Day 66- Casper

 August 16

Woke up to another beautiful day.  

Custer Park has various programs thought the day.  The only one we could really attend was the Bison Olympics.  

We got to the learning center early so we checked it out.  They had a mock mine entrance, a sand pit, some music things and another outdoor play area.  

On the way to the center we came across a bison on the side of the road having a little grass snack.

We were the only ones for the program.  It was fun with safety tips and fun facts about bison.  I knew would have thought they could run 35 mph or jump 6 ft high or 15 ft long from a stand still or 30 ft from a run.

After went decided to drive the wildlife loop.  This is where the majority of the bison heard is.  We of course saw the bison but we also saw prong horned antelope.

After we headed back to the camper for lunch.  We then headed to the Crazy Horse Monument.  They have a very nice museum of Native American items.  We also watched a short video on the creation of the monument.  It's pretty cool that the people responsible for carving are on the third generation.  There is an observation deck as well as the original scale model that was used to design it.  They also have cultural programs but they were done for the day by the time we got there.

After we left I wanted to drive the Needles Highway.  Needles Hwy is a 14 mile winding drive through forest, prairie and mountains.  It also had a few tunnels carved though the mountain that I was barely able to fit the truck though.  I had to fold in the mirrors or they would have hit the walls.  

Once we got done we needed to figure out dinner.  Our goal was to eat and get out to Mt. Rushmore in time to see it in daylight and then stay for the lighting ceremony.  We found out that there were several restaurants right in the park.  The one that we all found something we liked at was right at the campground we were staying at.  

It was fairly busy for the size.  The food was really good except there was only one waiter so the service was a tad slow.  He did pretty good for being alone though.

But the time we got done eating it was about 7:30.  WE were going to have to rush to see the lighting ceremony.  I was trying to follow Google Maps and the GPS navigation in the truck.  For some reason it put us on the Iron Mountain Road which was as slow and scenic as the Needles Hwy.  Normally it would have been a great road but not when your in a rush.  We also saw a lot of deer so we had to be careful of them as well.  A lot of doe's with baby's still with spots.  Although we did come across 5 bucks standing on the road.  

I read that the lighting ceremony started at 9 and the lights are turned on at 9:30.  However, I realized that I read it wrong.  That time is for the middle of summer and starting last week it starts an hour early.  So just as we were driving up they turned on the lights.   I guess the only good thing about that is the park pretty much emptied out so we did not have to fight with the crowd.  

Things have changed alot since I was there 30 years ago when I was in high school.   There are not 4 parking garages, and everything is paved.  I guess it did make it easier to park and get to the monument.  I recall having to fight for a space and walking a fair distance up hill.  

The gift shop closed at 9:30 so of course we had to go buy overpriced stuff.  Then we went ack out to get some photo's.

This was a specific stop for Summer.  When I first started the serious planning she made it very clear she wanted to "see the faces carved in the mountain".  Of course I had to make that happen for her.  She was very excited to see it.  However she did mention that she really wished she could have seen it during the day.   I told her that if we all went to bed right when we got bak to the camper and got up early we could maybe go on the way out of town.  

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