Happy Birthday George Washington!

All photos will enlarge when clicked on

February 22 is the 278 birthday of the first President of the United States, George Washington.  All of the photos above were taken in Federal Hall National Monument, in Manhattan, New York, where on April 30, 1789, George Washington, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States.

I was inspired to learn more about George Washington after blogging about the American Revolutionary Battle Of Brooklyn, and Fraunces Tavern where he made his farewell address to the Continental Army after the revolution, and also Federal Hall in Manhattan, New York, where he was sworn in as the first American President.  I recently read this excellent biography of George Washington, written by Joseph J. Ellis.  This scholarly and succinct biography revealed much about Washington's humanity, his kindness and compassion.  It also revealed the issues he struggled with in his early life, in his years as Commanding General during the American Revolution and his two terms as President, while stripping away the many myths that surround his life and presidency.  The biography is an excellent introduction to the life and times of our first President and I highly recommend it.

One of the facts I found the most fascinating in the biography was that beginning with Washington's presidency, efforts were made by detractors to conduct a smear campaigns. Many tried to discredit his intellect, his morals and his even his sanity!  I was surprised to learn that even in the earliest days of America's two party system, infighting and partisanism were the unfortunate byproducts of politics.

George Washington on Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

Washington retired from the Presidency in 1797 and enjoyed less than three years at his home in Mount Vernon, before he died of a throat infection on December 14, 1799. 

An exhibit in Federal Hall

"If after all my humble but faithful endeavors to advance the felicity of my Country and mankind, I may indulge a hope that my labours have not been altogether without success, it will be the only real compensation I can receive in the closing of life."                                   - George Washington

The more I learn about George Washington the more he has become among my favorite Presidents. As the centuries pass may our country never forget how fortunate we were to have this man of outstanding character among our Founding Fathers.

I am linking this post to Mary at The Little Red House blog's "Mosaic Monday" event. Please visit Mary's blog to see her pretty vintage green and silver mosaic and links to other blogs participating today.

I'll be busy catching up today after a weekend away from my computer watching the Olympics!  Congratulations to all the outstanding athletes!  This has been a very exciting Winter games and our friendly neighbors to the north in Vancouver, Canada, are excellent hosts.

I also want to introduce my new "grand dog,"  a "Golden Doodle" (part Golden Retriever  part Poodle) named Biscuit, who was a birthday present to my son from his loving wife.

Did you ever see a more adorable face?  Welcome to the family Biscuit!

Custer State Park, South Dakota

After leaving the Mount Rushmore National Memorial this summer we traveled south along the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway towards the Iron Mountain Road where these wonderful distant views of the Memorial can be seen (all photos will enlarge when clicked on) .

We then drove on towards route 16A where we entered Custer State Park.

Custer State Park located south of the Black Hills of South Dakota, is the state's first and largest state park, and is named after Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer. The sprawling 71,000 acre park of open grasslands and rolling hills is home to roaming buffalo, four mountain lakes and a variety of hiking, biking and walking trails.

It is one of the largest state parks in America and many call it a mini Yellowstone, in respect to how many wild animals can be seen in their natural habitat, such as elk, mule deer, white tailed deer, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, mountain lions, feral burros and prairie dogs

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The park is also home to one of the world's largest publicly-owned bison herds, which can easily be seen along the Wildlife Loop Road. Bison can be dangerous, so it is strongly advised that you view them from a distance, or from the safety of your car.

There are nearly 1,500 bison, commonly called buffalo, roaming the prairies and hills of Custer State Park.

We also viewed many pronghorn antelopes roaming in the hills...

.....and wild turkey and burros.

The "begging burros," as they are commonly called, are a herd of wild-roaming donkeys who are fond of begging for food from park visitors. The day we visited they were more interested in seeking out the shade under the trees.

Custer State Park is definitely a wonderful place to visit if you are spending time in the Black Hills area of South Dakota and an excellent park in which to see wildlife and to enjoy wonderous views.

I'm linking this post to Mary at The Little Red House blog's Mosaic Monday event. Please visit Mary's blog today to see her pretty mosaic and links to other participating blog's mosaic marvels!

Needles Highway in the Black Hills of South Dakota

 I'm unable to download new photos on my computer because of a defective optical drive that won't allow me to install my camera software, so until the replacement arrives I'm using some photos from my old photo files. I found these interesting photos to share from South Dakota.  My husband and I visited South Dakota this past summer and enjoyed seeing Mount Rushmore and The Crazy Horse Memorial,  The Badlands National Park, and The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, which I blogged about during the summer, but we also saw two other beautiful areas in South Dakota, one of which was the 14 mile long Needles Highway (SD 87) , part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway.

The highway is named after the high granite "needles" it winds among, along with tunnels such as these that are cut through the rock:

We were amazed to see tour buses being able to pass through this narrow tunnel!

The scenery was full of massive granite pinnacles, spires, and outcroppings of granite throughout rugged terrain. It was definitely a road on which you had to drive slow, not only because of the hairpin turns and narrow tunnels. but also because you want to see all unusual formations and views.

The beautiful views were of the Black Hills of South Dakota.  They were originally given this name by the Lakota Indian because of their dark appearance from a distance caused by their dense covering of pine trees.

South Dakota Governor Peter Norbeck (1917-1921) carefully planned the highway to provide scenic views without disrupting the natural setting. Needles Highway was completed in 1922.

Sylvan Lake is located at the  end of the Needles highway. It was created in 1881 when Theodore Reder built a dam across Sunday Gulch.

All photos can be enlarged when clicked on, and if you enlarge this one you might be able to see the multitude of minerals that are in the Black Hills.  Rock formations such as these are so full of minerals and crystals that they actually sparkle in the sunshine! 

Needles Highway is considered one of the most scenic highways in North America and I'm glad we were able to see it on a beautiful day during our vacation. Next blog post I'll show Custer State Park, also in South Dakota.

I'm adding this post to Claudia of Dippity Road blog event "Friday Finding Beauty." Please visit Claudia today to see her post and other participating links which found beauty in their lives this week!

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

While driving north on state road 240, on our approach to Interstate 90, after our visit to the Badlands National Park in South Dakota, we passed this building and did an about turn to visit it. I knew that Minuteman Missiles had been positioned throughout the prairies and plains of the western states during the Cold War, but I never dreamed I'd see one so close to a major highway!

We entered the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site visitor's center which was located off Interstate 90, exit 131, beside the Conoco station. The visitor center is the starting point for all tours to the site of the missile which is a short distance away. The visitor center also includes exhibits and a park orientation video which places the Minuteman in historic context. All my photos of the informational placards were taken there.

It was a short drive from the visitors center to the actual missile site, which is seen in the photo above. A dirt road off I 90 leads to the site, and it is fairly well camouflaged by the vast empty rolling plains. From the road you might see a chain link fence and a few antennas in the corner of your eye, and think that it might be a transmitter, or some sort of a well. I would never think it was a weapon of mass destruction capable of destroying civilization! This missile site was decommissioned after 1991, so it no longer holds a Minuteman Missile II, but only a model. The site became a historic site, open to the public, as part of an effort to educate and inform.

All photos can be clicked on to enlarge for easier viewing

If you enlarge this informational placard, located at the visitor's center, you can see a map of the location of this missile near Interstate 90 along the route to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. More than a dozen nuclear missiles were located along this route!

Minuteman Missile sites were established in Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Missouri during the Cold War era of the 1960's, often placed in private ranches and farms.

This chilling placard shows how a Minuteman Missile II would be able to reach the Russian Kremlin in 30 minutes with destructive power equal to 60 percent of all the bombs used during World War II. The Great Plains of the USA were considered far from the oceans and submarines that could have destroyed a missile if it was launched, and they were also less populated so that launching them would cause less collateral damage. Of course I am relieved that none has ever had to be used, and I hope none will ever be used! I remember growing up under the fear of nuclear war during the Cold War years. and the many times our country was on the edge.

A close up of the silo. A glass viewing window now replaces the former 90 ton enclosure door that would be blown off into the field if the missile was deployed. The missile stood in a submerged reinforced concrete launcher inside. The missile was ready to be launched remotely 24 hours a day by "missileers" who would be several miles away.

The following italicized quotes are from the Minuteman Missile web site:

"Although the phrase "finger on the button" has become common, there was no button used to launch an ICBM ( Intercontinental Ballistic and Cruise Missiles) Launch required proper authentication codes and two keys, turned simultaneously by two officers in the underground Launch Control Center (LCC). At the same time, two officers in another LCC had to also turn keys to successfully launch a missile."

Local citizens in western South Dakota grew up in the shadows of the missile field, and many organized to protest the deployment of nuclear weapons.

A model of the missile within the silo at the historic site. It is frightening to think there are many like this that are still hidden away in other states.

"Each Minuteman II carried a 1.2 megaton warhead. This singular weapon could wreak devastation upon a target, also making it a technological terror. A Minuteman II warhead had 120 times the explosive capacity of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan during World War II."

You can watch two interesting short films about the Minuteman Missile on the National Park Service web site at this link.

Nuclear arms reduction began in 1991 with the signing of START - The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

"Under the terms of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), signed by American President George H.W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991, the United States and Soviet Union began to reduce their stockpiles of nuclear arms.
The treaty did not eradicate, but did limit the number of nuclear warheads each nation was allowed to deploy. Minuteman II missiles in South Dakota had been given minimal upgrades over the past two decades and were costly to maintain. Thus they were among those selected for deactivation."

Although there are no longer any active Minuteman silos in South Dakota, 500 updated Minuteman III nuclear missiles are still deployed in the upper Great Plains. They are a reminder that, although the Cold War era has ended, our nation's defense systems must remain on alert against the security threats of today.

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

"The farther one gets into the wilderness, the greater is the attraction of its lonely freedom."
~Theodore Roosevelt

Badlands National Park is located in the White River Badlands in the southwestern region of South Dakota and was called mako sica by the Sioux Indians. The term badlands generally refers to an area that is difficult to travel through primarily because of the rugged terrain and lack of water. Badlands National Park consists of nearly 244,000 acres of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest, protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. Sixty-four thousand acres are designated official wilderness.

When we first entered the park we could hardly believe what we were seeing! The land abruptly changed from flat and rolling hills of grassland into a vision of harsh dry moon-like terrain.

The colors and shadows of the badlands formations kept changing throughout the day to make each area appear unique.

Badlands National Park contains the world's richest Oligocene epoch fossil beds, dating 23 to 35 million years old. Skeletons of ancient camels, horses, saber-toothed cats and giant rhinoceros-like creatures are among the many fossilized species found here, and more are being discovered by park officials as more erosion occurs.

The bizarre landforms are the masterpiece of water and wind erosion that took place over millions of years. On average, the badlands erodes one inch per year.

There are many overlook parking viewing areas in the park, and also hiking trails to take off the road. Approximately one million people visit the Badlands National Park each year from all over the world.

Such a vast wilderness .....

..... with visions of the most unusual landscape as far as the eye can see!

The unique badlands formations are interlaced with one of the largest mixed-grass prairie ecosystems in the United States. Badlands National Park is over 50% mixed grass prairie. Over 60 types of grass thrive here, as well as dozens of flowering plants. The best time to see many unique native prairie flowers is in spring and early summer, after the winter snow melt has taken place.

Just outside the Badlands National park there is a small natural exhibit of a few early homesteader's homes called Prairie Homestead. An example of a sod house is seen above. If you look at the website you can see what the interior looks like and read more about the early pioneers who lived here. Many hopeful farmers travelled to South Dakota from the East Coast or Europe to try to make a living in this hard place, but drought, blizzards and locust invasions forced many away. Throughout our travels we were so in awe of the early pioneer's fortitude and bravery as they traveled West in a quest to make a better life for themselves.

The Badlands is home to many species of birds, mammals, and reptiles, but the only creatures we saw during our visit were prairie dogs. These plump white prairie dogs were living on the grounds of the Prairie Homestead, where they have the only white prairie dog town in the world!

I am linking this post to Susan at A Southern Daydreamer blog's Outdoor Wednesday posts. Please visit Susan's blog and see links to many wonderful blog posts showing outdoor sights across the nation and the world! Thanks Susan!

There is a terrible dark secret lying in some of the beautiful prairies of the West and I'll show you one we visited on our vacation in my next blog post.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial and The Crazy Horse Memorial, South Dakota.

On our recent vacation visit to the great state of South Dakota one of the first places we visited was the awe inspiring Mount Rushmore National Memorial. It was so exciting to walk down the plaza lined with all the flags of the 50 states and see the memorial up close for the first time! The Park Service installed an all new Presidential Trail in 1997, which is a concrete and plank walkway that takes visitors along sections of a Ponderosa pine forest up to the blast fragments at the base of the monument. It is an invigorating climb!

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Mount Rushmore National Memorial was carved in the granite core of the Black Hills during the years of October 4, 1927 and October 31, 1941 by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum and a crew of 400. The colossal 60-foot carvings of U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln were chosen to represent the first 150 years of American history. These presidents were selected by Borglum because of their role in founding, preserving and expanding the new republic of the United States of America's territory.

A brand new 2,000-seat amphitheater was also installed in 1997, below the main viewing terraces. There the spectacular evening lighting ceremony of Mount Rushmore begins. A ranger begins the prohram with an inspiring speech and then a 20 minute movie about the mountain's and our nation's history is shown.
Then, with the strains of the "Star Spangled Banner" in the background, huge floodlights dramatically reveal the four presidential faces, stark white against the black, starry Dakota sky. Veterans of all the US military services are invited up on the amphitheater's stage to lower the American flag at the close of the ceremony.

The Mount Rushmore Memorial is visited by almost three million visitors every year from all across the country and around the world. It was a sight I'll never forget!

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The Crazy Horse Memorial is located 17 mils souhtwest of Mount Rushmore and is a work still in progress and when finished will be the world's largest sculpture. It was the work of sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski from 1948 until he died in 1982. His wife and family have continued with the project and are working with the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation to complete it. When finished, Crazy Horse will stand 641 feet long and 563 feet high!

The memorial is a representation of the Native American Lakota leader Crazy Horse, who was chosen to represent all North American Indians. The Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation founded in 1948. hopes to be an official repository for Native American artifacts, arts and crafts through the Indian Museum of North America and the Native American Educational and Cultural Center, and by ultimately establishing and operating a university and medical training center for Native Americans.

As of now only the face of Crazy Horse has been completed, but the white model of the chief sitting on his stallion pointing to his lands represent is how the massive mountain scuplture will look upon completion -- also very awe inspiring!

Of course the best part about of the beginning of our vacation was our visiting our sweet little grandson first! He is growing so big! We would be seeing him again at the end of our trip, and that thought kept me happy throughout our sightseeing trip in South Dakota and Wyoming.

I am linking this post to Mary's blog My Little Red House as part of her Monday Mosaic group. Please look at Mary's blog today to see links to other creative and beautiful photo mosaics!

I'll be showing more of our wonderful "Wild West" vacation adventure in future blog posts over the next week -- I hope you'll come back for a visit