Day 2 started early and stayed full. We left the hotel at about 830am and after a quick stop at the Flying J for a supply of snack foods TM and I headed off to The Reptile Gardens for an up close look at some of natures wonders. Besides the Bald Eagle, I didn't see many although TM was awed by the cold blooded creatures of the underworld. The turtles were ok but the live snake show nearly ended me. We were in a room about the size a big tool shed with a snake "trainer" that was showing us the fascinating world of invertebrate reptiles when he pulled out a glass box with a box attached to a string. The trainer lifted the box to reveal a VIPER which proceeded to strike the side of the glass and I jumped up and literally RAN out of the show and refused to return. The Reptile Garden also featured a "prairie dog town" and a bald eagle that the facility had nursed back to health from near death.
From there, we headed up to Mt. Rushmore for a look-see. We really were lucky to get three gorgeous weather days and the pictures from the Monument reflect that. With the snow from the previous few days still showing itself in certain areas the temperatures were very mild and often we didn't need jackets.
After our run to Mount Rushmore we drove through Custer State Park taking picture after picture of the incredible scenery. You can check it out at this link http://www.travelsd.com/placestogo/stateparks/custerstatepark.asp?utm_source=GooglePPC&utm_medium=PPC&utm_content=CSP&utm_campaign=CSP2008
The buffalo herds are amazing as was the overwhelming open spaces. Getting attacked by burros also was an interesting event.
The road through Custer led to the backside of the park and then out of the park to the Crazyhorse Memorial. The memorial is completely self funded and has refused millions of dollars of federal funding twice stating that the facility should be funded by visitors and not the government. The statue will be the largest in the world when completed. For a couple of comparisons, it will be nearly three times taller than the Statue of Liberty and the entire Mount Rushmore structure will fit in the face of Crazyhorse. This one I would suggest seeing. For more information, you can go here http://www.crazyhorse.org/.
The road from Crazyhorse runs back into the park and onto a highway know as "Needles Highway". Notice in those pictures that there is more snow than in the others. This is much higher than most of the other parts in the area and this road is the closest paved road to the "highest point of South Dakota" which is over 7500 feet.
This was a remarkable drive and well worth the time. It did take an entire day though as we didn't get back to the hotel until after 9pm.
Enjoy the pictures!
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