A Landmark Day

Before getting into Saturday's travels, I'd like to thank our federal government and the state of Wyoming for building such beautiful highways for our singular use. Driving from Casper first to Devil's Tower, then Mt. Rushmore we could not believe the amount of time we spent without another living soul in sight. We definitely saw more cows than cars, and assuming there were people in the cars, more deer and antelope (they appeared to be eating, the playing must come later) than people.

Looking for the first glimpse of Devil's Tower was a lot like trying to be first to see the ferris wheel on the road to Great Adventure. Cheryl saw it first from 17 miles away. The monolith rises 1,300 feet above the Belle Fourche River. You've all seen this phenomenon as a major player in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Seeing it live is like the difference between listening to "Margaritaville" on the stereo and singing along with Jimmy Buffett at a concert. I'm running out of adjectives to describe the incredible natural wonders we've seen on this trip.

The one special difference about Mt. Rushmore is that humans made it. That alone adds to the wonder. As beautiful and awe inspiring as it is, it was not as big (yeah, it's huge, but you see it from far away) as I had expected. It is however just as incredible a landmark to see "live". Rushmore is gorgeous at night. The nightly lighting ceremony (lasers and music) starts tomorrow. We're a day early again.

 

The sculpture of Crazy Horse will be WAY bigger than Rushmore, but has a long way to go. Maybe a spot our great-grandkids won't want to miss. This is not a criticism, but they could have told us the statue was barely taking shape before hyping us into going to see it.

During our drive we detoured into the Black Hills (singing Rocky Raccoo-oon) to see the Wild West town of Deadwood, SD and the actual spot where Wild Bill Hickock was murdered. We passed the historic Salt Creek Oil Fields (in WY) and even noticed a section of Hwy 14 that had been "adopted" by Leather & Lace Adult Gifts. I wanted to turn back to document this last spot with a photo, but Cheryl vetoed. Not all landmarks are as exciting as the others.

We saw 4 Corvettes today including one late 50's model that was out enjoying a ride on a beautiful day in Wyoming and we drove 390.5 miles.