We left Murdo after a cool morning swim for Forrest and Jeremy. The pool was a little unheated, but it encouraged us to exercise, anyway!
We passed the 1800's Town roadside attraction without stopping, but took a picture.
This is not the best picture, but these five animals are our first buffalo on this trip. I'm sure we'll see more by the time we arrive at Yellowstone!
On the way to Badlands National Park, we stopped at Prairie Dog Town. This picture is a puzzle--how many prairie dogs can you find? The answer can be found in the comments at the end of this post.
We reached the Badlands and snapped a few pictures. The landscape is bizarre. It is easy to see how a fugitive could hide for a long time in these rocks.
Some of the formations look like terra cotta armies, such as the one in the background of this picture.
Jeremy enjoyed the museum, which was similar to the John Day Paleontology Museum we visited a few summers ago. There were a lot of aquatic creatures in the exhibit, since this area was under water during part of the dinosaur era.
Most photographs emphasize the starkness of the Badlands, but we were amazed at the verdant green growth between the formations, and even among the hills. There are over 400 species of wildflowers in the Badlands National Park!
On the way out, we saw a deer laying in one of the rock cuts, and these antelope. If you click on the picture to blow it up, you can make out a nice set of horns on the buck on the right.
Wall Drug started advertising over a hundred miles from Wall. Their famous advertisement from their mining-town heyday was the free ice water. The boys were more captured by the ads for homemade donuts and ice cream.
Wall Drug features many stuffed animals, such as these Sherry spotted (it is a big place, very chopped up).
Forrest was intrigued by this early version of the jukebox. The frets are mechanically pressed the strings plucked to play songs with banjo and guitar, and accordion and drumare also included. You pay your dollar, pick your song and away it goes. The only problem was the guitar was a little out of tune.
For miles, Jeremy was watching for the signs advertising the T-rex at Wall Drug. The sign under this beast says he feeds every 12 minutes. We waited a short time, and sure enough, the speakers began to rumble loudly and the animatronic monster blinked its eyes and rared up, opening its jaws and emitting a hair-raising roar. After all was calm again, I asked Jeremy to step up there to get his picture. No chance. He was not having any part of that, although he said he liked watching it!
Here is Ian, Jeremy and Dad. Dad forgot to shave today.
Wall Drug has its own railroad mockup, and Ian went through their setup. He is always keen to try out new railroading experiences.
After Wall Drug, we went down the road a short distance to Ellsworth Air Force Base, where the Minuteman II missile was housed. Ian and Forrest took the tour, while Jeremy and Mom went into the Air and Space Museum.
This is the Guidance and Command Van that is parked over the missile silo and uses "skirts" on the side to prevent spy satellites from peaking down inside while they maintain the silo and/or the missile.
We had an opportunity to descend into the missile silo (by stairs). This facility was used for training, but the silos are no longer active, which is why we were allowed into this one.
We had an opportunity to descend into the missile silo (by stairs). This facility was used for training, but the silos are no longer active, which is why we were allowed into this one.
This is a missile in the silo. It is about 60 feet to the bottom of this shaft, and there are a number of coins and debris on the bottom--no way down there. The guide warned me to be careful with the camera!
This B-25 Mitchell medium bomber was Dwight Eisenhower's personal command vehicle, flown on and off of aircraft carriers to transport him around the fleet.
This is a Minuteman missile. You can see how large it is by comparing the gentleman walking away from it.
Ian instantly recognized the B-52 Stratofortress as the plane that helped with the Berlin airlift. This plane, commissioned in 1950, is scheduled for decommissioning in 2040, a span of 90 years. Pretty reliable aircraft! The plane is so big the wings "flap" up to 14 feet in flight. They have wheels on them to keep from dragging on the ground when the plane lands.
Ellsworth participated in the Berlin airlift.
The B-1B is the star of the show, with several active ones on the airforce bases. These planes have wings that literally "fold" back in flight, creating a rocket-like cylinder with a smaller signature. The radar signature of this plane is
larger than the newer stealth bombers, which appear as a small bird (flying really fast).
From Ellsworth we headed up into the hills to see Mount Rushmore. This bust is the sculptor, a son of Danish immigrants named Gutzon Borglum. Interestingly, this is the same gentleman that began the Stone Mountain project in Georgia, which Forrest saw while training there, and brought back t-shirts for the boys. He was fired from that job, and blew his sculpture off the mountain, prompting warrants for his arrest in Georgia. He learned a lot from the Stone Mountain experience, and brought his expertise to the Mount Rushmore project.
This 1 in:12 ft scale model shows the ninth iteration of the plan. The walls on the bottom didn't work out, but they did get the heads. I noticed they also actually got Lincoln's hand holding his lapel on the mountain.
This display states the obvious steps: Plan, Measure, Blast, Carve, Finish. Over 90 percent of the sculpture was carved using dynamite.
We hiked up the President's trail to the base of the sculpture to get a better look. The center did a good job identifying the contributions of Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt and Lincoln. They are facing different directions to take advantage of light and shadow to enhance their faces. The mountain displays a range of emotions, depending on the light.
We hiked up the President's trail to the base of the sculpture to get a better look. The center did a good job identifying the contributions of Washington, Jefferson, T. Roosevelt and Lincoln. They are facing different directions to take advantage of light and shadow to enhance their faces. The mountain displays a range of emotions, depending on the light.
We got Sherry to come into this cave on the site long enough for a picture. It is quite a bit darker in there without the flash.
One can see why this was a popular mining area, with the amount of quartz in the rocks. These rocks are 80 pound chunks of pink, pearly quartz.
At night, we enjoyed a ceremony that included a video, a flag ceremony and veteran recognition, and this lighting of the mountain. The crowd was standing room only in the 2500-seat amphitheatre.
Forrest ended the tour with the purchase of a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle with much of our trip represented on it, in addition to all the presidents. Something to do when things get boring....
