Microtel Inn Rapid City

Having somehow survived the past couple of nights, despite my debilitating disease, I decided to choose life and see a doctor. Very nice chap he was too. He confirmed my fears when he told me that I had indeed picked up a little known virus more commonly associated with lost cities of gold and temples of doom. For the benefit of the nurse in the room, he used layman's terms and called it an ear ...

... I have to say that although the sculptures were impressive, they were nowhere as big as I was expecting. Took the obligatory photos, and walked some of the way around the very pristine paths that went right to the edge of the rock face with the<br>Presidents above. In case you're wondering the 4 presidents in the sculpture are: Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt &amp; Thomas Jefferson. On the way out we asked some other tourists to take our photo as a ...

... It was great. As you drove into the bear enclosure there is a person who speaks from a watchpoint to remind you to put up your windows up. Well Debbie and I being who we are we had to sneak our windows down to get better pictures. The six year old minipolice officer in the back seat was yelling at us to put up our windows. After the drive through you park and take a walk around a little zoo were there are about thirty baby bears ...

... a week just looking at all the museum exhibits. <br><br>I was very impressed....even more so because it has all been done with funds donated and/or by the entrance fees, etc. no government money of any kind. They adamantly want to keep it independent, although, the work could probably progress faster with more funding. Also, at night during the summer months, they put on a ...

... highway, everything in town has the word Rushmore in it. (Rushmore Ford or Rushmore Toyota anyone? Gives me a funny feeling in my stomach, I don't like tourist-trap stuff. I don't want to be a party pooper and say that I was in Rapid City and didn't bother to see Rushmore?! It's about 25 miles from town and when we arrived there, I could see the sculpture and then I went on to the entrance gate with my National Parks Pass and of course, it doesn't work ...

... Mt Rushmore. Initially - and I guess I am still wondering - if this is one of those "ours will be better and far superior", but for whatever reason, it is going to be quite spectacular. There is also an interpretive centre with a lot of information about Crazy Horse and as well, many Indian artifacts. A separate section has Indians peddling their wares - mostly jewellery and quite beautiful stuff it is. Expensive, but beautiful. Between the two monuments ...

... leads around this is a great winding path with the odd incredibly icy path that instantly reduces me to old granny mode when attempting to traverse it. Occassionally human footsteps would be sparce enough to spy a deer's hoof track, the silence of the trees magnified the sounds of the birds far above and at one particularly icy spot I was joined by a tiny chipmunk, furiuosly running around, digging and frantically munching whatever it found. Upon leaving ...

... down the Wildlife Loop. The road to the park was longer than we thought it would be, and VERY winding. Along the way, you go through three different one-lane, narrow tunnels that made things quite interesting, even in the Pilot. We got caught up at the third tunnel for a bit while someone driving a class A and towing a vehicle tried to fit through coming up from the other direction. When we got stopped there, it ...

Fantastic day after three days chilling out we got to see many interesting things. We headed off west down I-90 towards the South Dakota badlands - more excellent green prairie stretching into the distance, After 55 miles we got to the turnoff for Badlands - this is where the ground has shifted to create a long bluff which has then been eroded by wind and rain over millions of years. The whole prairie region used to be a sea that divided ...

I got an early start heading south on 83 then west on I-90. I made a short stop at the Murdo rest area and crossed into mountain time a little bit further down the road. When I reached Kadoka I stopped at the Petrified Gardens, looked around and had a Dr. Pepper. Years later during my trips to California I would often go rockhounding with my cousins husband whose favorite discovery was petrified wood. Doing a goggle search ...