from Minneapolis to Rapid City, SD, near Keystone, SD, where Mount Rushmore is
situated. Josh and I were troopers and woke up early to attend the 6:30AM
morning services at the synagogue in St. Louis Park. We filled up the car at
Costco on the way back to the hotel. After packing up, making lunches, and
eating breakfast, we were on our way. We made it out at around 8:45AM. We were
shooting for 8:30 (hoping for at least 9:00), so we were right on schedule.
Miles and miles of corn and soybean fields were what we encountered. The
farmland was pretty much all flat and they seemed to just stretch all the way
to the horizon on either side. Lots of windmills - the energy-producing kind -
that I guess power much of the farms around. Most were in the far distance, but
some were not too far off the road. Those things are HUGE. I've read about how
big they actually are, but until you see one it's hard to comprehend the
enormity of the blades.
One thing that was cool to see (being a "city boy") was some of the huge silos
to hold the grains harvested. There are railroad tracks that seem to crisscross
all the farms. I assume the grain hopper cars just pull up to the silos and get
loaded right there to be brought to the factories that process it.
We had to drive quite a distance to get to the main highway (I-90) that would
lead us to SD. Once on the highway, we saw all the rest stops were closed. We
knew of this already from following the news about the MN government shutdown.
Right after crossing the border into SD (Sioux Falls) there is a rest stop. It
was about 12:30PM, but the kids decided to go until the next one 50 miles later
for lunch. So we stopped at the Salem, SD rest stop and stretched and ate lunch
(including some Sushi in Salem, South Dakota! Say that a few times!)
After lunch, Karen took over driving. Lots of cows and those huge rolls of hay
laying in the fields. I also saw a bunch of what looked to me like long horned
cattle. I didn't have the camera ready to snap them. It's amazing to see these
herds of cow in the middle of nowhere, with no barn or anything within sight. I
guess they let them roam for quite a while to graze and then at some point they
go find them.
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| No, these were not the longhorned cattle I had seen. They were real, I tell you! |
change,so we gained an hour again. We saw some ominous clouds in the distance.
A short while later, it started pouring. There were some cool lightning bolts
up ahead, but of course when I was keeping the camera pointed directly ahead to
try to capture one, the next bolts were to the side of the car. The rain lasted
for some time until we could see the sky clearing up way ahead. Then it turned
out to be nice and sunny.
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| Missouri River |
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| Clear sailing, up ahead |
The plan was to head to Wall, SD, which is about 45 minutes closer than Rapid
City. This is where the famous Wall Drug attraction is. (You might have seen
bumper stickers about it. I know I have in the past, but never knew what it was
from.) You can look up the history of the place on web. They have cute signs
all along the highway about it, from as far as 300 miles away!
Our neighbor Bob L. told me also about this Corn Palace place in Mitchell, SD.
He said it wasn't worth stopping for, but we saw all the signs about it, and
decided to just see what it was. After all, when would we ever be back. It's a
quirky roadside attraction whose building is decorated using thousands of ears
of corn. Inside there are these huge murals made out of different colored ears
of corn. And of course they have a big gift shop. We decided to start getting
bumper stickers that we could put on the cargo carrier. So we got our first one
there, among some other things.
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| Corny kids |
Next stop, Wall Drug. It was a small drugstore originally that grew into a
whole roadside attraction with lots of shops and food, and some fun activities
for younger kids. I actually saw people there who I recognized from the lunch
rest stop. Not that I had befriended them, just that I had taken note of them
when they were heading back to their car. This was 3 hours later. We picked up
some gift shop items, and a bumper sticker.
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| Looks familiar, with the same rust spots too! |
Karen was browsing the AAA book and saw that Mt. Rushmore has a night lighting
ceremony, where the park ranger does some spiel, show a video, and honor
veterans. It starts at 9:00PM. We were to arrive at the hotel at around 6:30,
so we figured we should be able to get to this ceremony in time. The camera
went dead in Wall Drug, so I quickly got it plugged in. After unloading,
unpacking, and trying to secure a fridge for the room (successfully!), we got
out at around 7:45PM. It's about a 30 minute drive. I kept the camera plugged
in during the ride there and figured I'd leave it with the car running at the
park until it was time to go to the ceremony. Luckily it finished charging at
around 8:40, so I started snapping away.
at one point there were some drops, but it held out and then cleared up. The
ranger goes thru a lot of the philosophies and achievements of the four
presidents sculpted into the mountain. Then a video of yet some more historical
info about them. Then they flip the switch to light up the mountain. Overall,
it was pretty cool just being able to see it all in person. Karen has always
wanted to see it, and this fulfilled a lifelong dream (besides meeting me). It
was kind of like my brother Simi's friend Alan, who, after visiting the Panama
Canal while in Panama for Simi's wedding, expressed the same feeling. Nothing
else to live for after that! Who knew just a few years later the NY Rangers
would win the Stanley Cup and surpass even the earlier feelings!!
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| Posing as the four presidents |
Doing Mt. Rushmore at night would leave us with more time to do other things
tomorrow, so it was probably a good move.
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