devils, chiefs, and presidents

Monday, 27 July, 2015

South Dakota

Today we drove to Devil's Tower, then to South Dakota to see the most photographed monument in America and the slowest-developing monument.

To get to Devil's Tower, you drive down a couple of tiny little roads, then there is a traffic turn-out with a marker about Devil's Tower.  Most people stop, look, take photos, then turn around and leave.  Despite this, there are a ton of hotels (including a tipi campground).  Who are they catering to?  There can't be enough people who decide to climb it to support that!  Why would you stay?  You see, you leave.  There is no hiking or anything else to see there, not even scenery.  Hmmmm.  Oh well, not my problem.

Joshua's dancing

Then we drove a bit to Crazy Horse.  They must have found enough money to build some fancy signs and booths to take your money, and a visitor's center, but not enough to make what looks like ANY progress since the last time we came to look--18 years ago!

Well, then that icon of Americana--Mount Rushmore.  The last time we were here, we had our now-18 year old in a Snugli--she was only about 5 weeks old.  So in 2015, we saw, we looked, we photographed.  We also saw a short video and read about the making of the monument, and saw the display.  Did you know the workers had to walk up 700 steps every morning to the top, then drop down over the face in a swing attached to a thin cable holding dynamite or power tools?  Wow, the steps would wear me out!  We then went to the Sculptor's Studio to see his plaster mock-up of the monument and listen to a ranger-talk about the making of the monument.  Then we walked the "President's Trail"  (this is a less than a half-mile walk on boardwalk with 250 steps).  

We found our flag!

Partial-family photo

The plaster mock-up they used to do the sculpture on the mountain

the mock-up of Washington, and the real thing

A few days ago, Joshua said that he wanted to eat Chinese again and ribs during our last few days of  vacation (we rarely eat out during the rest of the year, so eating out on vacation is a big treat).  So, last night we ate at a non-chain Chinese restaurant.  It made Panda Express look like a gourmet restaurant.  We all ordered the combi meal.  The chow mein was mostly bean sprouts, the egg roll (that the waiter raved about) was mostly cabbage, and even the fried rice was kind of weird.  We had some sort of meat in a fried ball that we dipped into an orange sauce--no sure what it was, but that was OK.  We couldn't even eat half of the food.    For dinner tonight, we ate at Ruby Tuesday.  And the children and I had ribs--not as good as Friday's, but pretty good.  Before we went in, we saw massive rain in the distance; while we ate, we saw lightning through the windows, heard thunder, and heard the rain; when we left, there were gale-force winds, pouring rain (coming down sideways because of the wind), and lots of hail.   After awhile, the other customers waiting in the vestibule with us began to get their cars so we did too.  I talked to some bikers at our hotel that came early for Sturgis who got caught in the rain, but luckily were under cover when the hail hit.

I'm enjoying the time with my teenagers this vacation to reconnect.  The younger is a strange kid; lovable but kind of weird and spending more time with that weird kid is good.  The older (middle child) is a quiet, but lovable girl who is growing up way too fast; it's nice to spend time talking and making more connections with her.  And I love the shared memories we are creating.  I miss our oldest, but this is good too.   Right not the dramatic youngest is convincing us to play hearts, so I have to end this.

We're all looking forward, though, to sleeping in our own beds tomorrow night and sleeping in on Wednesday!  (And something other than hotel make-your-own waffles for breakfast!  Though it may be a few days before we see breakfast!).