Day 10 (7/9). (Lin) Continued our exploration of South Dakota today. Up early to visit the incessantly self-promoting Wall Drug Store (we saw something like 50 signs for it coming across Wisconsin and South Dakota). It was as crazy as advertised. Essentially a large complex of kitschy stores and a large cafe, we could have spent an hour or two there just looking around. Instead, we opted for five-cent coffee and homemade ice cream.

Since it was another beautiful blue-sky day, we decided to drive a few miles back into the Badlands again, given that we drove through the last half at dusk the night before. It was stunning, of course. After pulling ourselves away, we got on Rt. 90 and drove to Mount Rushmore. The kids were underwhelmed at first. I had been there as a 5-year old, but it left quite an impression on me. Things are built up quite a bit more than they were in 1981, with a series of new buildings, a large restaurant/cafe, and a little walkway of state flags. Still, it was impressive just to sit there and imagine undertaking that project. We talked a bit about how the Lakota and other Native nations see Mount Rushmore as an enormous insult, having been carved out of their lands and rocks they consider sacred.

From Mount Rushmore we drove south into Custer State Park, following the Iron Mountain Road as it twisted and turned up and down the mountain. The kids enjoyed the “pigtail” turns (where the road corkscrews back over itself again) and the one-lane tunnels through the rock. Also neat were the many places where you could see Mount Rushmore from different angles and from far away.

Another highlight in Custer State Park was the Wildlife Loop Road, from which we saw bison, deer, prairie dogs, burrows, and bighorn sheep.

While in Custer we decided that it was too late to drive the Needles Highway and tackle a hike or two. Instead, we drove to see the monumental Crazy Horse Memorial. I have been showing my students pictures of this thing for years now (under construction for over 60 years), so it was really meaningful to see it in person. It is much larger than I expected in many ways (although the visitor center is far enough away to slightly diminish the effect of its size). The visitor center complex is really huge, and they have lots of cool local and national tribal things going on. Two thumbs up.

Due to anticipated colder and wetter weather in Yellowstone Sunday and Monday (31 F on Sunday night and snow and sleet Monday morning!), we decided to cancel our hotel in Custer and drive a bit closer to Yellowstone tonight. So I booked a hotel in Sheridan, Wyoming. We thought this meant we had to cut out Devil’s Tower National Monument, but at the last minute we decided we could beat the sunset and still do it. It was so worthwhile – an amazing 867 ft. columnar monolith that just rises solo out of the Wyoming plains. We could see it over 30 miles away at one point. We hiked the 1.3 mile trail around its base in the soft sunset light. So gorgeous.

The price we pay is a late night – a midnight hotel arrival. But a fun, full day. Harrison said before he drifted off to sleep: “We did so many things today I can’t remember all of them!”

Note: if you click on individual pictures, it pulls up a larger version of it (can see them all in a slideshow).