Jacqueline’s Jaunts

09-12-21 Sunday Mt. Rushmore Trip Day 12 Beaver Lake Campground Casper, SD Site I Today was a camp utility day. I did laundry and Barry had a few things he wanted to get done, mainly installing the new RViBrake3 on the jeep. We need this done before we leave on Tuesday. He also worked on the kitchen leaky water line (it was only leaking a little), and the wiring on the jeep so the interior light goes on. While I did the laundry I wrote and published one of my blogs since I’m a few days behind.  We had a late lunch of leftovers. Then we left for town. I wanted to do some shopping and take pictures of all the buffalo statues on each street corner. They are so cool. I only took pictures of the ones I like. The buffalos are painted in different designs.  My Favorite       After a bit of shopping and an awesome Root Beer Float, we headed out to Needles Highway. It’s a very windy road.  Below is a description from different sites I found on Google. We drove through the Needles Eye tunnel. Wh

09/11/21 Saturday Mt. Rushmore Trip Day 11 Beaver Lake Campground  Custer, SD Site I Today was our wine tasting/dinner train ride on an 1880 steam train. It started in Hill City and went to Keystone. I reserved our tickets about a month before we left. We picked up our tickets at the train station around 12:30 then walked over to the Mangy Moose Saloon for a snack before we boarded the train. They were packed and not prepared for the crowd. They were outta fries and that's what we wanted. We ended up talking to some folks from Pennsylvania and a couple that lived in Hill City. Both were fun to talk to and we learned about the Buffalo Roundup that happens every year about the 3rd week of September. It's a big celebration and it also marks the end of tourists season.  We finally were served our food and had enough time to eat and walk back to the train station before the train boarded. This tour was sold out and from talking to a woman while standing in line for the restroom I le

09/10/21 Friday Mt. Rushmore Trip Day 10 Beaver Lake Campground  Custer, SD Site I Woke up and my legs are so sore from those stone stairs that went on forever at Mt. Rushmore. But so worth it.   Went back to Mt. Rushmore this morning to get my passport stamp from the Sculptor Studio. It was closed yesterday by the time we got to it during the hike/walk around the park. We stayed for the ranger talk about the working sculpture the artist Gutzon Borglum created to work from. When we left we walked up those same stone steps we did yesterday. A bit easier today. Went to the gift shop to pick up a few things and Barry stayed outside and people watched. He was very entertained.  This is one of the harness chairs the men used  to get to the top of the mountain  Next stop was the Crazy Horse Monument., $30 to get in. Had lunch right away. Got my passport stamped even though this is not a National Monument. Very extensive museums, great movie, cultural center, dance performances from a local n

09/09/21 Thursday Mt. Rushmore Trip Day 9 Beaver Lake Campground  Custer, SD Site I We left in the afternoon for Mt. Rushmore. As you get off the highway and deeper into the forest the landscape is just green and gorgeous. As you drive toward the monument, at some points you can see parts of it. There is one sign that tells you a pull out is ahead for a profile view. The profile of President Washington is what you see, a clear view above the trees. We drove right into the parking lot and there was no line. As you walk up the grand terrace to see the monument you walk through the hall of flags. The view is impressive when you look down the hall and see the monument. Just unbelievable. We rented a story wand. There is a trail you follow and stop along the way to listen to different stories and history of the presidents and the monument. The trail is easy with lots of stairs but it's worth it. The Sculpture Studio was closed so I couldn't get my National Park Passport stamped. I t

09/08/21 Wednesday Mt. Rushmore Trip Day 8 Beaver Lake Campground  Custer, SD Site I Woke up to the first full day here and Barry has been up and has my tea ready. Love that man! Beautiful weather outside and breathing the morning mountain air is incredible. Just hearing the wind in the pine trees is very soothing.  Today was a utility day. We had to drive to Rapid City to pick up the RViBrake3 for the jeep. It was a little more than an hour drive. Obviously not on our list of fun things to do but we enjoyed the drive and seeing country we would normally not see.  Highway 16 is the main highway from Custer to Rapid City. It's also the highway that Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse are on and you can see Crazy Horse from the highway. We will be visiting Mt. Rushmore tomorrow.  Rapid City is a large one. As of 2019 the population was 75,258. It's the second largest city next to Sioux Falls. It's like Fresno and sprawls out everywhere. We picked up a few other things while we were