Day 17 (July 5th) – Jackson, Minnesota to Black Hills, South Dakota

Wow! What a day this was. This was packed from the minute we got up to the time that we went to bed. It is not the amount of driving that we did, and we did quite a bit of it. We saw lots of fun things and not so fun things. Who am I kidding, it was all good today, unless your name is Lisa. She was tired and is starting to want to be back at home.

We got going a little after 8 AM and started down Interstate 90 heading west. It didn’t take us long to come to another physics experiment. This gentleman decided to try to see what would happened when you go off the road with a trailer. The result is what you might expect. The truck is upright and the trailer is on its side still attached to the truck. The only good news here is that the gentleman was kind enough to do his physics experiments on a Sunday morning. There was no traffic backup due to this one fact. Lisa tried to take a picture of the trailer, but didn’t get the shot.

Our first stop of the day was the Corn Palace. As soon as we entered South Dakota we started seeing signs for this little gem. The Corn Palace is a little place in Mitchell, South Dakota. Its claim to fame is that it is decorated with murals made out of corn. They change the murals each year, and they are done by different artists. I don’t think any of these will ever be displayed at the Getty, but they are interesting. They also have a mascot that is an ear of corn. Lisa says it looks a little creepy, so we had the kids get a hug from the ear of corn and had a picture taken with them and the ear of corn. Thanks to DW who alerted me to this little gem. It was a nice diversion.

We crossed the Missouri River on to our next stop, which is the Minuteman National Monument. As we pulled up to the visitor center, there were lots of people looking around. We soon found out why they we outside the center. It is closed on Sundays, as well as the Minuteman Missile Silo a little further down the road. Don’t you feel good that the National Park Service doesn’t work on Sunday? This made me a little mad, because I really wanted to see the missile silo. We did get to see some information displays that were outside the visitor center. I’m just glad the military doesn’t take Sundays off.

Since we struck out with Minuteman National Monument, we decided to take the Badlands National Park loop. The Badlands is an area in South Dakota that the weather has worn away layers of sediment to produce some unique rock formations. This area is also very hot in the summer time. The loop itself is about 35 miles long. During this little detour, we stopped at the visitor center and looked at the exhibits and watched a film about the Badlands. The kids did what they needed to do for the Junior Ranger program. This is badge number two for the trip. Not long after we left the visitor center, we came across a field that was full of prairie dogs. And no, it wasn’t people in cubicles who would pop their head up every now and then to see what’s going on around them. These are the real live furry little creatures. Samantha wanted to take one home with her because she thought that they were nice and cute. They are until they start digging holes in your lawn and floor bed then it is good-bye rose bushes hello mounds.

Our next stop was just outside the Badlands National Park in a town called Wall. Just like the Corn Palace, we started to see signs for Wall Drug as we entered South Dakota. They were even kind enough to let you know that you had some 300+ miles to go to get there. I never knew that Wall Drug was “the” destination of our trip. I am so glad that they let me know, because I would have hated to miss it. They had signs all along I-90. It seemed that there was one almost every two miles. The signs ranged from free ice water and five cent coffee to a T-Rex out back. With all these signs it was kind of hard not to get excited along the way. It got to a point that we pulled a map out to make sure that if we did the Badlands loop that we wouldn’t miss Wall Drug.

As we got close to Wall Drug, you started to sense that we weren’t the only ones that were whipped into a frenzy. The place was packed. We are talking about Saturday afternoon Costco. There was no reason for anyone to go to Wall, South Dakota, except to see Wall Drug, which as it turns out is a drug store. It is also a souvenir shop, restaurant, soda fountain, bakery, doughnut shop, a keeper of a T-Rex and much more. The place kind of reminded me of a National Park. The employees were from all over the globe. I really didn’t expect that. We did buy some homemade ice cream and doughnuts. Lisa didn’t want to wait for her five cent coffee, but I did get my free cup of ice water. A man has to have principles, besides the ice cream made me thirsty.

Our goal today was to get to the Black Hills of South Dakota. This is where Mount Rushmore is located. Lisa had mentioned that my dad was anxious to get to Mount Rushmore, so as we left Wall Drug I took the shortest route to Mount Rushmore, which at this point was still about 90 miles away. As you can probably guess about now, things are starting to go awry. I start to make a turn and Lisa and I notice my dad wants to go straight. As I am turning, Lisa turns to me and asks “Are we going to the camp site?” I am now puzzled by this because I thought everyone want to see Mount Rushmore first. As soon as I can, I pull over to talk to my dad who wants to go to the campsite first. He has it programmed in his GPS so I tell him that I will follow him. The only problem is that we are on the road to the monument, so what happens next? You remember that I told you about the time we were in New York and my dad points out the Statue of Liberty as we drive out of town? History has a funny way of repeating itself. We drive by Mount Rushmore and point it out to Miles and Samantha. They both commented that it doesn’t look that big. My dad mentions the Statue of Liberty incident to me after dinner and the resemblance of driving by Mount Rushmore. I laughed and told him the only difference is that we will be going back to see it closer.

We do finally make it to the campsite, and I ask the person working the desk about the hours for Mount Rushmore. She mentions that they have a lighting ceremony at 9 PM. The current time is 6:30, so I start to calculate in my head that we can make the lighting ceremony. Yippee!!! After we unhook the trailers and eat dinner, it is back in the car to Mount Rushmore, which is only about eight miles away. If you go see Mount Rushmore, you need to stay for the Lighting Ceremony. It really is incredible and moving. Lisa shed a tear or two. Before we left Mount Rushmore, the kids got there third Junior Ranger badge of the trip and the second of the day. Miles and Samantha said that they weren’t impressed. Miles also states it is just a mountain, and the best part was that he was able to get another Junior Ranger badge. Samantha expected it to be bigger. I was impressed and this is my second time seeing it. I was impressed the first time. It was a long and incredible day, so at 10 PM we made our way back to the campsite to go to bed.

We drove a total of 495 miles to day. We have driven a total of 5024 miles for the entire trip. We spent $145 on the purchase of gas today.