Day 25

Starting early at 6:30ish Sunday morning we hit the road. Our goal today was getting to Mt. Rushmore and camping overnight.

 

In Minnesota as well as South Dakota there are so many rolled up hay bales! You might say “Hay, they’re on a roll out there!” (oops, result of eating too many cheese curds!) We also saw weird things such as the picture below. We have no clue why there is bull (?) head, next to a giant upside-down hammer, and bull-type skeleton things that were standing on their hind legs that were protecting the bull head! What??!! Who knows.

So, yesterday we visited a Cheese Castle, today we saw the world’s only Corn Palace. It was quite a sight to see. Each year the outside of the palace is re-decorated. This year’s theme was “heros”, hence the soldier in the picture below. (fact: 600,000 pieces of corn are used)

We found ourselves enjoying this place… even becoming a little “corny” because of the surroundings. 

Next, we found ourselves in the Bad Lands of South Dakota. They are named Bad Lands because it was rough terrain to travel through. The picture below is of the “free view” of the Bad Lands. It is amazing that it costs money to see BAD lands. I can understand if we are charged for GOOD lands. : )

 

All along this route we were seeing intriguing signs. “Cowboy up, Wall Drug”, “Sheriff on Duty, Wall Drug”, “Turkey Burgers, Wall Drug”. After seeing these for HOURS we just had to find out what all the hype was about (yet again, we fall into a tourist trap!). Well, it was a very smart marketing ploy.

It was westerned-out and fun to see all the little shops and such (and how many other tourists fell into the same trap we did!). We did come out of it with two new friends. Corey received some tips on how to be a cowboy from his friend, while Donna tried making Annie laugh at a joke she told, but it didn’t work. She told Annie that it would really splinter her…

Before going to Rushmore, we took a detour toward Crazy Horse—the makings of the worlds largest rock sculpture. It was started 7 years after rushmore was completed (1948) and to this day only has the face and part of the arm done (there is still much more to go). We looked from afar since to see this incomplete sculpture closer, it would have cost additional money. (I tell you, all these tourist traps….)

 

So, a couple days back we saw Feist, which was awesome… we really didn’t expect to see yet another rock group! (These guys are a lot more well-known than Feist) We had finally arrived at Mt. Rushmore.

The faces of Mt. Rushmore are 60 feet tall (like a 6-story building). Even though we saw it up close, it is still hard to believe they are that large! We spent a decent amount of time looking at the history exhibits, walking the trail, and enjoying the sights until the evening event began. (one way we amused ourselves below!)

At 9pm there was a lighting ceremony, which was very patriotic. It was a nice history lesson about the 4 presidents and why they were so significant. It is said that they “rock”. (okay… enough of the puns, I promise)

Next stop (tomorrow), Yellowstone!