Making Sure It Wasn't For Nothing

Our first real stop on this trip was going to be Wall Drug. Unfortunately, Gibran was asleep for the usual road signs leading up to it so he couldn't be hyped up as much as I hoped. As the sun came up we witnessed some beautiful scenery. Fields of sunflowers blanked stretches of visible land in yellow. We took an opportunity to use a turn out to view out over the land and stretch our legs.

Remember, you can always click on the pictures to enlarge.

Even though he actually bought stuff, I don't see him coming back here any time soon.

The next stop was the South Dakota Air and Space Museum just outside Ellsworth Air Force Base. Much to my surprise, I think Gibran liked it here. He spent a good amount of time looking over the exhibits. Meanwhile I was looking over the security gates, wondering at what could have been if I decided to make a different choice.

It was lunch time when we headed out to Rapid City. We ended up at Golden Corral. I'm not a huge fan of it but at least it filled me up for the rest of the day and I didn't have to worry about hunger.

Next stop was Mount Rushmore. The last time I was here was in the summer of 2001 while I was in AFROTC. I am impressed by the new improvements. I wasn't impressed with the crowds and the parking fee though. This was the stop that Gibran was looking forward to. I was going to make him pay dearly for it!

 We took the loop trail that went down into the ravine, back up to the base of the mountain and continued around back to the visitors' center. Gibran was motivated only to get it over with and to get an ice cold water.

After Mount Rushmore, we headed over to the nearby KOA to check in and setup my tent for the night. The day wasn't over though and soon we were off to another site:

This is the Crazy Horse Memorial. It's been worked on since the 1940's. Estimated completion date: Never, Probably.  I see this as a money pit and and refuse to give it $1. However, I am more than happy to take a free picture from the side of the road. If Gibran wanted to go in, I probably would have, though.

I didn't tell him where my final stop for the day was going to be. I was pretty sure he wasn't aware of Devil's Tower, and I was hoping to get a reaction from him when he finally saw it. Didn't get that but I think that he was impressed at seeing such an odd sight.

We headed back to Rapid City for some dinner. Since our parking pass at Mount Rushmore was good for an entire year and it was night, we decided to stop by there once more to see it lit up. Mount Rushmore at night is a sight to see. Pictures with our point and shoots cannot do it justice. Looking at the monument against a background of brilliant stars and the big dipper above the heads of the presidents is truly impressive.

We didn't stay long; I needed to get some sleep because we still had a three hour drive to get to Wyoming.