Historic Deadwood

On Day 2 we set out to do some touring in South Dakota before actually hitting the road.  First up was Historic Deadwood.  I had no idea this was even a place.  

The original reason we stopped in Deadwood is because my great-great-uncle (I think I got that right?) is rumored to have started the Catholic church in the town back in the early 1900s.  

The church is right on the main street (there aren't many other streets) and it's going through a bit of a facelift on the outside.  The doors were locked to the inside.  Apparently the church isn't always open.  

St. Ambrose church had been founded in 1877.  Date wise, that didn't quite fit with what we had heard.  That, and the name of the original pastor was not the name of my great-great-uncle.

After a bit of digging (and by that, I mean googling it on my phone) we discovered that my great-great-uncle was most likely the priest that was pastor when this particular building was built in 1936.

Through my thorough roadside research, I also learned that he lived right here in this little house next door, which is still the current priest's residence (although he was not home...my parents checked).

Visiting Deadwood was a little odd, because we went from the Catholic church to a block down the street into the wild west and visited locations for brothels and where people were assassinated.  It transitioned quickly.

This town was fantastic.  They do little shows and shoot-outs throughout the day.  We didn't see any because we had a schedule to keep.  We walked the streets and checked it all out.

We saw the original location of Saloon no. 10 where Wild Bill was shot and killed.

And then down the street where his assassin was caught.

We saw the ladies of the streets who were strutting their stuff in the windows of the brothels.  Nothing creepy about those mannequins.  

Basically this place was completely fascinating...just another place I could have spent many more hours exploring!  South Dakota tourism, you've done it again!

We really had to hit the road though, because we had barely even started our 8 hours of driving, and we were still going to go find Devil's Tower when we hit Wyoming...and it's only day two...!

The Presidents

So I've heard from many people that once you've seen Mount Rushmore, you've seen Mount Rushmore.

The thing is, I had never seen Mount Rushmore.  It had to be done!  

We left Crazy Horse and zig zagged our way through the Badlands to the find the presidents.  

I had to buy an annual pass to park for $11.  So if my car ever arrives there again this year, it would take my cost per use down to $5.50, but that won't happen.  Too bad.  

Parking was disastrous.  I don't know, maybe I was doing it wrong, but they had different parking levels so I picked one, but there were no spots available there, so you would have to leave the park in order to return and try parking again (put that annual pass to good use!).  So I just drove around and tried to park in places that were too small for my beast of a car and then yelled at a few people until finally someone left and I swerved toward them and into a spot and probably made a bunch of people mad.  This is America.  

Once we got in, it was a lot less stressful.

We walked in and there they were!  Much smaller than Crazy Horse!  Those guys are way up there!

We had planned to be there for the evening lighting ceremony.  It started at dusk, but they didn't actually light anything until after dark.  It was a long day for us!

We listened to some presidential trivia and some other stuff.  I couldn't even tell you what she was saying, because it had been a long day for us and I just wanted to see these guys all lit up.  They showed a video (from the Discovery Education site- I'm pretty sure I can get it through my Discovery Education account but I haven't looked...just a side note for my teacher friends).

Finally it was getting dark out, so they did the ceremonial lighting.

The coolest part was the end of the evening, when they invited all the former and current service men and women to come forward for the taking down of the flag.  All kinds of people swarmed forward!  They took down the flag and then each of them introduced themselves.

It was very cool.  

We were beyond exhausted by the end, so we booked it out of there and I beat everyone to my car and tried to swerve around them as I zipped out of the parking lot.  Just kidding, it was very safe.  

Now I've seen Mount Rushmore.

Crazy Horse Memorial

We had a full first day planned... on top of our 10 hour drive, the Corn Palace, and our Wall Drug adventure, we rolled into Rapid City, SD early evening and hit the road again to check out the Badlands.  

I have never been to South Dakota.  The closest I've ever gotten was Sioux City, when I made my friends drive me across the border to take a picture with the South Dakota sign in order to say I had been there.  I would definitely go to the Badlands again and spend more time there.

The Crazy Horse Memorial was another of my "must see" places on our drive.  It was fascinating.  Since we already had a full day of driving, we were rolling in as the sun was setting.  I kind of figured we would go look at the monument and then move on.  I was wrong.  

You can spend all day at Crazy Horse!  I had no idea!  If I were to do it again, I would plan more time there.  During the day, they have all kinds of exhibits happening, plus a cool museum, video about Crazy Horse, a cafe, etc.  It is a work in progress, so they are working hard to raise money to keep the work progressing.  Above, you can see the white outline of where the horse's head will be carved.  

Sunday evening was a perfect time to be visiting the exhibit!  There were people there, but it wasn't crowded at all.  We could really take our time checking it all out (if we had the time, that is). 

The Crazy Horse Memorial does a laser light show every night and you can also take a bus from the 1980s closer to the monument.  We opted out of the bus because it cost extra and we were short on time because we had other things planned for later so we missed the light show as well.  I learned that you can do a laser show on Crazy Horse because it is not a government monument and therefore laser shows are allowed.  I learned fascinating things, guys.

We did view the video and get some history on how Crazy Horse is being sculpted and the extent of the project.  I wandered the museum area and learned about the project and a little American Indian history.

It's wild to think that someday that rock will look like this statue!

Unfortunately, the sun was quickly setting and we were still planning to hit up the lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore, so we had to head out.

We piled back into the car to go find the presidents before sunset.  Until next time, Crazy Horse.

Wall Drug Straight Ahead

Have you ever done the drive across South Dakota?  It is not like any other drive I've done.  

Here's what it looks like mid-state...

If you like looking at flat land for miles and miles and hours and hours, this is the place for you.  It was pretty, but my goodness it went forever!

We even stopped at the scenic overlook to check out the beautiful weather and look for miles on end.  The funny thing about driving South Dakota is that it is just you and a few cars and campers driving down the road.  There isn't any huge traffic, but when you pull over somewhere, there are suddenly hundreds of campers and cars because it is the land of tourists.  Where do they come from??  It's amazing.  I loved it!

South Dakota is amazing at tourism.  It is the land of tourism.  Tourism was the ONLY thing along I-90.  To entertain yourself, you read billboard after billboard (big, medium, and small) advertising for Wall Drug.

YOLO Wall Drug.
Eat Lunch or Be Lunch.  Wall Drug
235 Miles to Wall Drug
233 Miles to Wall Drug
230 Miles to Wall Drug
...23 Miles to Wall Drug
35 Minutes to Wall Drug!

By the time you get to the exit for Wall Drug, you're like, well what the heck, we might as well stop since we've been reading about it for five hours.

Wall Drug is a a drug store the size of a town.  It might actually be the whole town.  It has everything.  It is gigantic.

You enter, and somehow you are suddenly lost in a drug store and then turn a corner and it's like you're in a mall of tourism and suddenly you're buying a vase made by American Indians and contemplating purchasing the homemade ice cream.  Or maybe fudge.  Or doughnuts!  Or getting free ice water, because there's a store for that.  Or 5 cent coffee.  Or that American Flag handkerchief over there.

Wait, get out.

It's tourism on steroids.  You better believe I left with a vase.

Back on the road...only a few more hours to end our 10 hour day of driving.  Day one is almost complete...

This is pretty corny

After heading out, our first big stop was about five hours into the trip.

The Corn Palace.  It was one of the first "must see" attractions that showed up on my trip planning maps and apps.  Never mind my father rolling his eyes claiming it is just "the world's largest bird feeder".  I was determined to check it out.  

It was under construction for the ENTIRE YEAR.  Are you kidding me, Corn Palace?  This was my once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity to be driving aimlessly through South Dakota and look at corn cob artwork.  It doesn't happen every day... and it shouldn't, because it's ridiculous. 

They gave the building the tagline "Remember When 2014".  I assume that means... remember when we drove all the way to Mitchell, SD and the Corn Palace was a construction disaster?  I do!

It was actually kind of neat to see those large bulbs (christmas ornaments?) down on the ground to see how completely humungous they are! 

I did appreciate the humor of the googly eyes on one of them...

But I was still disappointed.  However, if you are in the area in 2015 or after, their plans for the building look fantastic, so check it out!

I truly had no idea what the Corn Palace was before we arrived.  Corn royalty?  

It is murals made from corn cobs.  I had expected murals made from kernels, so I was actually thinking..."that looks easier to create then what I was expecting".

There are murals surrounding the palace (again, after their reconstruction, it will probably look phenomenal...)

The block surrounding the palace is a cute little touristy block of Black Hills shops and food.  Very wild, wild west.

And inside the palace it's tourist central!  It reminded me of the Iowa State Fair (you haven't been to a fair unless you've been to the Iowa State Fair).  It was a giant store and they sold everything corn related, plus a video on the history of the palace and making the murals.

Even though it was nothing like I thought it would be, I enjoyed the stop and now I can say that I, too, have been to the World's Only (shocking) Corn Palace.

Ready to hit the road again!