Legacy Sailing
Photo Gallery 17
June 2004 South Dakota to Nashville, TN
Leaving Wyoming we headed into the Black Hills of South Dakota.  Famous for Mount Rushmore as wells as Wind Cave, Deadwood, and other attractions it is a real tourist mecca in a  state definitely short on topography.  We enjoyed the drives over the scenic mountain roads as well as an underground tour and an evening program at Rushmore.  Heading east we visited the Badland National Park and then the locations of some of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books.  Then we headed for Lake Superior and the Apostle Island National Seashore.  From there it was on to Green Bay and Madison Wisconsin and then the suburbs of Chicago.  We headed south to Nashville with an overnight stop at the Lincoln Boyhood Home National Monument in southern Indiana.
From Mount Coolidge the plains stretch away eastward into the distance.  Evidence of the large 1988 fire is still evident on the hills.	The Needles Highway, built shortly after WWI, winds through the granite peaks of the Black Hills.  Tunnels and sharp corners abound.
It is these pointy weathered granite outcrops that give the highway its name.	Each evening a program at Mount Rushmore culminates in the lighting of the carvings on the mountain.
Along the Custer State Park wildlife loop tame burros beg carrots from Heather.	The Badlands National Park is well named for the rugged territory that impeded early travel.
Also impeding travel were the many prickly pear cacti lurking among the grass.  Despite their unpleasant aspects they do have nice blossoms!	The Badlands are an erosional wall about 60 miles in length where the plains abruptly drop a couple of hundred feet to a lower plain to the south.  Only a few 'passes' offered wagon routes up or down.
We realized that oversized roadside statuary was big around here when we saw the Huron pheasant!	Not to be outdone, Mil Lacs, Wisconsin had a giant walleye to celebrate their fishing.
We enjoyed a night on Madeline Island ( reached by ferry) in the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior.	Kira and Minnow enjoyed a swim in the cool, but fresh water of Lake Superior.
In the North Woods we came across this giant loon by the side of the road.	Heather sits in the brakeman's seat of the Big Boy at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay.  This immense locomotive had a boiler 60 feet long and weighted nearly 1 million pounds!
Updated 11/14/2006