2011.07.28 - Savoring Our South Dakota Vacation

It has been essentially 2 months since my wife and I took a scenic vacation to South Dakota. We stayed in a cabin near Keystone, South Dakota, which is a few miles south of Rapid City. It was within 20 minutes of Mount Rushmore. I think the place we stayed in was an ideal location, conveniently located for the places we visited while there.

The cabin we rented was at the Holy Smoke Lodge, which was reasonably priced and very nice. We even had wifi-access, although the metal roof to the cabin limited our net speed at times.

I took a lot of photos while there, but I especially liked my photos from Mt. Rushmore. As impressive as that site was, I was even more impressed with the Crazy Horse Memorial site, which, although unfinished, I thought was an astounding accomplishment. In addition, when finished, the Crazy Horse Memorial will be a 3-D monument that you can see from more than just one side (Mt. Rushmore is really only visible from one general vantage-point).

There was more to see at the Crazy Horse Memorial too, as there was a video, and a museum of artifacts from the area, as well as historic writings and photographs. I felt much more intrigued at this location, although I'd gone all of my life not seeing Mt. Rushmore, and it was definitely worth the wait. I'm glad we visited.

Seeing what all was done by one man with ambition and vision was inspiring. I know he had help, obviously, but the artist clearly led this project until his death. Luckily, there are family members that have carried on, and I'm hoping that I'll get to see the finished product some day.

The Black Hills were amazing. I had heard about them all of my life, but after seeing them, I realized just how precious this area is, and how important it is to preserve. Luckily, most of the people who live in this area agree, and I don't recall seeing much that I felt was destruction of the natural surroundings.

I took so many photos of the area. I can only post a few here in this blog, but I hope that anyone reading this will take the time to visit my photo sets and get to see the entire collection of photos. They are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/les_stockton/sets/72157626731642227/with/5783972755/,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/les_stockton/sets/72157626872616998/,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/les_stockton/sets/72157626868031028/, and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/les_stockton/sets/72157626743207915/.

I wish I could say more about our visit there. We saw baby bears (at a preserve). They were truly cuddly, but they eventually grow into dangerous wild animals. They were precious to see as babies though. I definitely recommend a visit to Bear Country USA if you're ever in that area.