We drove to Mount Rushmore in the morning. The entrance to the park feels like going to the airport; there are many signs for the various levels of parking garages, and automated ticket machines. Once inside the park it is a whole different feel with friendly rangers and great views of the mountain.
We were lucky in our timing, we arrived just in time for a Native American display of hoop dancing by Starr Chief Eagle. She explained the meaning, history, and cultural significance of the dances, and was incredibly talented. One of the dances used 21 hoops and was beautiful and complex. She is an accomplished performer, educator, and dancer. The dances require an immense amount of coordination and physical agility and endurance. She was able to do the dance even though she had just given birth to her first child 13 weeks ago. She has a website, healingthebrokenhoop.com.
We drove back to the campsite by way of the Iron Mountain Highway. This road may be even twistier than the Needles Highway. One of the features of this road are “pigtail bridges”. The road corkscrews up the mountain. It feels like driving a roller coaster!
We completed the drive back to the campsite by using the wildlife loop to see what kinds of animal we could see today. We saw pronghorn, buffalo, and quite a few prairie dogs. The sound of the prairie dogs whistling and the meadowlarks singing is a great accompaniment to the views. One of the highlights of the day was seeing the feral burros. They are quite comfortable around people and can often be found near the roadways.
We finished out the afternoon with a late lunch at the Baker’s Bakery and Cafe since we had both enjoyed our last meal there. The lunch was also delicious. After lunch we wandered around Custer and took some photos of the fiberglass buffalo and stopped in at the Quilted Bison fabric store.
No comments:
Post a Comment