What can be better than being at Mt. Rushmore on the 4th of July? Just the ride to get there.
Another day in Paradise starts and the sunshine and scenery are exhilarating. Ziggy and I take a long walk and she is loving the cooler weather and the green grass. She is a great traveler and is really taking to the road quite well. We set off for Mt. Rushmore admiring the wildflowers, especially the black eyed Susans. The park has built roads with astonishing views of Mt. Rushmore. You drive through a narrow tunnel and the light at the end of the tunnel has the four presidential faces. It is an amazing engineering feat and they also invented special piggy-back bridges to facilitate traffic.
We stop at the visitor center which is informative and then come across one of our favorite places on the whole trip. The "Begging Burros" are mentioned in the park brochure and are the only animals you are allowed to feed. They are pack animals left behind by miners and they survive in the hills and by begging for food from the tourists. Their favorites are cookies and crackers, but they are not shy and will stick their head in your car window to see what goodies you may have. We weren't prepared with food, but one nice guy gave me a carrot to dish out. These burros are so sweet and their mouths are so soft when they take the food, but they are not shy. We decided to come back this way and stop for crackers on the way.
Mt. Rushmore is a tourist zoo, but the mountain is big enough for everyone to get a good view. It is fun to see the president's up there in granite and gives you a patriotic feeling. To add to the holiday festivities there was a Native American band playing contemporary rock music. We took the Presidential path which leads you right underneath the faces and then down lots of steps to the sculptor's workshop. There I saw the model of how the mountain was supposed to look, but it was never finished. The original intent was to show the figures down to their waists.
On the way back we stopped and got some Cheez-its to feed the burros and had just as much fun as earlier in the day. Whenever you see animals in the parks it causes a traffic jam. People pull over in their cars and jump out to see what's going on. You can always tell something good by the number of cars. The last photo is a mom and nursing baby burro. The baby was so adorable and sure to delight visitors to Custer for years to come.
Later we lit a fire and relaxed planning to return to the road in the morning.
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