Wednesday (6/17)  We are in Rapid City, SD.   We went to see Mt. Rushmore National Park in the morning.  The carvings in the side of the mountain designed by sculptor Gutzon Borglum in 1927.  It took 17 years, 400 men and the influence of several politicians to get it accomplished.  Each face is 60 feet high and each one faces a different direction.  

We then took the Needles Highway Scenic Drive through Custer State Park.   It is called the needles because the rock formations look like spires or needles.  The drive have many scenic spots where you just have to stop and take a picture.

Just south of the park is Wind Cave in the Black Hills.  The cave 28,000 acres and has more than 125 miles of surveyed passageways.  The cave was discovered in the late 1800's and is the fourth longest in the world.   

Further south in Hot Springs is the Mammoth Site.  The indoor excavation site features the fossils of 55 Columbian and woolly mammoths, bears and wolves became trapped 26,000 years ago.  They have been excavating this site for many years and they have a back log of dirt they have removed going all the way back to the 1970s.

We did not want to miss the lighting of Mt. Rushmore so we went back to the park at 9 pm and were there for the lighting ceremonies.  The faces look totally different at night.