Mount Rushmore
On our second day in South Dakota, Katherine and I went to Mount Rushmore and Needles State Park. Both of which were really cool. I'll get into the details of needles later. It was a pretty nice day. mostly blue skies with some puffy clouds here and there. It down poured for about 10 minutes at a time every 15 minutes from like 2-4, but it wasn't bad.
Outside All Day
On our second day in South Dakota, Katherine and I went to Mount Rushmore and Needles State Park. Both of which were really cool. I'll get into the details of needles later. It was a pretty nice day. mostly blue skies with some puffy clouds here and there. It down poured for about 10 minutes at a time every 15 minutes from like 2-4, but it wasn't bad.
Great Scenery
I almost forgot to take a look and shoot the surrounding scenery. I figured since I was there I should be taking pictures of the monument, but there was so much more there to see!
High Up
All 50 States
They have all of the state flags up by the entrance, and since it was ordered alphabetically, Colorado was up towards the front!
Colorado
Picnic By the Lake
After seeing Mount Rushmore, Katherine and I had a picnic by one of the lakes nearby. We packed our lunch before we left and we found this nice place. The lake was Horsetheif lake, which we found amusing since we live in Fort Collins by a Horsetooth reservoir!
Horse Thief Lake
on the Lake
Needles State Park
After Mount Rushmore and our picnic, Katherine and I went to Needles State Park - a place we weren't originally going to go. The weekend before we were at Katherine's house for Comic Con and we had lunch with her grandparents and parents. Her grandparents go on trips all the time and they make videos of every one for Katherine and her family to watch. Since they went a few years ago, we thought we would watch their video. It was their video that gave us the idea to go to needles, which was only about a half hour away from our hotel.
Thin Needle
Climbing High
Small Tunnel
If buses can (barely) fit through here, my car can too! I drove through 5 of these driving on Needles State Highway.
Needles
I absolutely loved this place. I was climbing all around on all of the rocks. I just wish I had my climbing shoes. I could have spend hours here. The nice thing is that you're allowed to climb here... I have a picture of someone doing it. I was jealous.
Still super fun to climb around in my tennis shoes though.
Just an HDR Shot
I figured I would make one photo HDR for fun!
Katherine on Her Rock
Above
Cathedral Spires Trail
Just past the tunnel in the photo way above, we stopped at a trail head for the Cathedral Spires trail. It wasn't that long of a hike but we didn't hike all the way. It was getting late and there was a restaurant in town that we wanted to try.
Wide Bridge
The Spires
We turned around here. However the hike only went around to the other side, so we still hiked a good portion of it. It was really pretty and scenic up there.
Wide Bridge
Dead Trees
Sunset at Needles
After dinner in Rapid City (I'm pretty sure we found the only sit down restaurant on the West side of the state), Katherine and I went back up to Needles and watched the sunset
Nothing Better to Do
Best View
Mount Rushmore at Night
After watching the sunset, we went back to Mount Rushmore (we paid for a year pass - since that's all they had - so we made some use of it by going back). Every evening there is a ceremony where the boy scouts light up the monument. There were a good hundred or two people there. Once the ceremony was over, EVERYONE left. Katherine and I were one of maybe 5 people in the park. I was shocked. But it allowed for me to take a bunch of photos without people in my way.
