I am not a morning person. I will never be one of those people that rises before the alarm clock, with a smile on her face, ready to start a new and exciting day. Nope...definitely not me. I'm more of the sets three separate alarms with the assumption that I will hit the snooze button multiple times, and when I do deign to open my eyes, don't expect conversation. I speak in grunts in the early morning. I become one with my cavewoman ancestors.
So needless to say, it's now day 5 of driving all day, sightseeing, driving some more, not going to sleep until 1 or 2am with the intention of waking up again at 7:30am to be on the road by 8am. Whose idea was it to do so much on this trip? Oh yeah, mine. I have myself to blame for my sleep deprivation. I miss my real bed, having clothes in one spot, and not having to unpack and repack everyday. But here I am in Hot Springs, SD and we have a tourist attraction filled day planned. Oh man, do I need a hit of caffeine.
First on today's agenda is Wind Cave National Park, so named because the entrance of the cave was discovered from the gust of wind that it emits. The Native Americans believed that it was some type of God living in the earth and through this opening he breathed. This is my first time exploring a cave- Aunt Anita has been cave hiking before,- and she assures me that it is something really special. I am also informed that we should start to see some wild life. So, much to my delight, on our way into the park we come across some wild bison, you know just walking down the side of the road. Now back in New Jersey, I think the biggest wild animal I've see is a deer. This experience was a little different. They're huge! Later I also came to find out that they can turn and charge really quickly, so me getting out of the car to get a picture 50 feet from these beasts probably wasn't the smartest idea. I mean they didn't look like they could run that fast. Surely not faster than I could get back into my car. But lesson learned and I will take that into consideration for next time.
 |
| Just for some perspective on how close we were. |
 |
| Oh yeah, and there was this little guy too. |
The guide was knowledgeable, and told us that a special feature of this cave was the boxwork that resembles old hotel mailboxes. He was also very enthusiastic about the fact that Wind Cave is the first cave designated as a national park and the 6th longest cave in the world. We learned that wind cave was first discovered by Jesse and Tom Bingham who found the cave's only natural opening by the whistling sound of it "breathing." They explored the cave using only candlelight and string to help map the tunnels, and of course the way out. At one point in our tour the guide turned out all of the lights just so what we could see what complete darkness looks like. Surprisingly, or not, it looked like blackness. There wasn't much to see.
After turning on all the lights again, we continued to make our way through the cave. At the end of the tour I asked the guide how far we had walked, guessing somewhere around one mile. I was surprised to hear that even though we had been in the cave for over an hour we had only walked about a quarter of a mile! I guess when your walking up and down winding staircases and trying to stay on the path so you don't fall into some cavern the trek is bound to seem a lot longer.
The park rangers told us that it was going to be really dark in the cave and therefore hard to take a good picture, so we should probably just leave our cameras in the car. Well, we were probably the only tourist to leave the cameras behind, and I was a little disappointed to find out that in some places I probably could have gotten a decent picture. So instead I was left with my postcards to illustrate Wind Cave.
After escaping Wind Cave, we continued our adventure to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Crazy Horse is a monument in the spirit of Mt. Rushmore, except much bigger. It is also a monument under construction and far from completion. Crazy Horse was a Oglala Lakota Native American warrior who fought against the US government to prevent encroachment on Lakota lands. The sculpture was originally started by Korczak Ziolkowski, a sculptor that worked on Mt. Rushmore. Blasting began in 1948, and since then Ziolkowski has since passed away. Currently his wife and 7 of his 10 children work on the project.
 |
| The plan and the current reality. |
 |
| If you look really closely, you can see the outline of the horse's head. |
These presidents (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt) were chosen for this project for preserving the republic and expanding US territory. The primary sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, became so engrossed with this project that he planned to create a "Hall of Records" behind the faces, however the government shut down his funding and therefore shut down that idea.
Originally, we planned to continue our journey as far west as possible so that we could tour Yellowstone tomorrow, but when on a road trip the most important thing to be is flexible. So, instead of moving into Wyoming as planned we got a call from Aunt Anita's aunt and uncle-in-law, who just happen to live in Rapid City. We detoured to their house and apparently it was cocktail hour. Now I was a little tired and worried that a drop of alcohol was going to have me falling asleep at the table, and frankly I wasn't sure if we were stopping for the night or if I was going to have to keep driving. So, I passed on the cosmos. But when the wine was served I realized we were in for the night, put my big girl pants on, and opted for a glass.
Here's a little family tree lesson for you. Aunt Anita's husband is my Uncle Jamie, and we were visiting Uncle Jamie's Aunt Eileen and Uncle Jim. Uncle Jim was in the air force, and as a result they moved around a lot and got to see a good portion of the country. They even lived in Spokane! I didn't get any pictures of the house, but it's this mountain oasis. Cocktail hour was on one of the three decks out back, with a space heater to keep us nice and toasty in the mountain breeze. There was even a wild turkey nest in the trees! Over dinner and drinks we may have rubbed it in a little by texting Uncle Jamie a picture of us having a great time...without him. They have a great sense of humor, and only when dinner was over did they tell us that instead of the hamburgers that we thought we were eating, we had in fact trie some of the local cuisine... a bison burger. Pretty tasty if you ask me.
It was a great way to catch up on some sleep and be in one place for more time then it takes to catch a full night's rest and a shower. In fact, I think I may have gotten a full 8 hours of sleep! As for driving, well we only traveled about 75 miles instead of our usual average of 500 miles. Needless to say, I woke up a little less cranky.
So thanks again to Uncle Jamie's Aunt Eileen and Uncle Jim for you hospitality, great cooking, awesome sense of humor, and generally a good time.
As for tomorrow's adventure that is a story for another day.
1. Hot Springs, SD
2. Wind Cave National Park, SD
3. Crazy Horse Memorial, SD
4. Mt. Rushmore, SD
5. Uncle Jim and Aunt Eileen's House, Rapid City, SD
Never stop exploring...
No comments:
Post a Comment