Day One - Montana Trip

Well here we are in Belle Fourche, South Dakota :) Yes, that's Beautiful Fork. Not to be confused with Gorgeous Spoon or Pretty Knife.

We made excellent time today and after some time worrying about being able to see Mount Rushmore, we hit it at around 2pm this afternoon. Plenty of daylight. The Black Hills are beautiful. Maybe it was the scenery change from flat, brown-ish Nebby but it felt like a feast for the eyes to be surrounded by tall, green pines and rocky buttes and peaks.

Jo drove through BH so I could gawk and snap pix and then as we approached a single lane tunnel there it was, looking tiny off in the distance:

As we got closer though, it became larger of course. Everyone always says, "It looks smaller than I thought." They say that about the White House as well. I think you build a monument up in your head until it becomes larger than life. Then you see it in person and of course it will seem smaller. But according to Bill Bryson, if Rushmore included the bodies of the presidents, they'd be something like 350 feet tall or something.

Anyway, we enjoyed watching some good storms off in the distance as we drove up Highway 2 from GI. Was weird to be able to watch them from the comfort of broad daylight. Out on the prairie, everything seems close but really is miles away.

We passed through Deadwood, SD on our way here to Belle Fourche. What a tourist trap. Yikes. I rarely get to see entire towns devoted to nothing more than sucking the money out of people.

Anyway, we're here now and pretty tired. We got up at 5am this morning and hit the road by 6. We're going to watch mindless telly and then crash. Early start tomorrow when we head off through Wyoming and the prairies of Eastern Montana. We should hit Great Falls in the late afternoon. Can't wait!

[More photos from today]