Tourist things near Rapid City, SD

After setting up at the campground, we decided to go explore by jeep and make our way to Mt. Rushmore. Here are some of the vistas along the way:

We drove this incredible road called Iron Mountain Road and it was full of twists and turns and climbing to the top of the mountain. And from the top of that mountain we saw this

and there they are---our first look at the presidents' heads. Jesse and I are still trying to figure out how they measure distance in SD...as we were climbing Iron Mt. Road, we saw a sign that said "Mt. Rushmore 3 miles" and then we get to the top and stop at the overlook and see this view and we are thinking...how in the world is that 3 miles away? We are talking two different mountains with lots of land in between. All I can figure is that they are measuring sky miles. But the funny thing is that when we get down off this mountain and see another sign for Mt. Rushmore it says "5 miles"...now go figure. As near as we can figure, Mt. Rushmore was at least 8 miles from the point where it said 3 miles. So, we are calling it "mountain miles" and believe me they take forever to travel...at least that is our experience (now consider that when we are driving over mountains, sometimes we are lucky to go 20 mph in the RV.)

So we finally get to Mt. Rushmore

and here it is:

I waited for an ugly grey cloud to move to get this shot with the pretty blue sky!

After we left Mt. Rushmore, we ended up in Hill City, SD where we stopped for something to eat and we ate here:

Bumpin' Buffalo's...where I had a buffalo burger and it was really good. Randy was sorry he didn't get one too.Here's my philosophy on eating out when traveling:

you try places that are not franchises, cannot be found everywhere else, and are unique to the locale. Bumpin' Buffalo's certainly fit that bill.

After leaving Hill City, we went to the Crazy Horse Memorial which is still being worked on. This is how it looks so far:

You can see the profile of his face at the top. And in this photo, you can see what the memorial will look like when finished:

This memorial was started in 1948 and is being built solely by donations and entrance fees...no help from the US gov't. Another example of the natives getting the short end of the stick?

On our way back to the campground, we drove through Custer SP and found these on the side of the road:

WOW. I was thrilled to see my first buffalo in the wild...just grazing on the side of the road. You are not supposed to get out of your vehicle, but I did...had to get the shot, right? They are huge creatures...bigger than you think.