Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Check Off Another National Monument...Or As Edward Abbey Coined - National Money-Mint. Getting In Is Actually Free...But Ya Gotta Pay To Park. Still, It's Very Impressive And Highly Recommended. Status: Visited.

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Mr. Modtomic was never taken anywhere like this as a kid.  That's why the Mr. and the Girlfriend are visiting all these places now!  Mount Rushmore was never a big priority but I am a fairly patriotic fella so no way would I skip it since we were in the area anyway.


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When we stopped at The Badlands National Park we went ahead and purchased an Inter-agency

National Park pass that gets us into all the National Parks as well as a few National Monuments and

such.  It got us into the Devil's Tower National Monument but didn't pay for parking here at Mount

Rushmore.  Oh well, it was only like Eleven Bucks.  A small price to pay for all this majesty!

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Once in we took the opportunity to do some light hiking.  There's a great trail that passed closer to the

base than just ogling from the observation deck...but it's a fairly long trail with lots of elevation

changes.  It'll do a number on ya if you're not accustom to walking and hitting the stair stepper.  After

this and the Devil's Tower hike the next day, Mr. Mod had him some shin splints.  Driving to

Yellowstone National Park with shin splints?  No fun, trust me.

2 comments:

  1. While you're in the area you should go to Lead/Deadwood and stop at the Old No 10 Saloon where Wilde Bill Hickock was shot. There also is the cemetery were he is buried. It is a great old town, and now it has gambling, kind of an odd mix but still fun.

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    1. Hi miyapiya.

      Sadly, I was misinformed about Deadwood and expected an entirely different experience...but we did stop and take a walk through the "old" town. I was told it was a perfectly preserved old west town (with actors portraying bank robbers and such) and it's really no different than walking around Old St. Charles back at home. Fail.

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