Westward HO 2017!!!: City of Presidents, who knew?

August 8-9, 2017

Rapid City and the surrounding areas including Sturgis and Wall have so much to see and do that we are going to have to return for another visit. It’s really obvious that the Sturgis Motorcycle Festival has a huge economic impact throughout this area. Brittany & Seth, our AirBnB hosts told us that they and their friends have rented out their entire house and left for that week for their own vacation. The motorcyclists tend to be middle age to well older, and are well behaved professionals. The only cyclists who tend to cause any issues are the ones that stay at the campgrounds.

The blocked off part of a one way street to add more bike parking

Firehouse Brewing

The outdoor area at Firehouse Brewing

Independent Ale House

In Rapid City’s historic downtown, “City of Presidents”, there was a bronze president on each corner. It became a guessing game for Mike and I as we tried to decide who was who as we drove around. It’s obvious they are trying hard to revitalize downtown. Lots of cool restaurants like Firehouse Brewing and the Independent Ale House have lots of brews on tap, their own and others… We really enjoyed visiting them and staying with Brittany and Seth in their charming, but modern 1924 Arts and Crafts house. I have no idea how they did it? We rarely heard 11 month old Lewis or 3 year old Crosby or Father Abraham, their 4 year old Newfie. When we did hear, it was so low key… Say What??? Wow!

The landscape around Rapid City consists of pretty golden hills, tree stands and grasslands with the cities sitting down in between. The campgrounds between Rapid City & Sturgis are packed! We can’t believe how far some of these cyclists have come… Hurts our butts thinking about it but the smarter ones (In our minds) trailered their bikes here..

One of the really fascinating stops yesterday was the Prairie Homestead at the one entrance to the Badlands National Park. The sod house, chicken coop, barn, root cellar and outhouse date back to 1909 right after the Homestead Act was enacted. They had to live on the land for 18 months and then they could pay .50 an acre. The Brown family that bought here paid $80. Despite the harsh life, both husband and wife lived to ripe old ages. Amazing! The isolation alone would have made me NUTS!!! Even today unless you live in a town, the farms/ranches are spread far apart… They think nothing of driving long distances to get somewhere.

Top of the sod house with a window into it and a pipe for venting the stove

Their livestock was vital to their survival so they did everything they could to keep them safe as well

This beautiful pot was for rendering the meat

Even this chicken coop was partially underground

Loved their sense of humor

Pretty cozy, and it was cool in summer and warm in winter

You can barely see the Badlands between the underwear

Turns out these prairie dogs are good for the environment

The Badlands like Zion and Arches just have to be visited…Spectacular scenery and as desolate as it appears, there are lots of critters, birds, plants and the occasional cottonwoods living here. Unlike the other parks I mentioned, this terrain is disappearing minutely thanks to the erosion of the intense winds and the rains (when they come.) The winds got stronger as the day progressed making it hard to keep on our hats. We enjoyed our stop at the Information center including a fantastic short film about the Park, “Stone and Light.” We were off to Mt Rushmore National Monument.

Unfortunately, the smoke for the wildfires as far away as Idaho is affecting out there too

The majesty and vastness takes your breath away...Well, the view and the winds...

We wanted to show you one of more recent gullies that have been cut through by the rains

The colors and size reminded me of photos that I have seen of the Pyramids

Yet there is life here

The Yellow Mounds section of this park

The type of critters they suspect lived here...

As we headed into the Black Hills where Mt. Rushmore lies, it reminded us a bit of the Smokey Mountains, particularly Keystone. Very similar to Gatlinburg only western style. I had no idea that they had created this beautifully modern Interpretive Center and Museum.

Needless to say, the carved President’s heads on top of Mt. Rushmore take your breath away… Then, when you watch the various movies you are even more impressed how they accomplished this monumental task. They had hoped it would cost around $500,000 in the 1930’s which would have been a vast fortune with the Depression happening simultaneously. With all the technical, monetary and weather issues involved it took over 11 summers to complete at a final cost of over one million. Sadly, the master sculptor Gutzon Borglum died at age 74 right before the final completion and presentation of President Lincoln. His son Lincoln came in to finish it. With all the granite and mountain issues that occurred during the project Borglum had to alter the design 9 times. I loved the fact that most of the actual sculpting work was done by a team of 40-50 miners who specialized in drilling, blasting and such.