Animals In The Black Hills

The opportunities to photograph the wild life was abundant.  I wish I could have gotten pictures of all the animals we saw, but when your in a moving vehicle you just can’t do it. 

White tail deer playing in the campground.

Mountain Goats near Mount Rushmore.

White tail deer along the road.

Buffalo near Wind Cave.

More animals in the campgrounds, oops that’s Mike.

Keeping up with the theme for the day we stopped at the Mangy Moose, in Custer, for lunch.  I was not sure this was a place I wanted to eat, but the food was fabulous.  I had a Green Chile Burger that was to die for. 

 

 

Mount Rushmore And Needles Highway

Tuesday April 20th 2010

We had nothing planned for the day just get in the car and drive.  We saw the sign for Needles Highway so we went in that direction.

What a ride, according to the brochure it is one of the most scenic drives in the US, and I would say that’s pretty darn true.  If it had been a sunny day it would have added to the beauty.  In many areas there was still snow on the ground

 Hole in the wall picnic area, still ice on the stream and some snow.

 The eye of needle, and the road leading to it.

You definitely do not want to drive a large vehicle on this highway, the tunnels are very small.

No MH was going to fit in the tunnels here.  Onto Mount Rushmore and more switchbacks and scenic views.

 

Avenue Of Flags leading to the the faces.

 

Gutzon Borglum sculptor of the presidents. 

90% of the work on the faces was done by blasting.  Borglum worked on the sculpture for fourteen years, until his death in 1941.

Crazy Horse monument was just a few miles from Mount Rushmore so we stopped for a few minutes, it was raining pretty hard when we arrived.

  The monument is 641 feet long and 563 feet high, very impressive.

Crazy Horse memorial houses the Indian Museum of North America, and they have a display of beaded work that is amazing.  As you all know one of my hobbies is beading, this was so nice to see some beautiful work done by the Indians many year ago.

Black Hills South Dakota

Monday April 19th 2010

On our way back to MN we are stopping in the Black Hills.  Mike has never been and it’s been over 35 year the last time I was. 

Our first stop was Custer State Park, were we will be staying the next few days.  As we entered the park the first things we saw was a couple of buffalo.

A few minutes after we arrived it started to rain and did it let loose.  It has  rained for the last 10 days not all day rain but always some.  Maybe it will be drier in SD.

 

State Game Lodge, which is just down the road from the campground we are staying.

The buffalo came to visit us at our campsite in the evening.

Boerne TX To Custer State Park SD

After 4 days and 3 nights and over 1300 miles we are in South Dakota.  Our first night on the road was spent at a Wal-Mart in Decatur TX, the second night was at a Wal-Mart parking lot in Dumas TX.  We splurged the third night and spent it on the streets in Holyoke CO.

 

The city park in Holyoke was a welcome change for the parking lots.  Our route was not on freeways but the less traveled roads and no RV or camp grounds.  With the new MH it is a breeze to stop anyplace. 

 

San Antonio TX

Wednesday April 14th 2010

Our first stop in San Antonio was the Alamo.  The Alamo, originally was known as Mission San Antonio de Valero, is a former Roman Catholic mission and fortress compound, site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, and now a museum.

The Battle of the Alamo went on for 13 days, before the Mexican Army, led by Santa Anna, defeated the defenders of the Alamo.  Three of the most well known defenders were, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and the commander of the Alamo William Travis.

The grounds of the Alamo.

In the tomb are the remains of Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis.  The tomb is in the Cathedral San Fernando. 

San Fernando began March 9, 1731 when fifteen families arrived from the Canary Islands at the Presidio of San Antonio and were welcomed by Captain Juan Antonio de Almazan in the name of King Phillip V of Spain.

The rest of day was spent on the River Walk.  The River Walk was built to stop the flooding in San Antonio in 1939.  The work was done thru the Work Progress Administration (WPA) for a cost of $450,000.  What a magnificent attraction for the downtown area.  Twenty bridges and I’m not sure how long the walkways are, has to be a few miles. 

 

We stopped at the Irish Pub for lunch and a glass of wine after our boat ride down the river. 

 

We did some walking around the down town to see some of the old buildings.  It was a great day in San Antonio, we hope to return and see more of the city.