Big Horn, Deer and Faces!

It was a chilly, windy day in Rapid City.  Flurries of snow were frequent along with a herd of twelve deer who share our RV park.  They came so close and traveled together several times today to munch on our green grass. There isn't much green grass from the 25 inches of snow, but it's melting fast  with these winds!  

We took 'the loop' up to Mount Rushmore and the magnitude of this work continues to overwhelm you when you see it.  It hasn't changed in 20 years except now, to go into the center, you must pay $11 to park.  What is that about?  Doesn't seem to make sense to keep it open with a parking attendant for about 5 cars of tourists.  This is the REALLY slow time at the park.  Unfortunately, the pine bark beetle has taken a severe toll on this forest and a large majority of the pines are yellow, which means they can't be saved.  It's really sad.

So after Rushmore, we headed through Keystone and saw a big yellow sign , "Caution, Big Horn Sheep the next mile".  About as fast as we could read it, there on the left, right in town, were three of them.  I told Gil they were fake, as cars were going by their bums, and they didn't even flinch!  They were real!  Too funny! 

This morning we were going to the local church, the Chapel in the Hills because we are staying right by it on Chapel Lane.  Unfortunately, it's a summer only church so I copied a picture from the website so you could see this beautiful work. 

 In addition to the deer in our park, we saw lots of white-speckled fawns on the drive today which signals spring is really here, even though those of us in the North haven't experienced it!  It surely must be coming soon.  

We head for Sioux Falls tomorrow, had our 'last supper out' tonight and said goodbye to our local landmark---the dinosaur on top of the hill.  We are getting anxious to see friends and family but sad that we won't be bringing sunshine and spring home with us.