Visiting old favorites...

We didn't travel very far last Sunday. After watching/listening to Dr. David Jeremiah on TV we left the hotel around 10 am. We had planned to attend the local Baptist church but for personal reasons we couldn't go ahead with our plans. In any case, we heard an excellent sermon and didn't feel too bad about not worshipping with the saints.

We stopped off at a special landmark in Wyoming, the Devils Tower. This is a unique volcanic outcropping. We had visited this landmark almost 2 years ago and wanted to see it again. It didn't disappoint, it's still awe inspiring and kinda weird.

The weather today (Sunday) is another mix, clouds, sun and the threat of t-showers. The temperatures started off at 12 deg C and climbed all the way up to 27 deg. An interesting side note is that yesterday we went through the town of Billings, MT and today we heard that a tornado went right through the town on Sunday. We're in for some active weather for the rest of the week apparently.

When we crossed into South Dakota, we decided to take a detour through the very scenic Black Hills. When you think of South Dakota, you may think it's all rolling prairies and badlands. However, in the south-west part of the state lay the Black Hills. These medium sized mountains are rugged and crossed by fast rivers and canyons. There are also beautifull waterfalls. It is here that the famous Mount Rushmore is located.

That brings me to today, Monday. We decided to stay over for a day in Rapid City, SD so we could re-visit the sights we had seen 2 years ago. At that time, the weather was miserable, cool and rainy. It was the only day on that trip that it rained. This time however the weather was quite the opposite. We woke to bright sunshine and 19 deg C. As the day went on, the temperature went all the way to 27 deg C. Definitely shorts and t-shirt weather!

First we visited Mount Rushmore where we renewed our acquaintance with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. This time the pictures turned out much better due to the brilliant sunshine and almost total absence of clouds. We had a great time walking around and taking pictures. We also saw a marmot when we strayed a bit off the beaten path where no other tourists dared to go. We didn't see any of the mountain goats this time. We found out however that Canada donated 27 of these goats to the US forest service. These mountain goats are not native to this area originally but continue to thrive today.

After visiting Mount Rushmore, we travelled to the Chief Crazy Horse Memorial. This about 15 miles away from Mount Rushmore. This was another landmark we visited 2 years ago. At that time we visited it at night. The reason was that that evening they had a public blasting show that only happens twice a year. It so happens that next Saturday they have the first of these two blasts again. However, we hope to be back home by then. We took numerous pictures of this awesome mountain carving. It is vastly larger than the Mount Rushmore Monument. All of Mount Rushmore's presidents apparently fit on Chief Crazy Horse's head to give you a comparison. The blasting has been going on for 62 years and is expected to continue for another 40 years. The picture shows a scale model in the foreground as it will look when finished. It'll be the largest statue in the world when finished.

After Chief Crazy Horse, we went and visited the Chapel in Hills. Nestled at the foot of the Black Hills, on the western edge of Rapid City, SD, the Chapel in the Hills is open to all visitors. The chapel itself is an exact reproduction of the famous Borgund Stavkirke, or Stave Church, of Laerdal, Norway. The building is entirely made of wood. There are no nails used in the structure, they used wooden dowels and mortise joints to construct this church. The workmanship is amazing, considering the tools they had back in 1350. This particular church is of course a replica and modern tools were used. The construction techniques though are the same as in the original.

By now, we were hearing weather warnings on the radio. There were severe thunderstorms again in the area with the possibility of tornadoes. Indeed, we could see an ominous sky to the north of us. So, we decided to head back to the hotel and check the weather channel. Since it was only 3pm, we had planned to visit the Air Force Museum at Ellsworth Air Force Base. After assuring ourselves that the t-storm cell we saw to the north was tracking due east about 10 miles north of us and that it was unlikely to hit us, we decided to go to Ellsworth AFB after all.

Well, we were not sorry, even though some of the pictures reflect the black threatening sky, it just moved off to the east and dissolved after a few hours. I had a great time looking at all the familiar airplanes. Being an retired Air Force soldier, I was in my element. I even found a F-84F Thunderstreak on display. This is the fighter-bomber that I cut my teeth on way back in 1960. It was like seeing an old friend again. There were all kinds of airplanes, WWII through fairly recent models. I'll try to list them from memory and I'm sure I'll forget a few; B-29, B-25, B-52D, KC135, B-1B, F-111, F-105, F-102A, F-101B, F-100, F-86C, F-84F, A-7D, EB-57B, T-33A and C-47A (DC-3). There was also a Nike Ajax, a high altitude anti aircraft missile. This was the fore runner of the Nike Hercules, a missile system I also worked on as a radar specialist when I was in the Air Force.

Anyway, I had a ball and felt like a kid in a toy store. We had a great meal at the Outback Steakhouse right next to our hotel. This was still a treat for fathers day since yesterday the line-up was just too much. Even today, the next Monday, the place was packed. Recession...what recession??

This is about all I have for today. We hope and pray that we won't run into heavy weather tomorrow. To all a good night, also to Miriam :-)