South Dakota - Sturgis, Mt. Rushmore & Crazy Horse Mountain

Our first stop in SD was in Sturgis. Dad wanted to check out Buffalo Chip where they hold the motorcycle thing. He was hoping to eat at a biker bar, but we went through at lunch time and they were all closed! We ended up with fast food in Rapid City on our way to Mt. Rushmore.

I started shooting as soon as we saw Mt. Rushmore, but realized you get plenty of perspective from where the visitors center is. This is looking down the columns with the state flags.

Dad with the mountain

Me with the mountain - you can see how the wind was blowing my hair all over!

This shot may make my brother crazy, but it made the dad mighty happy!

Caught a George Washington profile on our way out to Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse was pretty amazing. It was started in 1949 and all we have so far is the face of the man. They're working on the massive horse head next.

Ultimately it will look like this

You can check out a few more pics here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/rebeccajeanne/sets/72157624778008938/

After Crazy Horse, we got on the road and headed out of South Dakota. It was after dinner that we got the wild hair to drive an extra 250 miles to include the stop at Taliesin. I agree with Dad, it was worth it! Taliesin images coming soon!

Some of the missing images...

On Monday morning we got in the car in Cody WY and started heading east. The route from Cody to Mt. Rushmore took us through Bighorn National Forest. I know both Dad & I have already mentioned it, but it was just breathtakingly beautiful. It was such a treat! Here are my favorite shots from that day...

Sun rising in Cody over the hotel office

The road into the forest/canyon/mountains

Gorgeousness!

As we came down the other of the mountains, we got this view of eastern WY.

From there it was into South Dakota!

ETA: We stopped for a quick dinner in SD and then it was into Minnesota!