The Black Hills

As I begin writing this blog it couldn’t get any better. It’s dusk and two young deer just walked into my campsite about 20 feet away. They are pretty calm and it’s a perfect way to end my day. Hmmm…where to begin?

From the early morning it was a perfect day. The temperature was in the high 70s with bright blue sky. First… I headed to Mount Rushmore. I have to a minute to look back years ago and embarrass my brother a little. I was at Rushmore many years ago on a family trip when I was quite young. Adam, more so than I, was ecstatic to see Mount Rushmore and had been talking about it for a long time. Well as we were making one of the long drives out west Adam found himself talking in his sleep saying, “I see Mount Rushmore.” End of story, but I had to throw it out there. That seems to be the biggest memory our family has from Mount Rushmore.

While at Rushmore I was thinking a lot about photography. I remember reading an article (perhaps in National Geographic) about a photographer on assignment for the Grand Canyon. He asked himself something along the lines of “how do you photograph something that’s photographed a thousand times daily.” Rushmore is the same. I don’t think I have an answer, but it’s hard to photograph something like that. Anyways, it’s so cool to see these 60 foot heads on the side of a mountain.

From there I went to Crazy Horse. It’s just crazy. Yup. It’s so ridiculously big, and $10 just to see it from a long, long ways away. I sure hope it gets finished just like the model.

Ok…now to the good stuff. Today would have been the day to rent a Ferrari. I went on the winding Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road. It reminded me of a go-kart track, just really long and for real-sized cars. It was hairpin after hairpin, bridges that looped around, by far the windiest road I’ve ever been on.

On my way out I saw lots of wildlife: turkeys, deer, goats, bison, and a bunch of other stuff. Some of them I got photos of, some not. Driving through all of it on those curvy roads was the most relaxing thing of the trip probably. I rolled down all the windows, cranked up some soothing music, and just let my hair flow. This day is going to be hard to beat.