Home Again

After the better part of 8 days and 3000+ miles, we finally made it back home Friday afternoon. It was a great trip! It was interesting that the weather back home was setting records while we were enjoying temps that were below normal and very comfortable for the most part. Highlights of the trip included Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore, the Crazy Horse memorial, Custer State Park, the Needles highway and lots of wildlife. We managed to experience a buffalo crossing on three separate occasions!

I have to say that Mt Rushmore was awesome. The visitor's center is very nice and clean, and getting in and out was pretty simple. We were here a week before the Sturgis bike rally and there were motorcycles EVERYWHERE! Made me a little bit in need of a fix, but that would have to wait. We were abel to hike a short trail around the base of the front of the mountain that gave interesting perspectives of each of the figures. The amount of detail is amazing. You could even see the glasses on Teddy's face. Mt Rushmore is only the centerpiece of the Black Hills, though. There is a full day's worth of adventure (maybe more) surrounding the area, and those mountains are some of the more picturesque I have seen.

Another interesting place to visit in the Black Hills is the Crazy Horse memorial. I have to admit that they are very interested in your money there, but it was worth it. The carving of crazy horse on the granite mountain is a privately funded venture. It has been in progress for a long time (like 40+ years) and all there is to see is the head and part of the arm. You can see the mountain in the background in the picture above. The white model in the foreground is a 1:34 scale model that I managed to capture with the mountain (not hard - it is set up for success). The memorial includes a rather large native american museum and restaurant and was a good stop.

The Needles highway in the Black Hills was also a very cool visit. It meanders up through solid granite and is rather narrow and very scenic. The drive included three tunnels carved out of solid granite. The most narrow was around 8 1/2 feet wide and I pulled the mirrors in for that one. That tunnel is in the picture above. Spectacular drive!

Our trip home ventured back through Montana, Idaho and eventually back into Washington. Jeannette and I went to a concert at Qwest Field in Seattle Saturday evening that included Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Montgomery Gentry, Sugarland and Kenny Chesney. It was awesome! Looking forward to a quiet day at home making sure the house is still standing before heading back to work for my last month and a half before transferring off to Perl Harbor.