I really have to keep up with this blog! I’m afraid if I don’t write it down, it will be a blur the next day. Wait... yup, it already is! It seems like we’ve been on the road for a week - but in a good way :) !
I can’t believe it was just yesterday that we visited Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse and drove the Needles Highway (part of Custer State Park). Somehow I’m surprised the lack of crowds and traffic even though I know it’s early in the season.
On the way to Mount Rushmore, we nearly ran over a whole herd of deer crossing the highway - right behind the Mount Rushmore sign. It was a gorgeous morning as we walked the trail by the monument. It is really amazing how they worked on and completed this masterpiece. Truly old-fashioned American ingenuity!
Crazy Horse is equally awe-inspiring, but makes the completion of Mount Rushmore all the more impressive. Honestly, I think it’s a little sad how much more work there is to do after 60+ years. The original artist has died but his wife and children continue on, refusing any sort of government financial support. The completed project looks incredible but it seems like it will literally take another 300 years. I also wonder how the Native Americans that this monument is supposed to represent feel?
Thanks again to AAA, we took another fantastic drive we would have missed through Custer State Park on the Needles Highway. There were moments of terror - that might be overstating it a bit - but how often do you see a 5 MPH speed limit sign? Or, 9 foot-wide tunnels on the road?
Even with a full day already, we decided to drive up to Deadwood to see what it was all about. The answer - not a whole lot. We did find Dave’s namesake trail - The Mickelson Trail and did a little trek on that. Then, it was on to find a bite to eat which proved more difficult than expected. However, we figured out that pretty much every place had food, you just had to walk through a casino first. We ended up being lured in by the “Oldest Bar in Deadwood” sign, even though the bartender was a little vague on the details. After a shot and a beer, we nearly tried their Rocky Mountain Oysters. But, there’s just not enough alcohol in the world to get me past what they are.
After returning to our hotel, we apparently entered an alternate universe where Dave wanted to go to the bar and I wanted to go to bed! He won, of course, but we didn’t stay long as there was drama I did not want to behold. I’m not really sure what the entire situation was, but I did get hit on by some hippie-looking drunk dude that asked us three times if we were a couple and told us three times that he was into “big business” all over the country. He apparently was very rich, even though he was drunk at the Rapid City LaQuinta on a Friday night. After I witnessed a 7-10 year-old boy drive off in a muscle car at the drunk’s prompting and exclaimed to the bartender my concern which he rebuffed, I had enough and made Dave go back to the room with me.
Stay tuned-more tomorrow about today!
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