Mount Rushmore

Today has been my day at Rushmore. First impressions - it's like going to the mall (parking in garages, good idea) and seeing a large screen nature movie. They get over 3 million visitors a year and this weekend is one of the busiest (lucky me!). But they have done a great job of making a large venue that doesn't look crowded. I took lots of pix, as I am want to do, and as I wait for the closing ceremony at 9PM I wanted to send these two off for everyones Fourth. I think I have finally and accidentally shot a postcard shot!!

This is the studio where the sculptor Borglum made the plaster type cast for the men to have for references as they chiseled away 250,000 tons of stone. This is an example of moving just a couple of feet in any direction and seeing a different shot. So happy I moved.
I am waiting for dark and I hope the clouds go away and give me a chance for some stars over Rushmore. Fingers crossed.
Happy 4th everyone

Day 25 - Overcast and rainy

It's a short ride to Hill City from Deadwood, but I decided to go back to Spearhead to get some groceries for the weekend. Walmart is the best place to get fresh veges and decent choices at a good price. Sad!
This is the Bridle Veil Falls in Spearhead Canyon on an overcast day with and without a long exposure. Wonder how many water falls are called 'Bridle Veil' around the world??

Learned today that there will be no fireworks at Mt. Rushmore (fire hazard), but there are a few in the neighborhood. Local traveling to come.

Happy 4th everyone 

Deadwood South Dakota

It has been a maintenance day - you know, clean the MoHo, at least inside. As far as the town of Deadwood goes, it has a history dating from 1879 (at least for the White population) when gold was discovered by a member of Custer's expedition the year before. This is the town that gave us Calamity Jane and Bill Hickok, plus numerous other more local personalities. The town has made the decision to publicize the good and the more seedy of their past with the result of a 'West World' type of destination without Yul. Here gambling keeps the place going between rodeos and other flash backs to the old west. I don't gamble, so it was museums and saloons for a beer or two. They have Alaskan beer here ON Draught - how I don't know, but someone has an in somewhere.
Here are a few shorts of Deadwood, just for a taste.

Didn't quite figure out the connection of Yakima and Deadwood other than he stayed on a bronc that many others could not at the Deadwood Rodeo. He was a one of a kind though.

A Close Encounter in Wyoming

It's been many years since a young Stephen Spielberg took us to the middle of Wyoming to talk with aliens. Sorry guys the aliens were not there or hiding from me.
This is a sacred area for the several Indians tribes that still visit the site though they have to wade through the thousands of tourists. To me it was a cool place.

But then I got to the Ranger's Talk that evening and it was about star gazing - cool. This is not the darkest spot in the country but it is very dark and the moon though not 'new' it didn't rise until midnight. Being a klutz, I decided to not walk out into the prairie dog town in the dark and fall into a hole, so I stayed on to a flat area, only to discover today that there were power lines in the foreground, for which I apologize. But hey - the stars were awesome.

I wish you a good night. On to Deadwood.

Day 19 - History Trip in the Dakotas

After a Ranger talk when it had cooled down a bit, I had hoped for a night of star gazing, but no - cloud socked in the campground.

Gator Sunset

Decided to go check out some Cold War history by a visit to the Minuteman Missile National Monument. The Government agreed to destroy many silos and control centers when the missile down scaling happened with Russia. The National Parks were able to take over one control center and a silo site.

Blast Door

Under ground Control Room

There I was looking at the photos of the kids with their heads down under the desks at school - that was me.

Very interesting to see how the US would handle the missile attack from Russia. Well there are still a few left up here in the great mid-west.

So traveling back through Badlands as I headed to see another historic spot in South Dakota - Wounded Knee.

It was a long trip down to Wounded Knee, but once I got there I could only bring myself to take a reference photo of the marker that was at the side of the road. There were a few local tribe people there to sell dream catchers and a couple of kids hustling money. Not like the kids of Mexico that some know about, but a couple of very polite kids who started conversations with visitors. There is little to see, but the lack of 'touristy' things for me made it an even more poignant 'exhibit'. A proud people who have suffered too much. 

Day 18 - Badlands

I find myself in the Badlands NP and of course the temperature has decided to match the deep southwest. Today projected to be 106.
Stayed last night in Wall, SD - the home of Wall Drugs the emporium of the West. Got up early - 5AM with the sun - and fortunately they were closed, so I didn't need to stare at the trinkets.
Badlands is a stark yet beautiful arid landscape that the early low sun helped to show it all to its best.

And  a couple of IR-false color shots in the park.
So I will yield the field to the desert rattlers and I will stay in my MoHo after finding an open site with electricity here in the park.
So staying cooler and looking at maps.

Day 14 - Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota

Here I am in the Badlands of the upper plains of our Mid-West. I passed into North Dakota on Hwy 2 and it was a shock to the system to go from gentle rolling plains to come over a hill and see mile after mile of oil extractions machinery, trailer homes stacked in row after row of "executive housing", and then the rusted out campers and trailers of the working stiffs (I guess?!) All this beautiful land the has been scraped clean to provide storage areas and work shops for the oil industry. What will happen as the industry moves out of here as the price of oil remains low and it's no longer worth it to extract?? I didn't want to stop to take shots - it was just too ugly!!
I have driven down to TRNP and currently sitting at the hotel, stealing their power and internet to catch up. Guess I will treat myself to dinner after this - only fair right?

The Little Missouri at Campsite

Here are a couple of in camera pans of the Badlands.

The North side is a bit more desolate (second pan at Oxbow overlook) than the South side.

Bison roam a little bit more in the South Area.

And then there are the little prairie dogs that seem to be everywhere.

He's just 'crowing' to the rest of the group or Town. You can't get within 20 yards of the little guys without them taking to their holes. Seems like this one was trying to get someones attention.

Well, time for dinner and I'll stay here again tonight and tomorrow - cleaning and tighten the coach. Then further south the Rushmore.