Heartland RV Park, Mount Rushmore and a Billie the Bigfoot

 Saturday 12th August 2023

Travel Day. It was really long......38 miles!

Due to the previously mentioned messing up of our booking at Badlands we ended up at Heartlands RV Park for a week. While this park was rated high and was very well maintained and a reasonable price it is everything we do not want. On the side of a highway with constant road noise, rvs parked so close together you feel you are in a parking lot and no beautiful views or places to walk.

https://heartlandrvpark.com/

Due to the short drive we had a rare afternoon on travel day to go explore so we headed to Rapid City. As we were driving there the weather turned bad and some big storms rolled in so we abandoned our idea of walking around the town and headed to a Cabela's.

When we returned to the park we found the power out as the storms were so bad. Luckily it did not stay off too long.

Sunday 13th August

We had planned to go early to Mount Rushmore and as the weather was still pretty miserable thought it would be extra perfect as that would keep people away. It opened at 8am and we were there at 8.30 and enjoyed seeing the monument without the crowds.

https://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm

We did not know you could see the monument as you drove to the park

Each state has it's flag and details on the walkway.

I can see right up that President's nose!

Amphitheater where they hold special events

In the early pictures the sky is grey and we are wrapped up as it was pretty cold and damp but after a bit the sun came out and the sky turned blue so we took some more photos.

It was a very well ran park though they would need to be they get over two million visitors a year!

It is free to enter you just pay $10 for parking and the ticket is valid for one year.

It did feel surreal seeing the monument after seeing it so many times on tv and in movies. Another place we never thought we would ever visit. 

It got busier. Glad we got there early.

There was a very good museum, bookstore and a trail that took you to The Sculptor's Studio where a ranger was giving a talk on the history of the carvings.

On the way home we stopped to see a BIG Bigfoot in Keystone. This was a typical tourist town with lots of fast food places and t-shirt shops. We only stopped to see the world's biggest Bigfoot then headed home for lunch before heading back to Custer State Park.........see next post.

Named "Billie," the sitting Bigfoot measures nearly 23 feet from the bottom of its butt to the top of its head.

Moccasin Hot Springs

Friday 11th August 2023

We spent Thursday catching up on some chores and on Friday we went into Hot Springs for our driving license appointments. A very unusual DMV office that felt like Grandmas sitting room and was in the same building as the retired peoples center and the meals on wheels.

Despite being in an unusual setting you will be happy to know the staff were as crusty as they would be in a big city office.

After surviving the appointment we celebrated being South Dakotans by going to Moccasin Hot Springs.

https://www.moccasinsprings.com/

This was a lot nice than the place we went to in New Mexico as there were six pools with differing temperatures and each session was three hours long so we could relax. The setting and buildings were beautiful. It cost $27 each for the session which we felt was very good value.

This area looks like a Roman bath

Other pictures from our week.....

View from our site

Badlands and Wounded Knee Massacre Site

 Wednesday August 9th 2023

We had been booked to stay at the Badlands National Park rv site for a week for our second week in South Dakota and were really looking forward to being in the middle of such an amazing area but apparently the computer system had gone wrong and had allowed lots of people to make reservations even though there was not any space so everyone got an email canceling. This was very bad timing as that particular week was also Sturgis so all types of accommodations were booked months and months ago.

So instead of staying in the park we did a scenic drive to the south section of the Badlands. The north section (where the rv campsite is) is more interesting as there are walks and a visitor center but it would have been a 90 mile drive each way from Angostura.

https://www.nps.gov/badl/index.htm

Badlands is 244,000 acres of prairies and rock formations

We saw some prairie dogs. John was watching them through his monocular and I was taking photographs. John said "that prairie dog looks a bit weird". Turns out it was a burrowing owl and they are quite rare. They use the holes left by other animals, in this case the prairie dogs. 

This you tube video tells you all about them, they have some funny characteristics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEb0lJk1NFs.

We then continued through the south section of the park into reservation land. There was a marker for the Wounded Knee Massacre.