Thursday, October 08, 2009

Finally...Mt Rushmore!

We made it! It was still SO windy, so it was kind of like run, see the mountain, click a picture, run into a building, view from the window, run back to the car. But still...we accomplished our goal of seeing Mt. Rushmore, and it really was quite neat to see in person.

"Sir, could you take our picture?"

ALWAYS look at the picture after you've had a stranger take it for you. I guess this guy thought we drove 1000 miles just to get a family photo. No need to include the presidents' heads, we're good looking enough without the incredibly famous national monument behind us. LOL!

Never fear, Jarom and his tripod are here. Ahhh....that's more like it. Yep, self-timer is the way to go.

We continued on to Custer State Park where the drive was beautiful, but VERY twisty and had tiny, little tunnels to drive through. This was our favorite tunnel with a view of Mt Rushmore straight through. The lighting was just to crazy for our little camera to do justice to the shot however.

So much wild life in Custer. Turkeys, turkeys EVERYWHERE. (They really were EVERYWHERE in SD, not just Custer.) I loved it. I want a little flock of wild turkeys roaming around my yard. How fun would that be?! (Well, if they were poop free anyway.)

Most of the buffalo had already been herded up and put in the corrals for winter. (They vaccinate, brand, sort, and sell the buffalo in Custer. A little different than we are used to over here in Yellowstone.) But we managed to see a few still roaming about.

We even saw wild burros. (Although I think "wild" is a little extreme. How about "free roaming"? I think that works a little better.)

"Well hello there." The burros....Oh the burros. We got SUCH a kick out of them. They were SO curious what we had in our car. They could smell our lunch warming up on the dashboard.

Or maybe they just wanted a kiss.


Me and my burro buddies. (Did you ever watch the Sesame Street episode where the girl takes her llama to the dentist? The theme song kept playing over and over in my head, only with the word llama changed to burro. "Me and my burro, me and my burro...") Yep, I loved the burros. So did my kids.

After another full day of driving and site seeing, we decided to call it a night and head back to our camper. And guess what??? The wind STOPPED!!!

15 comments:

Mama Williams said...

Your burro video is cracking me up!! Thanks for takin me along for the ride. Felt like I was there. Could almost smell 'em. LOL! You're making some great family memories. :)

Wendy said...

Loved the donkeys!! (I mean the burros...) How funny. They sure were friendly! The video made me laugh out loud. Fun to hear your kids squealing...

Keys to the Magic Travel said...

Yep...handing your camera over to a stranger does yield some odd results. Like, if Mt Rushmore is not behind me...and there is nothing behind me...why would I want a full body shot instead of faces??

But the picture with the tripod is fabulous!

becky ward said...

so, what was warming on the dash? so curious. and i love the picture that the stranger took. what a clown to leave out the mountain. you guys KILL ME with those burros! hillarious!

Elena said...

Becky, it was baroques! They were frozen solid so we had to turn the defrost on high and heat them up. They were just starting to smell yummy when we met the donkeys.

The Manwarings said...

oh, those burros are a crack up! Only you could get close enough to try to give them a kiss, though. You brave little Manwarings. What a fun time!

Amanda Rigby said...

You gotta love strangers that can't take pictures. The tripod one is awesome though, and the burro video is way funny.

Grammy said...

What was the name that Carter gave to the Burro? I can't remember.

Elena said...

He said, "It's a Grando."

CB said...

Yayyyyyy You made it!!
That is so funny about the picture. I have had that happen so many times "Thank you for taking our picture but really we wanted it with the ------ behind us" - I guess not everyone "gets it" good thing there are tri-pods.!
Love all the wildlife you saw especially the wild turkeys - How cool is that!!
I am so glad you got to go to the Badlands too. What a great trip!

Tonya said...

I love that I had no idea that there were wild donkeys roaming free like that....I do know they have bad breath. Do you remember riding the one I had when we lived in Idaho. You hated his breath too. Oh Whiskey Bill.

Brenda said...

What an adventure! I certainly would not have appreciated such close burro encounters! I am sorry about the wind! We went to school in North Dakota, and when we drove ALL the way out there, we would leave at 5 AM in the morning to avoid being blown off the road. I can't imagine pulling a trailor thorough it, my knuckles would be white as well. Looks like you made the best of the weather, and glad you made it home safely!!!

Dimick's said...

I would react the exact same way as you-slow and extremely cautious.
I didn't mean to laugh at Carter's expense, but that video is hilarious of him running at lighting speed from Mr. T-Rex. I'm glad your family had such a great trip. Also, I hope you are finally feeling better. At least it wasn't while on the trip.

Lula! said...

DANG, Elena...now I'm gonna be singing, "Me and my llama, me and my llama, we're going to the dentist, ooooh-weeeeeeeee!"

Thanks for that.

Loved the pictures. Makes me wanna watch National Treasure 2 all over again. Really! In fact, I have to go fold and iron and pack...I might just watch that while doing so.

Oh, wait...
have to read about Wall Drug first...

LouandAngela said...

How cool to see Mt. Rushmore in person! I'm glad Jarom had his trusy tripod! :) Looks like you all had a great trip.