PRESIDENTS & A RAILROAD

We spent yesterday in the southern black hills, stopping first at Mount Rushmore, then over to Hill City to ride the 1880 Train. The last time I was at the presidents mountain, was probably in 1993. Back then, you drove into a huge parking lot, and walked up to the viewing area, where there is a visitors center, and information about Borglum, who, was the guy who created Mount Rushmore. Now, there is an entrance station, with 4 lanes, and a $10 charge to park in the huge parking lot. I waited in line, and when we got to the gate, we discovered that our senior pass, which is good at all National Parks, was not good at Mount Rushmore. Maybe, now that I have this senior pass, I've developed a feeling of entitlement, or maybe, I'm just so ticked off at our federal government right now, paying this $10 bucks was like the last thing in the world that I was willing to do. I abruptly asked the attendant, "how do I get out of here", and with instructions, we drove back onto the highway. The photo of Patty and I, was taken at a turnout, near the backside of Mount Rushmore, and shows the profile of President Washington.
Hill City and the 1880 Train is only about 9 miles from Mount Rushmore, and is a 20 mile round trip, from Hill City to Keystone. I had ridden this train back in 1985, during my first visit to the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Back then, the train didn't go all the way to Keystone, and was struggling to stay in business. Now, the tracks have been extended into Keystone, and the 7 passenger cars were full. It was nice to see a small, isolated tourist train, doing well in this difficult economic time. The steam engine, an articulated saddle tanker, is the only one of its kind in the world, that is still operating. We enjoyed the train ride, the scenery, and viewed a lot of deer and wild turkeys along the route. Today, I think we'll take a ride up to Deadwood, and see how much it has changed, since I was last there, about 16 years ago.