Mount Rushmore!

Things to know about traveling north after Labor Day:

1. The foliage is starting to change and is very pretty
2. Daytime temps are usually pretty good, and temps start dropping after dark
3. Some of the RV parks for larger rigs CLOSE as of October 1 (we didn't know that)
4. There are LOTS of travel groups AFTER Labor Day and before October 1 so parks fill up FAST!

It was our intention to drive from the Badlands area over to Mount Rushmore area and stay in a different RV park, but because of reason #4 listed above, the parks we were considering were FULL! :(

When driving a big rig, you can't just go anywhere - you have to do research on your parks, stops, highways you'll be traveling down, etc. Once we were traveling a highway in California that had a sign 250 on to the road stating that we shouldn't bring our rig down this road.  There wasn't a turn around so we had no choice but to carefully drive the road though steep inclines and declines and hairpin turns.  Thankfully, nothing happened to us, but we definitely learned to watch the routes better.

After some research on roads and parks, we confirmed the park we were already in had availability for a couple more days so we stayed put and drove to see Mount Rushmore.  We were going to go through Custer State Park too, and I think we went through part of it, but we missed the entrance somehow and ended up just driving through Custer, SD.

Custer, SD is a really cool little town with lots of rustic hunting, trapping, mining type of stuff.  We stopped at a trapper shack and saw some awesome pelts, rocks, knives, skulls (if you like skulls =\) and stuff.  It was really cool and I wish I would have taken pictures here, but I didn't.  D got a couple cool things and I got some rocks and geodes for my sister, the science teacher.  As I was heading up front, I saw a couple elk antlers and talked to the shop keeper about if dogs really like them. He said they were a big hit so I got our girls a couple.  He was right! They loved them!

Ok, so I titled this Mount Rushmore but have yet to say much about it.  Let me get started now.

This is actually a pretty nice monument.  Our National Parks pass didn't work here :( because they have you pay for parking. That being said, they have a really nice multi-level parking garage, which I bet comes in handy when the crowds are heavier.

The weather was pretty cool and windy that day. We went in the morning and it was supposed to storm that afternoon.  The Presidents monument was great, but the path around the monument is beautiful as well.  We read that there were two paths, one was more strenuous than the other, and I'm not sure which one we took, but it was quite a hike.  We really enjoyed the scenery both at the monument and the area around it.

Here's some of my favorite photos







Who's taller is always a competition!





cutest little chipmunk and only wildlife we saw!








So, as with most of my life, there's a story that goes with this photo.  Remember a ways back when we were stuck in Tallahassee? Well, the first night we stayed in the trailer, the electricity was out which meant the park was DARK and the only noise you could hear outside was generators running.  We were about to head off to bed and Jeff went out to put fuel in the generator to keep it running all night. I went with him to hold the flashlight << read that as one of those long heavy mag light flashlights.  Anyway, I'm trying to hold the flashlight in the best location possible so Jeff can see, its about 11 pm at night, in the dark when suddenly I feel a man's hand on my shoulder.

Just a side note, I will NEVER be one of those people who walk away from a blast all cool like. Nope, I'm a freaker-outer.

So anyway, man's hand on my shoulder, 11 pm, pitch black dark. I reach up with my left hand and grab two of the man's fingers and start bending them to the side to break them, I drop the light part of the mag light down to my hand to turn around and start to bust this man in the ribs because anyone who sneaks up on a freaker-outer woman in the dark at 11 pm is due a whoopin, for sure!  As I am about to break his fingers, and literally am raring back to swing the flashlight, I look up at the man and realize it is my SON!  It was D!!!

It took me a good 30 seconds before I could tell him how close he was to having broken ribs and fingers.  I totally wanted to whoop him even more after I realized it was him!

So, as you can see in this photo, he's messing with me, telling me "Mom, I'm behind you, don't freak out!" So yeah, I should have whooped him.