September 28, 2009 Jewel Cave National Monument, Wind cave NP, Mt. Rushmore

ADDITION TO September 26, 2009

Headline: Turkeys tie up traffic on I-90! And this time we're not talking about Prius drivers going 55 in the fast lane!

These turkeys were parading right across the Interstate as we approached from the West. The line stretched almost all the way across 4 lanes and the median. Both Westbound lanes had already stopped to let them pass and, of course we did, too. It took us a minute to get the camera out and going so we only got the last 13 or so........

Turkey Trot on I-90

On to today!

A busy day! This morning we went on a tour of The Jewel Cave National Monument -- underground! The cave is the second longest known in the U.S. The longest is Mammoth Cave NP in Kentucky at 367 miles!

It is impossible to get pictures of what we saw that show the size and depth of the formations, so let's just enjoy the formations and the colors and let our imaginations run with what we see.

Invasion of the Slime Monsters

Ulcer?

Outer Space Wormhole

Your Guess ?

See the fish ?

Deep Space

Jellyfish

Gold!

Coral Reef

Colors

Stone Lily

Creature from the Black Lagoon Reaching for You!

More Colors

I think the most amazing thing to us is the fluidity of the formations and the colors that spring to life under the flash.

We had our daily picnic under a tree at the Monument then cruised on over t0 the Wind Cave National Park. We arrived too late for one tour and way too early for the next, so decided to drive around the Park while working our way back toward Mt. Rushmore.

The geography of Wind Cave NP is much like the Yellowstone valleys with flatlands and gentle hills. A big difference is that the pasturelands at Wind Cave are populated with thousands of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs and many Pronghorns -- and, yes, a few Bison.

We passed on pictures of the prairie Dogs and the Bison, but the Pronghorns were so close and the male had such a good rack that we couldn't resist!

A First! All Faces!

The Patriarch Herding His Harem

Patriarch I

Patriarch II

Then it was on the Mt. Rushmore.

Guess Who, Guess Where.

Through the Arch

We hope/plan to go back tomorrow to get some pictures with more favorable light. Also to return tomorrow evening to see the Lighting Ceremony. During the day we will take a couple of the scenic drives in Custer State Park.

More then!

Love to you all,

MMG and DDG