Today we woke up bright and early. (We were sharing a room, there was no way to avoid the early bird...)
I quickly stated that coffee was a MUST and papa figured out that the Motel 6, while they had comfy beds and appropriately friendly staff, they did not know how to brew a good cup of coffee. So, we found (by chance) the only Starbucks in all of Eastern Wyoming! We were both so pleased. :)
I am not sure if it was lack of expectation or if South Dakota was just a wealth of random goodness. Maybe a combination of both.
We had two things on the agenda for this day--- Mt. Rushmore and the badlands.
Following our dissappointment with Old Faithful, we had minimal expectations over what to expect at either one of the next national parks.
Again, we took the scenic route (figuring this might be our last bought with mountains...):
On the drive, we spotted a "head" in the mountain and realized it was the Crazy horse monument--
As we got closer to Mt Rushmore, the scenery was beautiful--lush forest, huge rock formations. Quite pretty. And then Papa spotted the heads! It was so fun.
We paid the crazy high parking fee and went into the park.
It was so cool. Again, I'm not sure if it was the low expectations or what, but we loved it! The history is something interesting. And the thought that someone (a visionary) just thought this would be something that should be done is really something.
From there, we continued on the scenic route to continue on our way to the badlands. In some off-beat conversation, Emily mentioned that the Badlands at dawn was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. Since Emily has been places and seen things, I decided right away that it must be added to the list. The intention was to go at dawn, but the timing of that didn't work out. And we mad other arrangements for the trip, so it was going to be afternoon. To be honest, I was a little bummed out at first, but then decided to get over it and just move on with the trip.
As it turns out, it was a good thing we went during the daylight hours! Had we gone in the earliest parts of day, we would have missed the Wal-Drug! Not something that is on people's lists (pr at least people I know), but it should be! It was wonderful wackiness!
Excuse me, I got a little ahead of myself...
So, as we looked at the map and made the plan to get to the badlands, using some scenic route (but not gravel roads), we popped onto the highway and immediately started to see those wacky signs we saw before the last scenic road tour. The signs were plywood and handpainted with random advertisements for coffe, ice cream, prescriptions, and basically anything under the sun. All at this place-- Wall- Drug. Papa asked what it was and I thought it was a chain drug store. but then we started to see all of the signs. There were signs every few miles, hundreds of miles away from this place. It was crazy!
Since we'd already had lunch, we decided we should stop for an ice cream (always a fan of that idea!!). So at the exit for the Badlands, we followed the signs to Wall Drug. And it was something...
The first thing we came upon was a group of ladies literally buried in bags filling up their SUV with their purchases. they were pumped up about "the deals". We had no idea of what to expect and this is what it was---
After we got out ice cream and got the "flovor" of the place and it's wackiness, we got the hell out of there!
Papa said it was like Chuck E. Cheese and was giving him a headache. (Now mind you this is a man who HATES anyplace like Chuck E. Cheese. As kids we could never have a party there due to his serious dislike of such places. Not that we really missed out, but that's how much he hates it).
From Wall Drug, we were off to the Badlands. Again, with no expectation except that Emily loved it here. It was a gold-star recommendation. Seriously, beautiful.
It was like being in Sedona, AZ with all the red rocks and beautiful scenery, but was surrounded by grasslands- green and swaying in rhythm to the breeze. It was a sight that made you have to believe there is something out there that created all of this.
It was breathtaking.
All that, and then you add in the buffalo and prarie dogs---magic, really.
The pictures do not do it justice, but here's a piece of the adventure---
We left the badlands and really had no other adventures on the books aside from the visit to Algoma the following night. Papa, now a mission, decided we should drive through to the other side of South Dakota. I agreed.
We were making good time and had crossed the the things I wanted to see off of the list.
Papa stated that he did not want to eat dinner at 8 or 9pm aagin, so my job as the navigator was to find a place to eat at around the 7pm mark. We decided we would stay in Sioux Falls that night, so I spotted Mitchell on the map. It was at about the right spot and then I noted something called 'the corn palace' was there, so we decided that yes, we should stop there for dinner.
As we were driving I relaized that my HLP had been in that area on a family roadtip many years ago and I vaguely recalled her telling me about that place. So I texted her and in her words she said that yes we should go as it is "a wonder to bejold". With that kind of endorsement, we HAD to go!
So we got to Mitchell and visited the HLP's childhood adventures (and laughed). And were surprised by how not corny it really was (excuse the pun). It was weird, but better than what we expected. And much less obnoxious than the Wall-Drug so Papa was pleased!
(Sidenote: You may have noticed that Papa is holding the Guam flag. The Guam flag, a very handy atlas, fun snacks and other roadtrip goodness came from the HLP in preparation for the trip. Since it was her place and on her suggestion, we figured the flag needed to make an appearance in the pics rather than just being our placeholder. Whythe Guam flag you ask...well that is a long and rather silly story involving another great adventure and roadtrip. I'll try to remember it and tell it another time. )
After we checked out the Corn Palace, we scouted out a place for dinner. We ended up at a favorite local place, where everyone knew everyone. The owner seated us and made conversation (of course). And told us all about the area and what the Depot used to be, etc, etc. We had definately made it to the midwest!
By then, we knew we only had about 1.5 hours before we made it to Sioux Falls to sleep for the night. Well, as it turns out--there was no room at any inn for 100s of miles! :(
We ended up at some random hotel in some Minnesotan town. the beds were comfy, the coffee was good, but the check-in staff was overwhelmingly friendly. Annoyingly friendly. we just wanted a place to sleep, I didn't care about the 15 minutes later that the pool was open or care to know about every breakfast item offered. We needed two beds,a clean room and maybe some coffee in the am. That's all. But as we checked in, with our eyes glazed and patience waning, the check-in clerk droned on and on and on and on and on and on....seriously, I almost punched her.
But we got a room and ended a very good day of adventure.
The next day we had plans for a broasted chicken dinner in Algoma with my dad's BFF from college (and lifelong great pal). Our heads hit the pillow and we were both out...
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