Vacation - May 25 2023

 We figured we'd have a hard time finding Elise's house so she offered to meet us at the Campbell County Public Library in Gillette WY where she works. We then followed her to her house.

  We arrived in Moorcroft late in the day and moved into a 25-30 foot trailer for our stay there. As it was fairly near a railroad track and coal trains ran all night, I didn't get much sleep. I'm very sensitive to sounds at night, being used to the country as I am. Tom's got an advantage here: he's hard of hearing. So he gave me his pillow and I sandwiched my head between the two and managed a few winks. Very few.

 Elise had a brief doctor's appointment in Rapid City, SD and that was added to visits to the Crazy Horse Memorial, Mt. Rushmore and Devil's Tower. It was another long day of travel (what? 300 miles?). We passed Crazy Horse first but did not go in (there's was a $30 fee for three in a vehicle).

 That's as much as we could see from our turn-around spot but it was good enough (with a telephoto lens) and it was free.

 Then to the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial ...

 I took this picture of a large picture posted on the wall of the visitor's center. It shows constriction of the memorial.

 It's quite an impressive sight. The following pictures were taken by Elise:

 Then on to Devils Tower National Monument ...

 Devil's Tower has a definite green tint from one side. That's due to lichens growing there.

Elise (l-r), Tom and Bill

Tom and Bill

 On the way back we stopped briefly at signs that pointed to Pine Haven WY. It has a special significance to me since our house is named Pinehaven and that's the title of my 1999 book. But the visit would come tomorrow.