DAY TWENTY EIGHT

HOT SPRINGS, SD - MOUNT RUSHMORE, SD - WORTHINGTON, MINNESOTA

504 miles

 We stayed in a Motel 6 here which was actually really nice, and left around 12 to head up to Mount Rushmore. Hot Springs is a really nice little town with lots of shops and restaurants. 
 

How we knew we were in South Dakota

At this point, we were already in the Black Hills, which were named by the Lakota Native Americans who said the tree-topped hills looked black from a distance. The scenery was really pretty, and we even saw our first wildlife in South Dakota! There were a herd of bison on the side of the road, and luckily one was close enough for me to snap some pictures. 

We drove north up to Custer, SD and started wondering why there were so many motorcycles everywhere. Unsure, I called my Dad to ask who very readily knew that it was because of Sturgis. Sturgis, SD holds a bike rally every year (since 1937) where up to 600,000 motorcycles come into town for the rally. It earns the town over $80million every year. We weren't going to Sturgis, but we came to learn that the bikers would fill up just about every motel in every town from South Dakota to Wisconsin -_- Anyway, we got to Custer, bought yet another needed item for our car (this one was only $2) and stopped to grab some Mexican food, which was an inspired choice in South Dakota. 

From here, we drove up to the Crazy Horse Memorial, which I think we have some mixed feelings about. I totally respect the building of the monument, but it's a little ridiculous that they've denied $10 million grants from the government twice because of the European artist's principles. At this rate, the only way they have to fund it is by overpriced admission prices and gift shop items. That's why it's been 50 years and the only thing done is his head....... 

The best view we could get was through binoculars

We then drove up to Mount Rushmore, which was only about 15 minutes away from here. The mountains became really cool looking, and all of the sudden there was George Washington's face! 

Parking here was $11, and the admission was free, which I can certainly appreciate. We were wondering if we should pay the $11 since we could already see it from the road, but realized we already spent hours and hours driving, so we might as well get the full experience.

 It was indeed very touristy like everyone warned me about (obviously) but it was actually pretty cool. The sculpture up on the mountain was kind of small, but still really big at the same time, if that makes any sense. We spent a little time in the interpretive center, and then decided to head out. 

On the way out though, a sign about Thomas Jefferson caught our eye. Apparently along with penning the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, he also wrote a pretty killer recipe for vanilla ice cream. And it was for sale in the gift shop! Naturally we had to try it. Without even questioning if paying $11 for ice cream was worth it, we each got a TJ Vanilla cone, and let me tell you Jefferson knew what he was doing. The ice cream was a perfect combination of sweet and salty, and made Kenny exclaim that the Declaration of Independence was Thomas Jefferson's second greatest invention. 

From here, we drove up to Rapid City, and got on I-90, the longest high way in America. We drove for a while, I fell asleep, and Kenny woke me up when we got to the town of Wall, South Dakota. There is a famous drug store and tourist attraction, which was pretty cool. And touristy. 

We carried on to Badlands National Park, which might have to be the weirdest National Park we visited. It's just normal prarie land and then BAM all of the sudden there's just these weird Mars-like stone hills and canyons.

Possible bison imprint?

 From here, we continued driving because we needed to get to Minnesota and caught a pretty beautiful sunset.

We drove about 4 more hours; while I was driving and Kenny was asleep I saw a big coyote staring at me from the side of the road! We stopped by Mitchell, SD to see the corn palace, which was pretty awesome.

The entire facade is made of corn

We stopped in most towns to see if we could get a motel room, but thanks to all of the freakin' bikers, there were no rooms anywhere. We finally stopped in Worthington, Minnesota, around 1am and got kind of tricked into paying $110 for a Super 8.... sigh.