Aug 12th

Barry is always up early to see the sun rise, not me. He shares his pictures with me, and then I with all of you.

We had a 35 minute drive to see Mt. Rushmore National Memorial.

As Barry drives through the Black Hills Forest, we saw beautiful mountains with ponderosa, a few aspen pines and gorgeous bodies of water.

We stopped at the visitor center and found out August 9th was Smokey the Bear’s 75th birthday.

The Gold Rush.

398 year old Ponderosa Pine

We continued to another area and walked down to the edge of the lake and saw quartz rock. People were fishing for trout; one man caught a rainbow trout while we were there.

Mt. Rushmore is a site to behold. To see this amazing man-made sculpture, especially being on the side of a mountain.

We hiked 250 steps up and back to get as close as possible. It was taxing to say the least. My heart was pumping hard and Barry’s knees weren’t feeling to great. But, it was a challenge we were up for.

TJ’s ice cream recipe tasted just like homemade ice cream.

When we left, drove into Rapid City to pick up a few things, drove thru Keystone. Saw a beautiful home on the hill.

Just enjoying seeing our great country, today.