South Dakota

We are in Blackhawk, South Dakota – near Rapid City. It’s 95 degrees – the heat wave across the U.S. shows no signs of abating. 95 degrees is fine in Arizona; you don’t expect these temperatures in Wisconsin or South Dakota.
We arrived here after spending a few days in Sious Falls, SD, where the temperature was even warmer and more humid. Actually, I didn’t spend any time in Sioux Falls – I left the afternoon we arrived to drive (in a rented car; it is too hot for our noisy, unairconditioned Jeep) to Omaha, Nebraska to visit my best friend and college roommate. Despite the fact that we see each other only once a year (sometimes less), we take up where we left off as though it were just yesterday. We stay up late solving each other’s and the world’s problems (or trying to), then next morning, take a walk in her tree-lined neighborhood. After breakfast we drive to downtown Omaha for quick tour, then make a short visit to the impressive Omaha Zoo. All too soon it’s time for me to leave – I have to return the rental car by 5:30 p.m. or incur additional charges which I don’t want to pay.

The next morning Steve and I leave Sioux Falls with no regrets. It’s an unimpressive city in a flat and barren landscape.
Southwestern South Dakota, we discover, is a land of contrasts – golden grass-covered prairie interspersed with pine forests with massive outcroppings of granite and slate. On Saturday, we drive 30 miles to see Mount Rushmore. It’s one of those icons – sort of like Graceland - we feel we have to see since we’re in the area. But surprise – Rushmore turns out to be truly magnificent and inspiring. The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, was asked to carve regional heroes into the granite buttes by South Dakota Senator Peter Norbeck as a means of generating increased tourism. It was Borglum who said that the faces should represent the best of American democracy – the birth, development, preservation and growth of the U.S. as represented by Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt. When you see the faces staring out from the side of the mountain, you feel a sense of awe, appreciation and respect – for Borglum and his vision as well as the ideals he represented in the work he oversaw. We learn that 90 percent of the “sculpture” was done with carefully placed dynamite; the honing of the faces was completed by workers using jackhammers, chisels, hammers and awls.

We spend Sunday at Custer State Park, a sprawling wooded preserve in the Black Hills. We're told we'll see all sorts of wildlife, including buffalo, but all we see is an oversized squirrel (maybe it's a woodchuck?). We hike the 3-mile Lovers Leap trail which climbs up to the fabled promontory where 2 Native American lovers supposedly leaped to their deaths. When we reach the peak, we sit enjoying the view, the breeze and the quiet.
The first half of the trail is strenuous in places; the second half is fairly easy, as it’s either flat or downhill. The air is warm but a breeze makes the walk comfortable, and the scenery is worth a little sweat. Later that night, back “home” at our RV, there’s a beautiful sunset (which I learn later is aided by a forest fire to the south) and much-needed rain to soak the earth.
Tomorrow we're off to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons . . .