Hello, all!
I spent my birthday in Rapid City and the Black Hills, starting with the Museum of Geology at the South Dakota School of Mines. It's a small museum, housed in two rooms on the third floor, but it is a classic. My one complaint is that the labels that identified species never gave credit to the person who named the species - I know many of them would have been Academy scientists. Here's the building that is the museum's home:
The museum includes several models sculpted by Charles Knight (1874-1953). The Academy has several examples of his work in Dinosaur Hall. Knight is best known for his depictions of prehistoric animals.
The museum has what is labeled a "Hadrosaurus". It looks like Hadrosaurus foulkii to me, and is standing in an upright position (rather than the more lateral position which is generally accepted today):
And one last connection to the Academy - a skull named "Harlan" after the Academy's own Richard Harlan:
The museum had many beautiful specimens, such as this Triceratops, still in the plaster:
Here is the cast and Charles Knight's reproduction:
And these crabs:
Here is a pig-like mammal, although much larger than your average pig:
After the geology museum, we headed over to the Ellsworth Air Force Base museum. I figured if Lee was willing to take hundreds of photos of prairie dogs for me, I should be willing to look at more airplanes for him. : )
We finally ended the day with a drive to Mt. Rushmore to see the nightly illumination ceremony:
I didn't have my good camera with me, so the faces aren't very clear. Here's some trivia: each face is 60 feet high; each eye is 11 feet wide; Washington's nose is 21 feet long; and his mouth is 18 feet wide. On exhibit were copies of the original models, which were much smaller than the final verzion, at a scale of 1 inch equals 1 foot:
The next day, Lee and I took a drive into Spearfish Canyon. It is in the Black Hills, and I snapped a few photos of the canyon's walls - so beautiful! I love granite cliffs. As a child, my sister and I used to scramble over giant granite rocks when we visited my grandparents in the Sierras. The conifers are Ponderosa Pine, for the most part.
A small waterfall:
Even Sturgis motorcyclists go sight seeing!
