent Black Hills scenery with pigtail bridges and tunnels that framed Mount Rushmore. Another masterpiece of road design.
With every curve Mount Rushmore kept getting closer
and closer.
until we reached our destination.
What a grand entrance both on the road and on the plaza with its towers of flags of the 50 states.
We could have reached Mount Rushmore more quickly if we had approached it by way of the city of Keystone. But we would have missed out on a wonderful adventure.
