![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Still traveling
Sep. 28th, 2006 06:56 pmI just fixed the previous entry so that Sunday and Monday were not both dated 24 September. Onward.
Wednesday, 27 September
It was predicted to be cold and rainy this day, so we planned for an expedition where it wouldn't matter -- to one of the caves in the region. There are three choices: the ones near Mount Rushmore that don't appear to have much to recommend to them other than being close, Jewel Cave, or Wind Cave. We chose Jewel Cave mostly because it was a National Monument rather than a National Park, and I therefore assumed that would mean less walking around. It was indeed cold and rainy, so this was a factor.
The weather started getting less nasty as we drove toward the cave. Our plan was to take the cave tour (there's only one, other than a shortie 20-minute tour for wimps, this time of year) and then maybe go north to see a geology museum that has Stan, the largest male tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in the country. (How they can tell the sex of a dinosaur I'm not entirely clear. I assume this is a move to disambiguate it from Sue at the Field Museum.)
On the way to the cave, we drove past the Crazy Horse monument, but couldn't see it from the road. We also passed a woodworking museum that seemed to have a strong connection to Disney -- I couldn't tell if it was founded by an animator, or had all sorts of carved Disney creatures, or what. I was somewhat interested, but Pat wasn't, so we drove on.
When we got to the cave around 10:30, we found out that we'd missed the 10 am tour, and the next tour wasn't until 1 pm. We dithered around a while considering what to do. We could have gone to Wind Cave, since the nice guy at the desk had their schedule, but we weren't sure we'd make it there in time -- their next tour was at 11:30. Pat still wasn't interested in the woodworking museum, though she'd probably have gone there (or driven me there and waited) if I'd pressed, but I wasn't terribly excited about it, except as a means to pass time.
Then we remembered the Crazy Horse memorial, and decided to drive back there. This time, we could see it from the road; it's much more visible from the south than from the north. It's still a work in progress; you can see the model of what it's supposed to look like when it's finished and the current state here. Admission is $25 per car or $10 per person, whichever is cheaper. Pat and I looked at each other, and decided that somehow it wasn't worth that much to us. I know that admission fees are their primary source of income, but that's awfully pricy. I'm glad we got a look at it, though, if only from a distance.
We stopped for lunch at Subway on the way back -- we eat a lot of lunches at Subway because it fits both of our diets -- and got back to the cave with around 45 minutes to go. I looked at books from the bookstore while Pat stood out in the sun; it had stopped raining and gotten sunny by now, though it was still chilly.
Eventually the park ranger called us together, and the tour started. We took an elevator down the equivalent of (IIRC) 23 stories. We were warned that there would be just over 700 steps on the tour, which would last about an hour and a half. We would descend about 80 more feet, so there was a fair amount of up-and-downing on the tour. Very little of the time was spent on the flat.
Jewel Cave is mostly covered with a formation called nailhead spar, which is calcite crystals with blunt or flat ends. In a few places, there's dogtooth spar, which is the same crystals, only with sharp, pointed ends. The crystals we saw were up to eight inches thick. They're not as impressive as you might think, because the surfaces are covered with silt. It was more at the edges, where you could see the clean crystal, where you got a feel for how pretty it could be. There were also some other formations, such as boxwork (gypsum left in place when the material that it was interstitial to dissolved away). Boxwork is the main feature of Wind Cave, but there's only small amounts of it in Jewel Cave. We also saw draperies, which are smooth ribbons of stone formed by sheets of water. There was one piece about 14 feet tall and six inches wide that is nicknamed "bacon," because of the coloration.
We stopped at one point for the obligatory "turn out all the lights and see how dark the cave is" experience. (I've never been in a cave before, but it seems to be obligatory in all the books I've read.) Yep, it's dark. At least, it was when I turned away, because one person had a red dot of light (from a camera, I assume) that didn't go out no matter how much we asked.
The cave tour was moderately strenuous, but all the stairs were waffle-type metal, and the footing was good. I'm very glad I did it, and Pat seemed to enjoy it, too, though she's done caves before.
We drove back to the hotel, and Pat decided she needed a nap -- the time she'd spent in the sun made her sleepy. So I did computer stuff while she napped, and then we went to dinner at the Ruby House. It was the nicest meal we'd had on the trip, though there seems to be a distinct shortage of fresh vegetables in South Dakota. Even here, at a moderately fancy restaurant, the only vegetable offered was a mixed veg dish of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. I talked the server into giving me soup (buffalo stew, yum) and salad instead of soup or salad in lieu of potato or vegetable. I had a lovely piece of sirloin steak with brandy peppercorn sauce, and Pat had tortellini with cheese sauce (and garlic, she informed me).
Then back to the hotel, where I spent most of the evening reading the threads that connected to the "Best of Mike Ford" post on Making Light, and thence to bed.
Thursday, 28 September
I woke up fairly early (7:30 instead of my usual 8 to 8:30), so I showered and went out for breakfast. I decided I couldn't face one more day of rubber hard-boiled eggs, even if they were included in the room charge. The hotel around the corner where I'd had the prime rib a couple of days before also has a breakfast buffet. The place was full of a busload of tourists, but the server found a table for me. The good news was that meant that the food on the buffet was fresh, because it was continually being replaced.
After breakfast, we did computer stuff for a while, because our plan was to take the 1880 Train, but that didn't leave until 11. I went down around 9:30 to check on cost and timing, and found that it was an hour each direction, with an hour stopover in Hill City. It meant that this would use up pretty much the entire day, but we decided it was something we wanted to do.
The 1880 Train is a steam train, powered by used automotive oil (180 gallons per 20-mile round trip, IIRC). Coal- and wood-burning trains were made illegal quite some time ago. The train goes between Keystone and Hill City. It's a standard-gauge train, though parts of the original system used narrow-gauge track.
The trip was well worth doing, IMO. The scenery was lovely, and the accompanying commentary was interesting (though not as interesting the second time around on the return trip). We saw several groups of deer, as well as domestic animals -- cows, horses, llamas, and turkeys. We now have seen the trifecta -- deer, antelope, and buffalo -- and have refrained from saying a discouraging word.
When we got to Hill City, we had an hour's layover. Neither of us was terribly hungry, so we went wandering the town's main street instead. We'd forgotten that Hill City was where the museum of natural history that we'd considered the day before was located. The museum is one large room, and the accompanying gift shop was almost as large. It had an impressive selection of both fossils and minerals. Pat bought a couple of items for her catsitter to choose between (I won't say what they were, in case she's reading this), and I bought a substantial chunk of labradorite that has lovely colors when it catches the light. I hope I can find a place to keep it that will show it off properly. We wandered the rest of the main street, and went into several stores, but didn't buy anything else.
The ride back was more of the same. I can see why the tour groups on the train only did one way, though it wouldn't have been practical for us. It was still enjoyable, though.
Once back in Keystone, we collected the car and headed for Kadoka, via Rapid City. We took the Badlands loop back, since our park pass was still good for another day. We certainly got our money's worth out of that one! We got into Kadoka around 5:30, which was too late to go to the petrified forest museum that's our goal here. We'll do that tomorrow. Pat wasn't hungry, so I went off alone to the restaurant on the hotel grounds, and had a nice chopped sirloin steak, salad bar, and fruit.
Tomorrow we'll go to the museum, and continue back towards Minneapolis, stopping at any place that catches our fancy. Our plan is to be home either Friday or Saturday, depending on how many stops we make.
Wednesday, 27 September
It was predicted to be cold and rainy this day, so we planned for an expedition where it wouldn't matter -- to one of the caves in the region. There are three choices: the ones near Mount Rushmore that don't appear to have much to recommend to them other than being close, Jewel Cave, or Wind Cave. We chose Jewel Cave mostly because it was a National Monument rather than a National Park, and I therefore assumed that would mean less walking around. It was indeed cold and rainy, so this was a factor.
The weather started getting less nasty as we drove toward the cave. Our plan was to take the cave tour (there's only one, other than a shortie 20-minute tour for wimps, this time of year) and then maybe go north to see a geology museum that has Stan, the largest male tyrannosaurus rex skeleton in the country. (How they can tell the sex of a dinosaur I'm not entirely clear. I assume this is a move to disambiguate it from Sue at the Field Museum.)
On the way to the cave, we drove past the Crazy Horse monument, but couldn't see it from the road. We also passed a woodworking museum that seemed to have a strong connection to Disney -- I couldn't tell if it was founded by an animator, or had all sorts of carved Disney creatures, or what. I was somewhat interested, but Pat wasn't, so we drove on.
When we got to the cave around 10:30, we found out that we'd missed the 10 am tour, and the next tour wasn't until 1 pm. We dithered around a while considering what to do. We could have gone to Wind Cave, since the nice guy at the desk had their schedule, but we weren't sure we'd make it there in time -- their next tour was at 11:30. Pat still wasn't interested in the woodworking museum, though she'd probably have gone there (or driven me there and waited) if I'd pressed, but I wasn't terribly excited about it, except as a means to pass time.
Then we remembered the Crazy Horse memorial, and decided to drive back there. This time, we could see it from the road; it's much more visible from the south than from the north. It's still a work in progress; you can see the model of what it's supposed to look like when it's finished and the current state here. Admission is $25 per car or $10 per person, whichever is cheaper. Pat and I looked at each other, and decided that somehow it wasn't worth that much to us. I know that admission fees are their primary source of income, but that's awfully pricy. I'm glad we got a look at it, though, if only from a distance.
We stopped for lunch at Subway on the way back -- we eat a lot of lunches at Subway because it fits both of our diets -- and got back to the cave with around 45 minutes to go. I looked at books from the bookstore while Pat stood out in the sun; it had stopped raining and gotten sunny by now, though it was still chilly.
Eventually the park ranger called us together, and the tour started. We took an elevator down the equivalent of (IIRC) 23 stories. We were warned that there would be just over 700 steps on the tour, which would last about an hour and a half. We would descend about 80 more feet, so there was a fair amount of up-and-downing on the tour. Very little of the time was spent on the flat.
Jewel Cave is mostly covered with a formation called nailhead spar, which is calcite crystals with blunt or flat ends. In a few places, there's dogtooth spar, which is the same crystals, only with sharp, pointed ends. The crystals we saw were up to eight inches thick. They're not as impressive as you might think, because the surfaces are covered with silt. It was more at the edges, where you could see the clean crystal, where you got a feel for how pretty it could be. There were also some other formations, such as boxwork (gypsum left in place when the material that it was interstitial to dissolved away). Boxwork is the main feature of Wind Cave, but there's only small amounts of it in Jewel Cave. We also saw draperies, which are smooth ribbons of stone formed by sheets of water. There was one piece about 14 feet tall and six inches wide that is nicknamed "bacon," because of the coloration.
We stopped at one point for the obligatory "turn out all the lights and see how dark the cave is" experience. (I've never been in a cave before, but it seems to be obligatory in all the books I've read.) Yep, it's dark. At least, it was when I turned away, because one person had a red dot of light (from a camera, I assume) that didn't go out no matter how much we asked.
The cave tour was moderately strenuous, but all the stairs were waffle-type metal, and the footing was good. I'm very glad I did it, and Pat seemed to enjoy it, too, though she's done caves before.
We drove back to the hotel, and Pat decided she needed a nap -- the time she'd spent in the sun made her sleepy. So I did computer stuff while she napped, and then we went to dinner at the Ruby House. It was the nicest meal we'd had on the trip, though there seems to be a distinct shortage of fresh vegetables in South Dakota. Even here, at a moderately fancy restaurant, the only vegetable offered was a mixed veg dish of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. I talked the server into giving me soup (buffalo stew, yum) and salad instead of soup or salad in lieu of potato or vegetable. I had a lovely piece of sirloin steak with brandy peppercorn sauce, and Pat had tortellini with cheese sauce (and garlic, she informed me).
Then back to the hotel, where I spent most of the evening reading the threads that connected to the "Best of Mike Ford" post on Making Light, and thence to bed.
Thursday, 28 September
I woke up fairly early (7:30 instead of my usual 8 to 8:30), so I showered and went out for breakfast. I decided I couldn't face one more day of rubber hard-boiled eggs, even if they were included in the room charge. The hotel around the corner where I'd had the prime rib a couple of days before also has a breakfast buffet. The place was full of a busload of tourists, but the server found a table for me. The good news was that meant that the food on the buffet was fresh, because it was continually being replaced.
After breakfast, we did computer stuff for a while, because our plan was to take the 1880 Train, but that didn't leave until 11. I went down around 9:30 to check on cost and timing, and found that it was an hour each direction, with an hour stopover in Hill City. It meant that this would use up pretty much the entire day, but we decided it was something we wanted to do.
The 1880 Train is a steam train, powered by used automotive oil (180 gallons per 20-mile round trip, IIRC). Coal- and wood-burning trains were made illegal quite some time ago. The train goes between Keystone and Hill City. It's a standard-gauge train, though parts of the original system used narrow-gauge track.
The trip was well worth doing, IMO. The scenery was lovely, and the accompanying commentary was interesting (though not as interesting the second time around on the return trip). We saw several groups of deer, as well as domestic animals -- cows, horses, llamas, and turkeys. We now have seen the trifecta -- deer, antelope, and buffalo -- and have refrained from saying a discouraging word.
When we got to Hill City, we had an hour's layover. Neither of us was terribly hungry, so we went wandering the town's main street instead. We'd forgotten that Hill City was where the museum of natural history that we'd considered the day before was located. The museum is one large room, and the accompanying gift shop was almost as large. It had an impressive selection of both fossils and minerals. Pat bought a couple of items for her catsitter to choose between (I won't say what they were, in case she's reading this), and I bought a substantial chunk of labradorite that has lovely colors when it catches the light. I hope I can find a place to keep it that will show it off properly. We wandered the rest of the main street, and went into several stores, but didn't buy anything else.
The ride back was more of the same. I can see why the tour groups on the train only did one way, though it wouldn't have been practical for us. It was still enjoyable, though.
Once back in Keystone, we collected the car and headed for Kadoka, via Rapid City. We took the Badlands loop back, since our park pass was still good for another day. We certainly got our money's worth out of that one! We got into Kadoka around 5:30, which was too late to go to the petrified forest museum that's our goal here. We'll do that tomorrow. Pat wasn't hungry, so I went off alone to the restaurant on the hotel grounds, and had a nice chopped sirloin steak, salad bar, and fruit.
Tomorrow we'll go to the museum, and continue back towards Minneapolis, stopping at any place that catches our fancy. Our plan is to be home either Friday or Saturday, depending on how many stops we make.
