South Dakota

Outside Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota

I’ve been pretty busy with work so not much time to post, but I’m still  trying to finish up the posts about the remainder of our cross-country trip. When we last left our intrepid family, they were experiencing varied adventures in and around Yellowstone National Park. From The Buffalo In The Road, to Where The Heck Is Our Cabin, to The Cow Skull Of Doom, it was quite the couple of days.

The creek right outside our Yellowstone cabin

We were sad to leave Yellowstone with so much left to see, but were happy to get on the road again. We had already been on the road for 11 days and were only in Wyoming! Time to get moving.

So on the morning of August 13^th we bade farewell to my Aunt and Uncle and headed out for points east. We made it to Rapid City, South Dakota after a long day on the road. Our route took us through Bighorn National Forest, which had some beautiful scenery.

At Bighorn National Forest. 

A while after getting on highway 90, we detoured off to see the Devil’s Tower, which is of course mandatory for any self-respecting fan of Close Encounters of The Third Kind. We didn’t make it all the way there, but got close enough for a scenic view:

 At the scenic overlook

With Charlie photobomb

We stayed in Rapid City SD that night. The next morning, the 14^th, we visited Mt. Rushmore. 

Heading to the colonnade

The carvings are incredibly impressive, and the visitor’s center was very nicely done. I particularly enjoyed learning how they carved the monument. The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, made scale models which the workers used to figure out the location of the finished surface in order to calculate where to dynamite. This method was so successful that 90% of the carving was done by dynamite. We also took a walk for a closer view, although it was pretty hot out.

A closer look

The Nostril Viewpoint. No, that's not an official name or anything. :)

Apparently Thomas Jefferson was big on ice cream, so of course we had to have some while we were there:

Tasty!

Ice Cream = Thomas Jefferson

After Mount Rushmore, we headed to Wall Drug for some lunch and homemade donuts. I had no idea what to expect from Wall Drug – all I knew was that everybody said not to miss it so I expected something epic.

I was not disappointed.

Wall Drug is basically an Old West tourist trap on steroids, but with enough character and originality to make the kitchy-ness seem appealing and not overwhelming. We ate lunch in the Western Art Gallery room, where every wall was covered with Western paintings. We of course took advantage of the Free Ice Water and 5 Cent Coffee (well, I was the only one who had coffee).

FREE ICE WATER!!!11!!!1

After lunch we did some souvenir shopping, tried the shooting gallery, and admired the giant Jackalope statue. Outside there was also a water play area with water fountains shooting up out of the ground. Alice thought this was the best thing ever and played there for about 30 minutes. No surprise to anyone who follows me on facebook - my kids (especially Alice) are notorious for getting soaking wet whenever they possibly can.

She got soaked and was deliriously happy.

On the Jackalope

Sadly, we didn’t get to explore all of Wall Drug but we had a lot of ground yet to cover that day, so we bade farewell to the Jackalope, bought some housemade doughnuts to eat in the car, and headed out. That pretty much ended our Western adventures – we sped through the rest of South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois en route to my Dad’s house in Michigan. Partly because we were getting a bit tired of being on the road, and partly because there was not a whole lot to do along our route in those states.