No Rush to Rushmore

Come hell or high gas prices, the 30-year anniversary vacation has been set and the countdown ends with the departure on September 22 and the return a couple weeks later. It’ll be a vacation when friends and relatives will wait another year to reunite. (It's incidental that neice Heather and fiance Phil will draw the family brood from Michigan to Orlando for the blissful marriage that will undoubtably see them through their lives together. They will wed on Valentine's Day 2009.)

The first “private and personal” vacation was during my life in Southern California in the ‘80s. I visited Yosemite National Park shortly after Labor Day when most people have ended their summer excursions and seen their kids back to school. Reservations weren’t required.

The peaceful solitude to explore the natural beauty of such a world treasure was the most memorable vacation up ‘til then. El Capitan and the Devil's Postpile were awesome. The nights were nippy. Rental rates were low. It was a leisurely vacation and the intimacy of other vacationers and local merchants rejuvenated this worker from life’s daily routines.

The next private vacation came in ’95 with a trip to the island of Kauai in Hawaii. It was kinda expensive but incremental savings over the previous year covered much of the costs so it was quicker, easier to pay down the balances due. The trip was taken the week following Thanksgiving and upon the arrival in Lihue it was evident that it would be much like the trip to Yosemite. Few people and, once again, nothing but friendly exchanges between vacationers and locals.

I felt I was being catered to as I primarily made daily adventures around the island, including views of Kauai from the cab of a helicopter, and some island hopping to the lava beds and farmlands on the Big Island. Their terrains are from different worlds!

This year, the vacation is a round-trip road trip to Mount Rushmore. The after-Labor Day vacation will have fewer crowds so that sense of camaraderie will again enhance the easy-going days of taking deep breaths of fresh air and the sighs of appreciation for the time to reflect, relax and easily relate to people and nature alike.

There’ll be the 19th Annual Buffalo Wallow Chili Cookoff in Custer National Park on September 28. The following day is the 43rd Annual Custer State Park Buffalo Roundup Day where “cowboys and cowgirls herd up 1,500 buffalo into corrals to be readied for the fall Buffalo Sale”. All this and the 3-day Buffalo Roundup Arts Festival to boot!

The following days will be filled with adventures in nature settings unique to the area. The Black Hills, The Badlands, Wind Cave National Park, a number of National Monuments and Memorials, the history of the Sioux Nation and Crazy Horse… And, of course, Mount Rushmore National Monument will be the highlight of just one small piece of American heritage.

Away we go! Freewheelin’ days straight ahead!

Although, come hurricane and high winds, the whole scenario changes.