Mount Rushmore State!

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We crossed the state line into south dakota and headed toward the capital. Pierre turned out to be a very small town, but the capitol grounds were very impressive, with a lake and park. After some quick picture taking (see my pierre pics), we were once again heading south, and then west, towards the central focus of our trip.

day 5: wednesday, august 22 — 120 miles
We got up at dawn to view the spectacular scenery in badlands national park (see my badlands pics). This is raw country! As we left the western edge of the park, we made a stop for lunch at the famous wall drug. They are famous for their quirky offer of free water (see my pic)! We also made a stop at a decommissioned minuteman nuclear missile silo site, but we missed out on the tour (see my pic). Then we headed west toward deadwood.

We arrived in time for a shootout reenactment in the main street of deadwood. This historic town has lots of small casinos and shops (see my deadwood pics). We had dinner at hickok's iron horse inn and later I busted up some guy in a low stakes poker game!

day 6: thursday, august 23 — 125 miles
We headed up the hill to the deadwood's mount moriah cemetery to see where wild bill was laid to rest. Right next to his stone is that of calamity jane, who wanted to be buried next to bill. Just outside of deadwood we took a pleasant walking tour of the broken boot gold mine (see my gold mine pics). Many people forget that this area also had a gold rush before california.

Next we took a quick drive through nearby sturgis, which hosts a famous annual motorcycle rally, and then down to rapid city for lunch. We stopped in at firehouse brewing company, which is a converted firehouse and on the national historic register. I tried the five beer sampler and a buffalo burger with a side of cottage cheese. (Lots of restaurants in this part of the country serve cottage cheese instead of fries, and I had to try it!) We also took a walking tour of the town, where they've erected many (but not yet all) of our presidents on various street corners (see my rapid city pics). It was cooler than I expected.

We then drove over to the crazy horse memorial. This project has been underway for 60 years, ever since the indians saw mount rushmore and wanted a tribute to their own leader. It's completely funded by private donations and the entrance fees. We were here in 1968, when the mountain was just being "shaped" for the memorial. Now you can see the face of crazy horse and a hole over which his arm will someday point over the horse's head (see my crazy horse pics). At the slow rate of construction, this project could take another 100 years.

Driving south we entered custer state park, the largest state park in the country, and checked in at the state game lodge. For dinner I had skewers of steak, buffalo, and elk (see my northern plains food pics). Then we headed for our first look of mount rushmore: the night show of lights and music.

Day 7: friday, august 24 — 310 miles
The next morning we headed back to mount rushmore for a daytime look. As you may recall, hitchcock's north by northwest filmed some crucial scenes around here (see my pic). It was damp and foggy, with the clouds rolling in and out around the monument. We had breakfast at the mount rushmore cafeteria, the one made famous from the scene in north by northwest. Do you remember the famous goof of the kid with his hands over his ears before the gunshot? I reenacted it in the cafeteria! Then we walked past mountain goats (see my wildlife pics) through the avenue of the flags to the grand terrace. The majesty of this site dedicated to our history and four of our greatest leaders is just tremendous (see my mount rushmore pics).

After rushmore, we headed back through custer state park. Unfortunately, the rain kept most of the buffalo away from the open plains (and roads). We saw a few here and there, along with pronghorn and other animals. We continued south to wind cave national park. They have a number of tours, and we signed up for the easiest one! The cave doesn't have the traditional stalactites and stalagmites, but rather "box work" (see my wind cave pics). On the surface of the park, as the rains subsided, we did see a number of buffalo. We headed west and back into wyoming . . .

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