Leslie Across the USA

National Parks and Monuments Galore! South Dakota Rules!

I left Hope’s early Monday morning when she left for work. I was anxious to get to South Dakota and check out the Badlands and Black Hills. I stopped to take a picture of the Sioux Falls in Sioux Falls and I also inadvertently took in an art exhibit featuring all nude studies - I thought it was a store selling local art, but it was a gallery, and I was the only person in there, so of course I had to act like I was really interested in the nudes and all of that. It was kind of uncomfortable, but some were really good, I guess. Again, sometimes I'm not the best art judge (see my Minneapolis entry. I stayed the night in Chamberlain, SD, a tiny town on the Missouri River where Lewis and Clark set up camp for a while over 200 years ago. I had buffalo for dinner at Al’s Oasis, a big, tacky restaurant that seems to be the only food for miles, so anyone and everyone goes there for dinner. I tried to get an early start the next day, but I slept in a little. I missed the free breakfast at the hotel, but I managed to get them to score me some milk and cereal.
Then, it was on to the Badlands, in the southwest corner of the state. On the way there, I drove throught lots and lots of endless grassland. Every once in a while I'd see a really old house just abandoned. They were usually pretty windblown and falling down, but they were so pretty in a way. If I weren't going super fast on the highway, I could have stopped to photograph more of them (I did manage to catch a few) but they were one of my favorite things. I don't really know why. I just thought it was funny that these houses were just left there. I mean, they are probably on someone's property and at some point, the people just built a better house. But they're cool. Some were clearly once quite grand and lovely, but now they're just home to wildlife. I like that they have been left standing and not torn down.
I was kind of bummed because the weather was not great. Greyish-blue clouds hovered in the distance, and having already experienced a wide variety of weather in North Dakota, I knew I was not in store for a clear blue sky. I drove for what felt like forever across wide, flat plains, and I thought for sure I would never find these so-called Badlands, because everything just looked the same as ever. All of a sudden, though, out my window, I saw the butte drop off dramatically, revealing amazing cliffs striped in pink, red, grey, and white. I realized these plains I’d been driving across weren’t as low as I had thought. They were merely the very flat tops of huge buttes, and the badlands are where the flatness ended. Every turn in the road revealed more dramatic rock formations, and soon I officially entered Badlands National Park. Of course, I stopped immediately at the first overlook, along with every other tourist in the park. I snapped photos everywhere, but I’m afraid the camera just couldn’t quite catch the true awe-inspiring beauty of the park. Also, it really looks like another planet. It's just so unique. The canyons seemed endless, and the going was treacherous. You had to be careful how closely you stood to the edge of each cliff because they were so slippery you could fall without a moment’s warning. Lots of nervous moms and dads corralled their curious children to prevent them from slipping off the edge. No one needed to worry about me, though, because I was way too chicken to tempt fate. At the next overlook I came to, the parking lot was located at the edge of a bunch of tall rocks, but if you climbed up to peer through the gapes in between the rocks, you could see way out into a vast open space filled alternately with deep ravines and tall spires of rock. Now, the word rock for these formations is kind of misleading. It was more like clay that looked like rock. If you touched it, it broke off easily and covered your hands with a chalky, dry powder. It had started to sprinkle a bit, and the sky was a pale grey. The moisture made walking on the clay extremely difficult. It caked to the bottom of my shoes, and it was really difficult to remove. I was slipping and sliding all over the place, and so was everyone else. A few brave (or crazy) souls managed to scramble up the clay spires and perch themselves on top for what I’m sure was an amazing view, but there was no way I was going up there. I didn’t stick around to see how they managed to get down; I did notice a set of near frantic parents trying to convince their teenager to figure out a safe way down, and he was kind of resistant to their urges for safety. I was nervous for him, too, so I slipped and slid on out of there before I became a witness to disaster. A bit later down the road, I tried to hike up a steep cliff side, a short but steep trail. I made it about a third of the way up, and then I decided that it was too wet and dangerous to do. Going up was easier than coming down. There is nowhere to grip your hands so that you don’t just slide right down. I didn’t feel like sliding down on my butt (many others had to resort to this option to get down safely), and so I turned back. My shoes were worse than ever with clay, and I was so sad that I couldn’t quite get all of it off. I had to give up the fight against the clay at some point, though, so now the floor mat of the Mini that I meticulously vacuumed a few weeks ago is covered in dried clay that is slowly turning into fine powder. Oh well, I’ll just vacuum again when I get home!
After the Badlands, I popped up to Wall, South Dakota, for a bite to eat at the famous Wall Drug. It’s about as tacky as you can get, but it’s an experience. This town, Wall, really wouldn’t be much without Wall Drug. There were literally hundreds of tourists there, maybe thousands. There are like 30 or 40 different shops that make up “Wall Drug” and only one of them is an actual drug store. Back in the late 1800s, they advertised “free ice water” at Wall Drug, and it became such a popular stop for westward travelers that it has morphed into the ultimate road trip break. They still have free ice water, and I filled my water bottle there, but the water wasn’t that good. I also had more buffalo there, this time a delicious buffalo burger that was as juicy and delicious as a hamburger, but with much more flavor, and way less fat and cholesterol.
Up next was the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore. This terrain is very different from the badlands. There were lots of rocks this time, jutting high into the sky and surrounded by trees. It was easy to find Mt. Rushmore because there were about 8,000 signs. It felt like everyone was headed there, and I finally rounded a bed in the road and was met with the four presidents staring out into the South Dakota wilderness from the face of a huge rock. It was actually much more breathtaking than I had anticipated, and I immediately pulled into a little spot on the side of the road that was crowded with RVs and motorcycles and lots of people with cameras. I thought this was my only chance to see the mountain, so I took a bunch of photos and had a lady in an RV take one with the Mini and me in it. I was kind of sad that I wasn’t viewing the mountain straight on as I had seen it in photos. I was kind of off to the side. But, as I drove away from the pull-off and came around the next bend, I saw that there is a whole visitors’ complex for Mt. Rushmore. However, it costs 8 bucks to park, and frankly, you can get some great shots from the road, so I skipped the parking lot. On the other side of the mountain, you can take photos of Washington’s profile, and that’s free. Technically, you could stop on the road in front of the mountain and take a photo, but there are barriers and lots of “no parking, stopping, or standing at any time” signs to deter you. They really want your eight bucks.
I continued on to Crazy Horse, the American Indian response to Mt. Rushmore. I mean, yeah, Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln are the founding fathers to many Americans, but to many other Americans (like the ones who were here first!), Crazy Horse is their ultimate founding father. He was a staunchly proud Indian. He even refused to live on a reservation believing that it was too condescending. The Crazy Horse memorial is not federally funded – in fact, the foundation has refused federal funding of over 10 million dollars twice. When it is finished, which will be a long, long, LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time from now, it will make Mt. Rushmore look like a few dents in some rocks. Crazy Horse will be riding on his horse and pointing out at his lands saying “My lands are where my dead are buried.” Yup, no flies on Crazy Horse! He doesn’t beat around the bush! The Crazy Horse memorial foundation says, “When completed the Crazy Horse mountain carving will be 641 feet long by 563 feet high. Crazy Horse's completed head is 87 feet 6 inches high. The horse's head, currently the focus of work on the mountain, is 219 feet or 22 stories high.” So far, only the face is finished completely, and because money and weather are pretty inconsistent and hard to predict, no one knows when it will be finished. It’s pretty incredible, the set-up they have at the memorial, and they’ve clearly managed to raise a ton of money. It’s worth seeing and finishing, so if you’re ever in South Daktoa, be sure to check it out along with Mt. Rushmore.
I wound my way through a lot of the Black Hills along the Peter Norbeck byway, but it was getting late, and I had plans to meet up with my friend Kate in Wyoming at Devils Tower for a night of “kamping” at the KOA. She’s been on the road for much longer than I have, and it just so happened that our paths were crossing at Devils Tower! So, I didn’t get to see all I wanted to in South Dakota, but I thought about returning the next day, as I did not have to be in Boulder until Thursday. The drive to Devils Tower took longer than I thought, and I arrived at night. It was kind of scary driving through unknown territory so late at night. There was hardly any light at all, and hardly a soul lives in that part of Wyoming. Ranches and grassland stretch for miles and miles, and there is a lot of wildlife to watch out for as you drive. I saw a ton of deer, but I thankfully did not hit any! When I arrived at the KOA, I found Kate bundled up in a blanket watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind. They show it every night at the KOA because it was filmed at Devils Tower. I could see the tower in profile against the night sky, and I was excited to see it in the light. After a day of rain, the clouds had retreated, but they left behind crisp, cool air, and it was a chilly 40 degrees that night! Thankfully, Kate had rented a “Kamping Kabin” (seriously, are these people trying to kill this English teacher????) and she had a spare sleeping bag and pillow, so I was toasty all night! More later on climbing the tower – Yep, I climbed it, all the way (up to the base – hee hee hee)!
Photos are of Crazy Horse with the model of how it will look once finished in the foreground, the Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore (the free view), the Badlands, and Mini arriving in Wyoming.

posted by Leslie @ 3:11 AM