(Barry is guest blogging tonight.)
Wow...what a day. We started in Cheyenne, Wyoming and ended in Rapid City, South Dakota. But, we did a lot in between. I'll try to back track and tell you the details.
Late last night, I decided to make a last minute change to our itinerary. See, I have travelled a good bit around this country, but for some reason, I have never set foot in the state of Nebraska. So, I decided that today would be the day that I checked that off of my Bucket List. So, instead of traveling north through Wyoming and ending up in South Dakota, we veered and spend most of the day in western Nebraska.
What a great decision.
We decided to make two stops in Nebraska. Our first stop was at the Scotts Bluff National Memorial. This memorial is near Scottsbluff, Nebraska and is a landmark on the original Oregon Trail. The information at the Visitor's Center was very interesting, and the view from the top of the bluff was spectacular. As you can tell from the picture, it was a picture perfect day. From the top, you could see for miles. All in all, it was a great stop.
Our next stop was at Agate Fossil Beds National Memorial. This was interesting, but it was not as good as Scott's Bluff. We decided that if we were giving Scott's Bluff an A+, this would get a C-. Interesting...but also forgettable. The most interesting part was the fact that the Park Ranger at the Visitor's Center reiterated time and time again that there were Prairie Rattlesnakes everywhere and to be very, very careful when we were out on the trails. Tabatha speculated that they were called Prairie Rattlers in an attempt to make them cute and cuddly, but it was not working. We did hike one trail and luckily, saw no snakes.
Driving through western Nebraska was beautiful as well. The rolling hills and prairie features were very nice.
We finally ended up in South Dakota and went to Wind Cave National Park. We were able to get into the 4:40pm cave tour. It was a cool 53 degrees in the cave. We had a good time and Tabatha was able to see her first Buffalo herd. (NOTE: The buffalo herd was not in the cave...they were grazing at ground level.)
By the time we made it to Rapid City, it was 7:00 and we were ravenous. We found a Ruby Tuesday and had a great meal. Our waitress grew up in Florida and completely understood our disappointment when we ordered Sweet Tea and she was forced to tell us that they didn't serve it.
We got to our hotel at 8:15 and surprisingly, my family voted to head to Mount Rushmore to see the ceremonial lighting of the carving at 9:00. So, we jumped into the van and made it just in time to see it. We were so glad that we made it. There was a wonderful video (narrated by Avery Brooks of Star Trek:Deep Space Nine fame) and a patriotic speech by one of the rangers. At the very end, he invited all veterans on stage. There were probably 200 of them and of course, received a long ovation from the several thousand in attendance.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day (we are going back to Mount Rushmore to fully enjoy it) and then we are off to Badlands National Park. We will even throw in a quick trip to Wall Drug if we feel that we are able.
That's all for now!
By the way, the other states that I have not visited are (in alphabetical order): Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, North Dakota and Rhode Island. Tabatha voted that I attempt to mark Hawaii off the list next. And, take her with me.
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