Our first Culvers experience!

I think it was Napoleon who said an army travels on its stomach.  That can be said of the Bartters as well!  Ever since leaveing Illinois we've seen signs for "Culvers" and bugged Beth becuase they never identified what they were advertising.  After a few days we learned it is an ice cream/custard place.  We went to our first one for dinner (and ice cream) today in Rapid City, SD.  We had a long, long day and we were in the mood for ice cream.

I'm skipping a few days; getting behind on the blog.  I'll write about today while it's still fresh and try to catch up later on the last two days or so.

This is our last night in Rapid City.  We sent to Mt Rushmore first thing, just a 30 min drive.

Of course we have the mandatory family shot in front of the mountain.

The site is very well done, with very up to date buildings, displays, etc.  They can really handle large crowds.  The work began in 1927 and continuted until 1941.  The original plans were to have their bodies (down to the waist) but the stone was not good enough.  It was fascinating to learn about the carving, etc.  Also, you could really get some emotional reading from each of the expressions.  Lincoln looked sad, Washington had a determined look.  The original plans also started with Jefferston to Washington's right but the stone didn't cooperate and the face was blasted away and now he's on Washington's left.

Following Mt Rushmore, we headed south to the little-known Wind Cave National Park.  This was the 7th NP and was the first that is a cave.  This is the third largest cave in the US and people are attracted to it both for the cave but also the prairie and rolling hills on the ground.  We enjoyed the topside scenery but didn't go into the caves.

After WCNP, we drove through Custer State Park which has a very large wildlife area.  We saw lots of prairie dogs, deer, and bison.  We also saw wild donkeys, turkeys and (maybe) elk. Here's a sampling.

This was a huge herd of bison.

In our typical way of sightseeing to the max, we were leaving the park as there were dark clouds and lightening in the sky.  We returned to Rapid City in some strong rain for the dinner at Culvers.  The storm passed and the sky had the most amazing clouds.  Pictures don't really capture the look but it was very dramatic.

Overlooking Rapid City is Dinosaur Park, a collection of life-sized concrete beasts.  We heard they were built in the 30s by the CCC (whey they weren't building roads and camps in national parks).  Matthew enjoyed it, but the sky was filled with lightening so our time there was short.

To add a little multi-media flavor to the blog, here's a short video of the buffalo herd.