Today we got up very early. There was a lot of driving to do and daylight gets shorter and shorter each day. Fortunately, we were heading west and crossed a time zone, so we had a little extra time.
We left Mitchell, SD around 8:00am and headed west. I wanted Carrie to see the view as we came upon Chamberlain, SD and the Missouri River. It is a beautiful sight to approach.
We made it to Wall, SD and went to Wall Drug. I headed straight for the bathroom. Let me tell you, Wall Drug has some very INTERESTING bathrooms. The one I used must have had a Stinkometer. As soon as I got into the stall and let loose, the exhaust fan started running IMMEDIATELY. Again, almost IMMEDIATELY after I flushed and left the stall, the exhaust fan stopped running. If anyone knows how to get ahold of one of those Stinkometers, please let me know.
Afterwards, we went through the entire store at Wall Drug and then ate lunch there. We had some Buffalo Cheeseburgers. Yum yum.
Once we got back in the car, we continued west to Rapid City and then headed to Keystone. There, we were going to see the Borglum Museum. However, the theme of the day was “Closed for the Season.” Even most of the hotels had posted “Closed for the Season.” So we just went up the hill and went to Mount Rushmore instead.
Mount Rushmore is a magnificent sculpture. We could see it right from the road on our way up the mountain. They have really made some improvements there since I was last there in 1992. The entryway is a very impressive area complete with the flags from all 50 states and the pillars are engraved will the names, order of admission, and year of admission of each state as well.
After we got our pictures of Mount Rushmore (we got pictures of us, Nut, and Peanut, and us with Nut and Peanut), we took the elevator down to see the museum and watch a 14 minute movie on the making of the sculpture. Fascinating!
We finally left after checking out the gift shop and made our way to the Crazy Horse memorial. This sculpture has been in progress since June 3rd, 1948. We paid the admission fee and parked and headed in to the museum.
Once inside, we noticed that there was a bus tour to the bottom of the mountain where the sculpture is for only $4.00 per person. Since we had recently seen a TV show where some people had been taken to the top of the mountain and got up close to the face of the Crazy Horse sculpture, we decided to ask if this was possible. We were told yes, but we would need to fill out some paperwork (for liability reasons) and it was going to cost us $125.00 per person. Obviously, that was quite a difference in cost!
I decided that we should go see the short movie about the sculpture while I thought it over. The movie itself was very informative. The Lakota chiefs wanted the sculpture built to “show the white man that the red man has heroes, too.” After watching the movie, I decided that we probably will not have another chance at going up on the mountain/sculpture, so we paid the $250.00 and got our trip up the mountain.
Our tour guide was a man named Paul Christensen. Paul is a former law enforcement officer and is now head of security at the Crazy Horse Memorial. Paul was a tremendous guide. He gave us a lot of information about the sculpture itself as well as took our picture on it and pointed out several points of interest. Paul also told us that he was married to one of the daughters of the sculptor. Paul’s wife Anne passed away this past May. We passed on our condolances to Paul.
After our tour was over, we made our way to Deadwood, SD to stay for the night. I assumed that, because Deadwood was a gambling town, that it would be a larger city. I was wrong. Deadwood has a population of a little less than 1400. Once we checked in to our hotel, I went to the front desk to get info on Deadwood (where to eat, what to visit, etc.). The lady at the front desk gave me a LOT of information about the town, its history, and how it is currently. Then Carrie and I went to supper, and then settled in and watched game 6 of the World Series. That was one of the most impressive baseball games we have ever watched!
~Tim