7/10/2011 One Amazing Day Trip

Today we went on a day long road trip on a loop that is outlined on the visitor maps as a must see – must do type of drive.

We got on the road a little after ten with a fresh battery in the camera and a cooler full. We headed south out of Rapid City and soon picked up Route 244 West. We had a beautiful day for our drive and traffic was light.

We weren’t too awfully far into our ride on the loop when we saw this sight.

The above picture was taken from somewhat of a distance because I didn’t know how close the road we were on would take us. Little did I know.

Mount Rushmore is just a sight to behold. It doesn’t matter how many times you see it the goose bumps still pop out on your arms when it first comes into view.

The closer we got the more pictures I snapped. This is truly a national treasure and everyone should see it at least once in their life.

Sculpted by Gutzon Borglum and later by his son Lincoln Borglum, Mount Rushmore features 60-foot sculptures of the heads of former United State presidents (in order from left to right) George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Four of America’s finest. There is a museum and film about this National Monument in Keystone but we will save that for another day when Dianne from Delaware is here.

Imagine my surprise when we passed Rushmore,,,that’s what us locals call it,,, and I saw this profile! This was completely unexpected.

Ok, enough of Mou Rushmore. Be forewarned this will NOT be the last picture of it on this post.

The scenery along the way was just something else. The tall rock spires rose many, many feet into the air.

We experienced many hairpin turns on this drive.

On this section of the drive I sat a little closer to the open window for air because of these darn turns. Twist-y, wind-y, back and forth, up the hill and down,,,,whoa, I gotta change the subject.

Who could not enjoy a day like this?

Ahhhh,,,the first of several tunnels today. Some barely more than open cracks in the granite. All of them one way so we did a lot signaling by blowing the horn that we were coming through. Of course if anyone had seen The Beast coming at them from the opposite direction in one the of deeper tunnels I’m sure they would have thrown that gear shift up into reverse in a hurry.

Trust me, this isn’t all the wide but we went through skinnier!

Needles Highway,,,,one of the highlights of our road trip today.

Part of South Dakota State Highway 87, the Needles Highway winds 14 miles through some of the most fantastic scenery in the Black Hills.

Driving through rock tunnels and winding past rock spires, the Needles Highway was labeled impossible when it was constructed in 1919. That didn't stop Governor Norbeck, who supplied more than 150,000 pounds of dynamite and the determination and gumption needed to construct the road.

Needles Highway winds its way through high granite "needles". It also has two tunnels blasted through sheer granite walls. These tunnels are less than 13 feet high and one is only 9 feet wide. Owing to the narrow roadway, sharp turns, and low tunnels, the road has very little traffic and the vehicles that do travel this road are almost always sightseers. At least that is what the sightseeing books tell you. I have my doubts. Bob was constantly pulling over to let driver’s by who were driving like bats out of hell. How can they see anything or enjoy the view if they are going so fast?

Several turnouts along the way allow viewing some spectacular formations. Cathedral Spires is a massive collection of rock towers pointed to the heavens.

Do you see the face in these spires? I know my friend LaVon will! (click on picture to enlarge)

Fifty feet before we reached this lake we were stopped and told that we were entering Custer State Park and that we owed an entrance fee. Of $15.00. No warning, no signs, just park rangers stopping people. I think nearly everyone was taken aback because we watched car after car, motorcycle after motorcycle, pull over at this lake, I think, for a few minutes to stop and take in what just happened. We certainly don’t begrudge the state the entrance fee but it would have been nice to know that when we turned onto Needles Highway there was a fee station ahead. What if we didn’t have cash on us? That was certainly no worry though because at the snack bar/tourist trap store at the lake was a big sign… ATM.

The Eye of the Needle is a narrow spire over 30 feet tall; time, wind, and water have eroded it to create a three-foot-wide slit in the top of the formation that looks like the eye in a sewing needle. There is parking at the base of the eye for those who want to take pictures and to give the kids (big and little) a chance to climb some giant rocks.

The Eye of the Needle….

Of course we had to stop and look around. The Beast just looks so small here.

There is also a tunnel leading to the formation that is so narrow that busses, and dual-ies like our truck,driving the route look to have less than two inches of clearance on each side.

Needless to say we had to pull the mirrors in and I swear when we started through I heard Bob gritting his teeth. It was close! Very close! If I heard Bob say, “How is it on that side?” once I heard him say it a hundred times going through this tunnel. He brought us through it without a scratch!

We pulled off the road when we got through this and some motorcyclists were looking outward to the horizon. When they turned around their jaws dropped and they said, “Did you just come through that tunnel?” I think it was when we looked back towards where they were looking the smallness of the tunnel really hit home. We were both glad this one was labeled as the narrowest as we had a couple more to go through.

There was an abundance of chipmunks at this rest stop and they captured everyone’s attention and camera’s were clicking like crazy, mine included.

A going down the road picture.

The hairpin turns got tighter. We could tell by the speed limits.

The scenery along Needles Highway is just gorgeous!

Before long we had reached the next tunnel, slightly bigger than the last one.

Soon we found ourselves out in the open fields not closed in by huge rocks reaching for the sky.

We aren’t getting tired of green yet!

We couldn’t help but notice how many of the pine trees were dead.

That pesky pine beetle is playing havoc here in Custer State Park. It was the state’s idea to cut the trees down in large sections in hopes to isolate the beetle and hopefully eliminate it. The beetles do have flying capabilities and get carried on the wind so their destruction is very widespread. Greenpeace stepped in and said, “Oh no, no, no, you can’t cut down these trees that are going to die anyway, that is wrong!” The state fought these tree huggers and got the right to cut down sections of the forest. It’s a long process to cut down the trees as they try to leave the ones that are unaffected at the time they are there in hopes that it won’t be infected with these burrowing beetles that suck the life out of them. The weather doesn’t give them much time to complete the work either.

Oh LaVon, my friend, have I got a dead tree for you!

Our trek on Needles Highway complete we turned onto the Wildlife Loop. We weren’t on it long and we spotted our first buffalo, or bison for those of you who prefer the correct term. (LaVon, look at the big brown things, not the tree, I know its dead but this is not a dead tree picture for you)

We had no idea that just a little further down the road we would see a small herd up close and personal like. Lots of babies out for an afternoon stroll with their mama’s.

They were all licking the stones on the shoulders of the road, Bob says for salt. You know, buffalo in the road can cause quite a traffic jam.

Can you imagine staring this guy down?

Well also saw pronghorn's along the way.

There are some very hungry and friendly burro’s that call Custer State Park home but we didn’t see them. Of course since this state park encompasses 71,000 acres we were not surprised that we didn’t see the burro’s, they could have been anywhere.

At some points on our drive through Custer we were on a one lane road.

A double tunnel!

Going through….

Bob and I so enjoyed our day here in Custer State Park. Because of road signs and landmarks we knew we were almost at the end of our journey and that we had yet one more tunnel to go through. Little did we know how special that one was going to be.

Look what faces you when you come out the other end! (Pun intended)

Don’t see it? How about now?

How cool is that?????

What a great day! And here I thought it was over but Bob had another idea.

He asked what I had planned for dinner and I told him I had some steaks defrosting in the fridge for the grill and that they should be ready when we got home but if not we would call out for pizza. He didn’t want any parts of that. He suggested we go out for dinner. Oh Bob…TWIST MY ARM! MAKE ME EAT IN A RESTAURANT! DEPRIVE ME OF DISHES DUTY! PLEASE!

So he knew what he had a taste for and when he told me I heartily agreed!

Bob has been craving lobster for awhile now and I always can force myself to eat some so Red Lobster it was. I figured we would order one the lobster dishes from the menu but Bob still had another idea.

Enter Larry, Larry the Lobster.

Ol’ Larry weighed in at just over four pounds.

It was decided in record time that we would eat Larry!

Larry was brought to us a short time later…cooked to perfection!

A perfect ending to a perfect day!