Mile 10,677 – Wall, South Dakota. New Englanders tend to turn up their noses at fall colors elsewhere. This morning, we drove through Spearfish Canyon, in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Colors were at peak, and it was absolutely gorgeous. We did not expect this, but it was one of the highlights of the day. The other one was driving through Badlands National Park.
We are running out of time on our trip and we crammed in a lot the last day, so we arrived in the Badlands in the late afternoon and stayed until sunset. The Badlands are stark and peaceful. It was kind of poignant: the last major attraction of our trip in the setting sun.
Earlier we drove down the Needles Highway, in Custer State Park. P.J.’s Aunt Esther left a pile of postcards of that 11-mile drive, and it was difficult to match them all in the time we had. But the highway is definitely unique and worth a visit: two-billion-year-old, hard volcanic rocks (many “needle-like”) that were exposed after the surrounding soil eroded away over the eons.
After the Needles Highway, we went to Mount Rushmore— we had to because P.J had never been there and Aunt Esther left post cards. When I was last there, I remember loudspeakers blaring with either patriotic music or propaganda, completely ruining any sort of experience for me. Now the memorial has been renovated (1998). The loudspeakers are gone, definitely an improvement. But instead, there is an airport-style parking system that charges $11. National Park passes are not honored because it is a private concession. Our Mount Rushmore parking pass we bought today is valid until the end of the year! I’ll just have to fly back a couple of times to get my money’s worth (actually P.J. paid for it). From what I’ve read about George Washington, he might have disapproved of all that “royal treatment” in his honor.
Vintage Postcard Project: September 27: Mount Rushmore, South Dakota
[Photographs © 2012 P.J. Gardner. All Rights Reserved.]