Rapid City, SD~City of Presidents

Posted on February 4, 2011February 4, 2011 by Dusty Roads

Rapid City is sometimes called The City of Presidents because it proudly displays life sized bronzes of United States Presidents on the street corners of downtown. We strolled around the downtown taking pictures of and sometimes with each statue. I am not going to include them all in this post. If you want so see them all you’ll have to go yourself but suffice it to say this is an on-going project that will eventually included all of the presidents with new ones being added consecutively.

Ronald Reagan

The project is funded entirely by private donations and each artist has ties to South Dakota in some way. . Each artist researched the president they were assigned to depict the familiar and/or notable characteristics of that president in their work.

Lincoln

Some of the older presidents were hard to identify. For example William McKinley is presented with a telephone in his hands because he was the first president to use the telephone in a campaign for office.

William McKinley

I did not know that so seeing the phone I thought of Alexander Graham Bell even though he was never president. I wondered if they were statues of famous people , not just presidents, especially since there were several statues of Native Americans, but I was wrong.

Using a map we picked up at the visitor center I believe I have identified all of the statues we visited.

1) James Monroe 2) John Quincy Adams 3) Lyndon Johnson 4) William Howard Taft 5)Martin Van Buren 6) John F. Kennedy ( I definitely recognized him as I’m from Massachusetts) 7) Andrew Jackson 8) Franklin Pierce 9) Theodore Roosevelt (another familiar face) 10) James Buchanan 11) Warren Harding 12) Woodrow Wilson (With a little discussion we also got his identity) 13) Millard Fillmore 14) Zachary Taylor 15) John Tyler 16) Harry S. Truman (Yes we recognized him too) 17) Henry Harrison 18) Gerald Ford (Another familiar face) 19)James Madison 20) Thomas Jefferson (We recognized Ol’ Tom with his copy of the Declaration of Independence) 21)George Washington (Of course. He has the most famous face in US history) 22) Jimmy Carter (Oh yes, we knew him too) 23) Andrew Jackson 24) Ronald Reagan (Yes we knew Ronnie’s statue) 25) Dwight D. Eisenhower (Yes again) 26) Richard Nixon (Of course) 27) James Polk 28) Grover Cleveland 29) William McKinley 30) Ulysses S. Grant (another yes) 31) Franklin D. Roosevelt (Yes) 32) Herbert Hoover 33)Calvin Coolidge 34) George Bush Sr (of course) 35) John Adams.

LBJ

It was fun and challenging trying to ID all of the Presidents before we checked either the plaque or the map. I thought about making flash cards from the photos to practice so I will remember them but I’d rather just look it up. HA HA

JFK

It took quite awhile to walk all those blocks so we were glad to get back on the trolley.

Jimmy Carter

The trolley continued through a park that we hadn’t even realized was there and then pulled into the Journey Museum. As we hopped off here the driver told us the last trolley was at 4:30 and not to miss that.

Nixon

I’ll tell you about the Journey Museum in my next post.

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Dinosaurs, Trolleys and Presidents, Oh My!

Posted on February 3, 2011February 3, 2011 by Dusty Roads

It’s the last full day of vacation and the one place we haven’t explored is Rapid City. It just seemed wrong to have spent a week in this city and not explore it at all but we’d been busy exploring all around it. So today we’re going to see Rapid City. Unfortunately we have another gray day. Occasionally it sprinkled but there were no downpours.

So after breakfast at Denny’s we drove to Dinosaur Park where we parked our car and prepared to climb the stairs to the park. Dinosaur Park has been around since 1936 and is filled with vintage , life size Dinosaurs.

That is something to keep in mind when you see them. They have not been updated to reflect current knowledge of dino anatomy, but that is part of their charm.

These sculptures aren’t off limits at all as kids climb all over them. It’s not a very big park so if you don’t have children that want to ride on a stegosaurs you will probably be done there pretty quickly. Still it’s worth the climb to be able to look out over Rapid City. The views are amazing.

Leaving the Dinosaurs in the little hilltop park we browsed the gift shop and then caught the trolley for a ride into town. Like most of the trolley’s I’ve been on, this combines a sight -seeing tour with transportation. This trolley is at least partly supported by the City of Rapid City which seems to be a common way to subsidize their operating costs.

We weren’t on very long before we saw the statues on the street corners so we hopped off to check them out.

Ground Hog Day

Posted on February 2, 2011February 2, 2011 by Dusty Roads

I know I still have more to tell you about South Dakota but I had to acknowledge my little friend, the Ground Hog. Last summer I had saw a little Ground Hog that seemed to have made his home right by RT 44. I saw him almost every day when I went to work. When fall came around he disappeared. I don’t know if he died, moved his den or was trapped and moved. I still look for him but there aren’t even any tracks in the snow. Still in honor of Ground Hog Day I am posting his picture.

Since it’s sleeting and storming, we can assume the ground hog didn’t see his shadow but the way this winter is going, I really don’t think it will matter. I am fairly certain that we will have more than 6 weeks of winter to get throughJ

NEWS FLASH!…The weather is so bad even Woodstock Willie plans to stay in on Wednesday. No word yet on Punxsutawney Phil’s plans.

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Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early spring!

Wind Cave National Park, SD

Posted on February 1, 2011February 1, 2011 by Dusty Roads

After another splurge for breakfast at Perkins Restaurant we headed back south to explore Wind Cave National Park. We were nearing the end of our time here in South Dakota and wouldn’t have enough time to check out all of the many caves and cave systems in the Black Hills so we asked for guidance. The cave most locals recommended was Wind Cave although Jewel Cave was a close second.

Red Wing Backbird outside the Foothills Inn

Our luck with the weather seemed to have run out as well, as if to tell us our time was up! So as we headed out there was a light mist and no sun. Well, we weren’t planning to sit on a beach or hike the mountains . We would be in a cave so I guess it doesn’t matter if it’s raining or not.

On our way to Wind Cave National Park we cut through Custer State Park again and followed the Wildlife Loop Road. I guess even the animals figured it was too nasty to be out as there was very little activity. We spotted a couple of antelope in the distance but this was the lightest day for animal sightings since we’d been here.

As we neared the entrance to Wind Cave National Park we thought we saw a Pronghorn with a baby in a ravine by the road. We turned around and tried to get back to see for sure. We had to wait for a lot of traffic to pass before we could turn around and by then the animal or animals had disappeared. So we turned around again and headed into the park.

The Visitor Center is a clean, modern facility and it was quite busy for a rainy day. I guess everyone felt like we did about the weather.

There were a lot of tours to chose from but it was almost lunchtime so we decided to take the shorter Natural Entrance Cave tour. Since it was almost lunch time I checked my blood sugar and it was fine. There is no food, candy or gum allowed in the cave so I wouldn’t have any “reserve” with me. The tour was about an hour long so I figured I’d be fine. (Boy was I wrong but more on that later)

We were directed out to a roofed pavilion to wait for the ranger. It was definitely cool and damp but everyone on the tour seemed to be enjoying themselves in spite of the weather.

Pretty soon our ranger arrived. I think he said he said his name was Ranger Nick. He is a teacher by profession and does the ranger gig part time. He was a slight man but he knew how to project his voice so there was no problem hearing his stories and instructions. Our tour was made up of all ages and physical abilities.

Ranger Nick's orientation

Ranger Nick gave us an orientation doing a great job of involving the children in the group. Then he led us off down the path toward the cave entrance. There was one more stop before we entered the cave and that was at the spot where the cave “breathes”.

Wind Cave is a huge cave system and it is still being explored but for years no one even knew it was there. The Native Americans spoke of the “hole that breathes cool air” and they may have explored some of the cave system. Following up on those legends, explorers finally found the “hole” and sure enough a breeze was blowing out of it.

At this point in the narrative, Ranger Nick climbed down into a depression next to a hole in the rock wall. He asked for a volunteer and one of the kids joined him. The little boy was given a ribbon and told to hold it in front of the hole. We could all see the breeze lift the ribbon and blow it out like a flag.

The "Hole that Breathes"

We turned around then and headed back to the entrance and into the cave itself.

Down we go

Almost immediately the cave started to slope downward. Before we would finish we would climb down around 300 stairs.

As we progressed through the cave, Ranger Nick stopped often and pointed out various formations. The rarest but most abundant of which is the boxwood formation. Wind Cave has more boxwood than any other cave in the world. It’s hard to believe but Ranger Nick said early miners actually used the fragile formation as post office boxes leaving letters and notes in the natural boxes. A partial list of the types of formations we viewed , I can’t remember all of them, is: Boxwork, helictite bushes, quartz rinds, dogtooth and nailhead spar, quartz, button popcorn, sawtooth flowstone, gypsum luster, flowers, starbursts, and hair and conulites.

Bottom of the Cave tour

Again I don’t know if I am remembering correctly, but when we reached the last room on the tour I recall that Ranger Nick told us how many feet it was below the surface. I think he said 228 ft but I could be wrong. If anyone knows the lowest point on the Cave Entrance Tour, please post it in the comments!

It was about this time that I began to feel really shaky and weak. I was glad the tour was wrapping up because I suspected that the mild walking had made my blood sugar drop more quickly than I had anticipated. We all loaded into elevators that took us back the the surface. I think I’d have been fine then if they had opened into the visitor center and I could have gotten something to eat but turned out that we still had a short walk but a small incline. It was the incline that was about to do me in. Ranger Nick came over to see if I was ok and said that arrangements could have been made for me as I have a medical condition, (diabetes). With Sandy’s help I made it back to the visitor center. They didn’t have a snack bar but they did have a room with some vending machines. I got something from there. I don’t even remember what and sat for about 15 minutes after eating. By then I was feeling better and we headed out to find someplace for lunch.

I was feeling a bit foolish but lesson learned. Take the glucose tablets or something even when food is not allowed!

Thunderhead Falls, South Dakota

Posted on January 31, 2011January 31, 2011 by Dusty Roads

After our drive across Pine Ridge Reservation we stopped back at Mount Rushmore and Sandy retrieved her souvenirs. With no concrete plans we decided to head back north toward Rapid City. We passed The Crazy Horse Memorial and although we had originally planned to go there we were starting to count our pennies. We could see the carving from the road so the decision was made to skip it and save the entry fee.

A little farther along our road trip we saw the sign for Thunderhead Falls. It’s a waterfall that is underground. It had started to rain again so doing something “underground” seemed like a chance to stay dry.

Thunderhead Falls Entrance

We followed the signs and found a dirt parking lot. The first thing I did was inspect the car to see how much mud was covering it. Some had washed off as we drove through the light rain but there was still plenty of evidence of out earlier adventure.

There was cute little train displayed in the parking lot. At first I thought it was just a model or a toy but it turns out that this is an ore train. The cars were loaded in the mine and then the ore was brought back to the surface by this little train.

Ore Train

It was a short walk to the entrance but it was so pretty. The river that creates the falls in the mine poured out in another cascade and we had a little bridge to cross over it before reaching the entrance. It was nice on this rainy day. I bet it would be spectacular in sunshine.

We met a family leaving but other than that we were the only visitors. I guess the rain was keeping the tourists away. The lady at the ticket booth was very friendly and informative and tickets were only a couple of dollars each so well within our shrinking budgets.

She pointed us along a path that we followed on our own. No guide here but you really didn’t need one. The handout we were given with our ticket gave us the history and the mine wasn’t that deep. There were signs identifying different ore deposits and the reason they were important and then there was the falls itself.