Super 8 Motel - Hill City/Mt. Rushmore Area

... He gave me some strong antibiotics so I hope to be back to full health in time for tea and crumpets on the front lawn.

With a new found respect for life coursing through my veins, I headed to Mount Rushmore to see four giant faces in a row. And I wasn't disappointed. There were four of them. They were giant. And strike me down if they weren't in a row.

Just down the road was Crazy ...

... Fred was a amused by a local 'Chilli cookoff' poster.

For lunch we stopped at a little Wyoming town called Lusk. The restaurant was called 'Triangle 4 Cafe & Steakhouse' and so far on our trip across the U.S they win the dubious award of 'Worst Service'. When we arrived the waitress told us to find a table, but it was a good 8-10 minutes before she came over with menu's – normally you can hardly sit down before you're handed a menu. Yet when a group of ...

... the outside," so I assumed that the windows were conveniently one-way!

There was a lady who was staff to the airport, and I began to stare her down through the window, knowing that she had no idea what I was doing. But I began to notice she was looking at the window funny... Just to be sure that she didn't see me, because I had some doubts in my mind at this point, I waved at her. To my embarrassment ...

... rating scale is 8 Oppenheimer thumbs!)

After our visit to Rushmore (oh, I did make a stop at the gift shop to purchase a t-shirt that says “Mt. Rushmore – What about Martha, Eleanor, Mary & Edith?” Girl Power!) we made the short trip to Crazy Horse. Now, being the California-educated girl that I am, I really didn’t quite understand what the Crazy Horse Monument was all about. All I’d ever heard ...

... said everything was fogged in. So, we went about 20 miles to our 3rd choice...Jewel Caves. Turns out EVERYONE (everything's fogged in, afterall!) had gotten there before us, so all the tours were sold out. We purchased tickets for the last tour of the day on Monday, and crossed our fingers that we'd be able to do all 3 things we had hoped to spread out over 2 days, in one! We went to Custer State ...

... answer questions about President's we were only just becoming familiar with ourselves. Have to say though, there was a moment of pride when the Park Ranger gave them their test. Tom got his question correct: Who is this? It was George Washington, and lucky for him, the only President he knows. Dan's question was: Who is this? And having a brother named Tom, he had no problem remembering Thomas Jefferson. Aviva's question was: Who is this? Teddy ...

... Park called Horsethief Campground (the private one, not the one that's part of the national forest system). The owners are very friendly, and the campsites are reasonably priced. The location is great for access to Custer State Park as well as for Mt. Rushmore, Hill City, and Keystone. From here we rode the Needles Highway, a scenic road that goes through Custer State Park. This was one of the best motorcycle rides-the road follows along stream, river, lake at the canyon bottom ...

Started from home in Urbandale, IA. Target Black Hills, SD. We made stop in 1880 Town. Overnight in Wall.
Tomorrow reached Rapid City where we made "base camp".
For next 5 days we visited Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer City, Deadwood, Ho Spring, Tatanka Museum, Devils Tower, WY.

On our way back home we visited Sioux city.

... Standing Bear. Korczak who was an apprentice on Mt Rushmore, knew he would never complete his sculpture and has left detailed plans so that one day it will be finished. His widow and children continue the cause. There is an excellent visitor's centre crammed with fascinating Indian artifacts, all of which have been donated. We came away with the vision of a man with strong beliefs, courage ...

... phone to Sree and he somehow convinced him and got appointment for us on the same day. Anuj, Abha and Vipul didn't come for the balloon ride. Rest of us reached Flint Stone Park by 5:30 and the organizer also arrived soon with balloon and other stuff. He then took us to a ground in his jeep. They started inflating the balloon while we were busy capturing that beautiful place in our cameras. The flight was for an hour. It was good. As the balloon started to ...