Scenes from Palmer Gulch

Although I admit that I chose it out of the tons of campgrounds available in the Rushmore area strictly based on it's name, the Palmer Gulch Resort/Mt. Rushmore KOA was a fabulous resort/campground. Upon checking in, we were given wristbands which were our "tickets" to resort activities such as the jumping pillow, miniature golf, water slide, multiple pools, etc. Although we were busy while we stayed there, we did find a few minutes here and there to take advantage of some of the activities.

The jumping pillow was a big hit with Matt. He jumped high, he did knee drops, he did seat drops, he bounced, he sat, he just flat out had a great time. Here he gets some good air.

You can tell by that smile what a great time he's having.

On our last morning, we made time for Matt to spend some time at the water slide. Since it was in the morning, the lines weren't bad and he got to make several runs down the slide. He enjoyed each and every one of them.
On his last run down the slide, he saw something floating in the water near the edge of the splash pool. Naturally, he had to fish it out.

It turned out to be a wee frog. It really was quite adorable. Since we had no idea of what kind of frog it was and since we had several days still in the RV ahead of us, he took it to the pond and set it free. Hopefully, it's still hoping around.

For a few more action shots on the jumping pillow and water slide, you can check out the album at http://picasaweb.google.com/debdistante/PalmerGulch.

Scenes from the Tour

Because I am not in the mood to shift these pictures around, they are in no order whatsoever. They were all taken on our Mt. Rushmore area tour, however. And there are tons more up at Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/debdistante/MtRushmoreTour.


Big horn sheep, eating gravel at the side of the road. These are all females. Evidently they usually don't see the males until it's rutting season.

This is called Eye of the Needle. The road to get here takes you through very narrow tunnels. There *might* have been six inches on either side of the bus going through. We never would have made it in the RV. The skill of our bus driver in going through should be greatly admired. In fact, there were several people out on the other side of the tunnel, by the Eye, who watched us go through the tunnel. When we made it out the other side, they applauded and cheered.

While at Fort Hayes in the morning, waiting for our departure time, Matt was recruited to make a tin plate. He cut out the circle of tin, assisted in the shaping and embossing of it, and holds off the finished product here. Naturally, we had to buy the finished product...

Matt felt compelled to take a picture of me on the bus. Oy.

The tour bus made a rest stop at Sylvan Lake. When I came out of the bathroom, this sight awaited me. I thought they should both buy those coonskin caps because they looked so cute in them but I couldn't convince them.

We had stopped to observe buffalo and they decided to cross the road right in front of us. This buffalo and the tail end of the one you see at the right were both in pursuit of a female in heat who had just crossed the road ahead of them. The one on the right was literally galloping after her. I have to say, these guys were very impressive up close.

This old-time wooden coffin was on display outside one of the gift shops at Fort Hayes. Sadly, they had none for purchase inside. Rob and Matt both tried it on for size.

Matt had to check out the jail cell. Unfortunately, there was no key available for us to actually keep him locked in there. :) As I said before, this was a fabulous tour and worth every penny. If you're ever in the area, I'd encourage you to take it. We got to Fort Hayes around 7:30 am, had breakfast, left at 8:40 for our tour, returned to Fort Hayes around 5:30, enjoyed dinner and the show, and everything finally finished around 8:15 or so. The time between 8:40 and 5:30 was spent being driven about 100 miles total, all around, with a fabulous driver who kept us informed on everything we were seeing and provided tons of info about the area.

Views of Mount Rushmore

Since we stayed in the Mt. Rushmore area for almost a week, we got several glimpses of it going back and forth to different things, as well as making two visits to the memorial itself. The first was for the lighting ceremony in the evening and the next was as part of our 9-hour tour of the area.


Anytime we mentioned that we were going to Mt. Rushmore, we were told that we had to make sure we went at night to see the lighting ceremony. The campground we were staying at (Palmer Gulch Lodge and Mt. Rushmore KOA, guess why I picked it??) offered a shuttle service to the memorial for the lighting ceremony each night so we took the opportunity. They do a wonderfully moving program and then the lights gradually come up and light the faces. It was great.

The next day, Mt. Rushmore was the first of our tour stops on our 9-hour tour. This starts with an all you can eat "cowboy" breakfast, includes stops at Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, drives through Custer State Park and on the Iron Mountain Rd., and finishes up with a chuckwagon supper and musical show. We thought it was fabulous. And it gave us time to see Mt. Rushmore during the day. Rob and Matt pose here while we wait for our tour photo to be taken.


Matt's impression of Mount Rushmore? "It looks just like the pictures!"

My friend Lisa and I collect piggy banks from our travels. Wherever one of us goes, we find tacky ceramic piggy banks and send them to the other. There has been a decided dearth of pigs on this trip. I can't seem to find them almost anywhere. Here, Rob offers a suggestion for a possible replacement for the pigs. I'm sure the finger placement was strictly a matter of chance. Really.

For his birthday, Matt wanted to have his face added to Mt. Rushmore. He had to settle for this.