Mount Rushmore

With Wall, SD as our base camp we made trips to Mount Rushmore. Security was tight due to 9-11 and also since this was July 4th . We ate at the restaurant there and the food was real good and the price was reasonable. We had a good time at the Mount and I believe John and Sheryl did too.

Avenue of the Flags

We took a drive to Devil's Tower and it was well worth the drive. It is very interesting. The Indians say that the marks on the side of the Tower came from a big bear. It seems that there were several Indian maidens sitting on the Tower and a bear came after them. They climbed to the top and it grew larger and larger to keep the bear from getting to them.

Steven Spielberg came out here to get information and pictures of the Tower. Contrary to popular belief the movie "Close Encounters of a Third Kind" was not filmed at the Tower. All they did was to come here and take pictures of the Tower. They then went back to Mobile, AL and filmed the movie in the world's largest sound stage.

We enjoyed our stay in South Dakota and found some good places to shop and also good restaurants. It would be possible for someone to spend at least a month in the Bad Lands area.

This is our second time to visit South Dakota and we see something new with each visit. The weather during the summer is a little hot and I believe it would be better to visit either in the spring or fall.

After spending two weeks in South Dakota we decided it was time to move on to Montana and see the sights there.