The Black Hills of South Dakota

Mitch and I, along with Dan and Cari, spent a couple of days touring the Hills before heading to Gillette, WY for the motorhome rallies.

One of my favorite childhood places to visit was Dinosaur Park.

We caught a glimpse of Mt. Rushmore from the road. After visiting Stone Mountain near Atlanta and its carving also by Gutsom Borglum, I looked at the faces a little differently. This picture was taken really zoomed in from an overlook a long ways away. I never paid attention to the fact that the faces had all that mountain above them.

We also did the drive through Custer State Park and weren't disappointed. Besides being a beautiful drive, we saw a lot of wildlife!

We continued our drive on the Needles Highway, gorgeous granite spires rising to the sky. The eye of the needle gives the highway its name.

We stopped to visit Crazy Horse Monument and the visitor center and museums. It was a fascinating lesson.

Another childhood favorite was Sylvan Lake. It's just a beautiful little lake way up in the mountains.

We did stop to visit Mt. Rushmore and the perspective of the faces from "up close and personal" gives you a totally different feeling of the carving. There is definitely a grandeur that being up close gives to these faces. Go back to the first picture to compare.