The view from our hotel room in Sheridan, WY. Boy was it an auspicious sign of things to come this stunning day!OK, not part of the auspicious start, but we’ve seen tons of these open bed train cars so far……cars and cars of coal.Things started to look up as we approached our first stop of the day and found these kids going for a ride on a tractor trailer. Future Farmers of America!Our first glimpse of Devil’s Tower Monument! The first national monument dedicated in 1906!Getting closer!And closer yet!Finally out of the car and starting the hike around the base!E’s turn!From every angle and in every angle of light, Devil’s Tower changes light! Now it’s the turn of the moss!Shh! Soon we stumbled across this young friend!This is from 20 yards away! Not afraid of humans at all! Okay, let’s move along!For something that looks so uniform from far away, it’s just different from every side!See what we mean!Pieces missing!Again a unique shape angle of the columns!Nearing the end of our short hike!State #6!In Belle Fourche, SD, the exact geographic center of the nation! All 50 states!E is at the center of not just S’s world!S’s turn!Deadwood, SD! Like the TV show, but nicer!Our lunch spot, naturally!Our way out of Deadwood, we spotted this patriotic automobile! Again a positive omen!Clearly we need another angle!Mount Rushmore in Keystone, SD! The view from our hotel parking lot!Avenue of Flags – just after the entrance to Mount Rushmore!Close up!We stayed for the ranger talk at sunset and the lighting of the Memorial! But the highlight is when the ranger invited all present and retired service members to help retire the colors for the day! At least 10% of the audience went to the stage of the amphitheater! Not a dry eye in the house! An epic way to end a truly great day!
We met in San Francisco in December 2013 and were married on Valentine's Day 2016. After two years of marriage, we've decided to trade in corporate life for a global travel adventure and our continued commitment to making a positive difference in the world. Follow our adventure.
View all posts by Salemily
From Devil’s Mt to Deadwood. Interesting titles. I’ll have to look up the former as it’s quite unique there all by itself. Great that you saw Mt. Rushmore at night also. Spectacular work of art and patriotism.
Devil’s Tower was named by the native population and adapted by the European explorers. But it was probably a bad translation from Bear Rock. Deadwood was named for dead trees found in the main city gulch.
Wearehere 
Did you have any close encounters at Devil’s Tower? (I couldn’t resist, I’m sorry).
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Uh, no…um…why do you ask? But we have some new friends that would like to…um…meet you.
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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_autopsy
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https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63198/15-things-you-may-not-know-about-close-encounters-third-kind
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Wow!
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great pics of the tower…the lava tower is what remains…what was the name of the movie, alien attack movie, with the tower being alien home base?
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Close Encounters
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From Devil’s Mt to Deadwood. Interesting titles. I’ll have to look up the former as it’s quite unique there all by itself. Great that you saw Mt. Rushmore at night also. Spectacular work of art and patriotism.
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Devil’s Tower was named by the native population and adapted by the European explorers. But it was probably a bad translation from Bear Rock. Deadwood was named for dead trees found in the main city gulch.
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