September 13, 2005
I woke up this morning to pitch blackness, save for the one spotlight streaming at my car in the rest area. This was cool, because I wanted to make it to Mt. Rushmore for the sunrise, so I put my car in gear and drove off.
By the time I got to Rushmore, it was STILL pitch black out, even though my clock said 6:45. The sunrise was supposed to happen at like 6:30, but there was no sign of it. (See? Time really has no meaning at all.) There were no attendants at the gates, so I just drove in (I had the pass anyway, so I wasn't worried). But when I got to the parking structure and found it totally empty, I didn't know what was going on. It was pretty cool though. I felt special. Heh.
So I got my warm clothes on (it was ridiculously cold) and walked up to the viewing area. And guess what - I was still the only person there. Well, not quite - the cleaning crews were arriving. So I set up my tripod and waited for the sun to rise (at this point, it looked pretty close).
Fast forward - 30 minutes later. I had a nice chat with my dad while I was waiting, but the sun was still being stubborn. I wandered around a little bit, and saw that the store doesn't open 'til 7. And my watch said 7:30, but they were as closed as ever. Hm. I got the sense that it was my time zone that was off, not my watch...
The sun finally started rising, and it was just beautiful looking back over the Black Hills behind me. It still took a while to hit Rushmore, so I wandered around for a better picture than what the viewing area was giving me.
I stumbled across a path at some point, and followed it around until I found a new view of the mountain, away from the noise of the cleaning crews and from the stoopid flags that kept blowing into my pictures at the viewing area. I took some quick shots as soon as the sun hit the sculptures, and then my shivering body, alone in the silence of the woods, ran back to my car.
My next destination? Custer State Park, about 30 minutes away along the winding roads of Black Hills National Forest. It was almost too gorgeous of a drive, though - especially at sunrise. It was tough to keep my eyes on the road.
Luckily, I got to Custer without incident. The weather was shaping up to be absolutely gorgeous, which is exactly what I needed for such a full, busy day. As I drove through Custer, looking for its famous wildlife, I got my first real sense of inner peace - I was totally happy being all alone. That actually surprised me quite a bit - this might have been the first time in my life that I could feel that way. It's a very satisfying feeling, knowing that I'm all I needed...
Although it doesn't hurt to have some friends around either. Take this antelope, for instance. He posed rather well for me - certainly better than any of my human-type friends would have... :)
It's "where the deer and the antelope play," not lay!
(har har)
As I drove through the park, it was almost like the animals felt my inner peace too.
I finally left Custer, in an even better mood than when I went in. I drove through some more gorgeous places, and finally saw what I was looking for: prairie dogs. I got out of my car for a while, and just leaned against it, listening to the prairie dogs barking and the bison bellowing in the distance. There were no cars in sight, so it was easy to feel one with nature.
I eventually got back in my car and looked at my map - I had no idea where I was going next. I discovered I was really close to Wind Cave National Park, so I headed there, saying hi to some more bison as I went. This guy even said hi back.
Our tour guide was just about the most cliche park ranger I'd ever seen. (I already forgot his name, so I'll call him Wally.) Wally was so into his job - he loved this cave more than he loved his mom, I'll wager. He had so much to talk about that his audience - 20 eighth-graders and me - barely had time to talk amongst ourselves. But he really was a good guide, and somehow managed to keep the 8th-graders interested. Kudos to him for that, that's for sure...
I left Wind Cave to go to the Mammoth Site, a place I heard about at the cave. Apparently, people are digging out the remains of 100+ mammoths who all died in one sinkhole. It sounded interesting, so I went. It wasn't interesting, so I won't go back. Oh well.
After Mammoth Site, I realized I had spent more than 24 hours in South Dakota - which is, frankly, more time than I thought I'd spend there in my entire life. So it was time to move on. I headed to the Wyoming border, and drove through Wyoming for a while on my way to Denver. Eastern Wyoming was surprisingly boring, at least until I saw this lone mountain, the first I saw of the Rockies.
I got to my friend Josh's parents' house at around 5:30, and we had some incredible food and went out to play some pool. I was so exhausted that I passed out within about 30 seconds of hitting the couch where I was to sleep.
¶ 12:00 AM
I woke up this morning to pitch blackness, save for the one spotlight streaming at my car in the rest area. This was cool, because I wanted to make it to Mt. Rushmore for the sunrise, so I put my car in gear and drove off.
By the time I got to Rushmore, it was STILL pitch black out, even though my clock said 6:45. The sunrise was supposed to happen at like 6:30, but there was no sign of it. (See? Time really has no meaning at all.) There were no attendants at the gates, so I just drove in (I had the pass anyway, so I wasn't worried). But when I got to the parking structure and found it totally empty, I didn't know what was going on. It was pretty cool though. I felt special. Heh.
So I got my warm clothes on (it was ridiculously cold) and walked up to the viewing area. And guess what - I was still the only person there. Well, not quite - the cleaning crews were arriving. So I set up my tripod and waited for the sun to rise (at this point, it looked pretty close).
Fast forward - 30 minutes later. I had a nice chat with my dad while I was waiting, but the sun was still being stubborn. I wandered around a little bit, and saw that the store doesn't open 'til 7. And my watch said 7:30, but they were as closed as ever. Hm. I got the sense that it was my time zone that was off, not my watch...
The sun finally started rising, and it was just beautiful looking back over the Black Hills behind me. It still took a while to hit Rushmore, so I wandered around for a better picture than what the viewing area was giving me.
I stumbled across a path at some point, and followed it around until I found a new view of the mountain, away from the noise of the cleaning crews and from the stoopid flags that kept blowing into my pictures at the viewing area. I took some quick shots as soon as the sun hit the sculptures, and then my shivering body, alone in the silence of the woods, ran back to my car.My next destination? Custer State Park, about 30 minutes away along the winding roads of Black Hills National Forest. It was almost too gorgeous of a drive, though - especially at sunrise. It was tough to keep my eyes on the road.
Luckily, I got to Custer without incident. The weather was shaping up to be absolutely gorgeous, which is exactly what I needed for such a full, busy day. As I drove through Custer, looking for its famous wildlife, I got my first real sense of inner peace - I was totally happy being all alone. That actually surprised me quite a bit - this might have been the first time in my life that I could feel that way. It's a very satisfying feeling, knowing that I'm all I needed...Although it doesn't hurt to have some friends around either. Take this antelope, for instance. He posed rather well for me - certainly better than any of my human-type friends would have... :)
It's "where the deer and the antelope play," not lay!(har har)
As I drove through the park, it was almost like the animals felt my inner peace too.
I finally left Custer, in an even better mood than when I went in. I drove through some more gorgeous places, and finally saw what I was looking for: prairie dogs. I got out of my car for a while, and just leaned against it, listening to the prairie dogs barking and the bison bellowing in the distance. There were no cars in sight, so it was easy to feel one with nature.
I eventually got back in my car and looked at my map - I had no idea where I was going next. I discovered I was really close to Wind Cave National Park, so I headed there, saying hi to some more bison as I went. This guy even said hi back.
Our tour guide was just about the most cliche park ranger I'd ever seen. (I already forgot his name, so I'll call him Wally.) Wally was so into his job - he loved this cave more than he loved his mom, I'll wager. He had so much to talk about that his audience - 20 eighth-graders and me - barely had time to talk amongst ourselves. But he really was a good guide, and somehow managed to keep the 8th-graders interested. Kudos to him for that, that's for sure...
I left Wind Cave to go to the Mammoth Site, a place I heard about at the cave. Apparently, people are digging out the remains of 100+ mammoths who all died in one sinkhole. It sounded interesting, so I went. It wasn't interesting, so I won't go back. Oh well.
After Mammoth Site, I realized I had spent more than 24 hours in South Dakota - which is, frankly, more time than I thought I'd spend there in my entire life. So it was time to move on. I headed to the Wyoming border, and drove through Wyoming for a while on my way to Denver. Eastern Wyoming was surprisingly boring, at least until I saw this lone mountain, the first I saw of the Rockies.I got to my friend Josh's parents' house at around 5:30, and we had some incredible food and went out to play some pool. I was so exhausted that I passed out within about 30 seconds of hitting the couch where I was to sleep.
¶ 12:00 AM
