September 23, 2024
We picked up Eddie in Livingston, MT and headed for South Dakota with a stop along the way at Devil’s Tower.
Let me just say that missing the big yellow stone was not My plan. It happened so fast. We went to visit that nice Cindy lady and then I was left! Abandoned! I was sad.
Yes, that happened Eddie. But you are with us now. Try to live in the moment. Anyway….
Devil’s Tower is SO much more impressive in person than in pictures. It’s truly huge! It’s nearly 900 feet tall and 11 miles in circumference. You catch your first sight of the tower 17 miles from the monument! It really stands out and as the road winds towards it, it appears and disappears depending on the bends in the road. Most people know Devil’s Tower from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (Sandy keeps humming) but it is equally famous among rock climbers. In fact, while we were there, we saw two climbers make it about halfway up to one of the ledges created by fracturing of the columns that compose the igneous intrusion that is Devil’s Tower. If you are ever in this part of the country, it should not be missed. We continued through Wyoming towards South Dakota and arrived at our hotel in the early evening. We had great ambitions for the next day, so we went early to bed in preparation.
We are back on the long road and found a giant rock. Too big for me. Mommy Sandy keeps humming some weird song. Oh, well, what else is new?
September 24, 2024
Wow – what a full day! We started with a trip to Wind Cave National Park. Normally, the draw for the park are the miles and miles of caves in the park that can only be accessed by Park Ranger led tours. However, since we had Eddie, that wasn’t an option for us, but we still wanted to see the park. When we got there, we realized they tours were suspended for some elevator repairs, so nothing lost! We drove through the park and saw antelope, prairie dogs and lots of beautiful rolling. grassland.
What’s so special about a dog on the prairie? I’m here and much more fun.
From Wine Cave, we continued driving through South Dakota’s Black Hills to the Crazy Horse Memorial which is the largest under construction mountain carving in the world. It is sometimes called the 8th wonder of the world, and it is impressive but highly commercialized. It was started in 1948 by Korczak Ziolkowski (he was also involved in creating Mount Rushmore) who worked on it until his death in 1982. His widow took over supervision of the work which remains unfinished to this day. There is no estimate for its completion. Native Americans are divided in their opinions of the monument. Regardless of all that, it is an interesting sight, and we enjoyed all the Native American exhibits, the 1/34th scale model of the completed carving and the information on the carving’s history. After we left the Crazy Horse monument, we decided to take in Mount Rushmore so off we went. It was cool to see it, but both of us were more impressed with the beautiful landscape we were driving through than the human made monuments. The land consists of grasslands, Ponderosa pine trees and plentiful wildlife. Our country is so beautiful and the landscape so varied, we felt blessed to be able to experience this part of the U.S. At this point we were pleasantly tired, so we found a dog friendly restaurant called Murphy’s Pub and ate delicious burgers and jalapeno laced margaritas. All in all, a great day!
Why wouldn’t they be dog friendly? I entertained the entire patio!
September 25, 2024
Today’s destination was Badlands National Park, so we took off in an easterly direction towards the park. On the way, we keep seeing signs for something called “Wall Drug”. As soon as I had bars on my phone, I looked it up and it is indeed a drug store in Wall, South Dakota. It started in the 1930’s as a small family run drug store and because of the depression, was struggling to survive. So, the family that ran it came up with the idea of offering free ice water to travelers passing their way. It worked so well, that the drug store now takes up nearly a city block and sells, almost literally, everything. We took turns exploring the store since Eddie was not allowed. There are many benches outside the store so we each sat there and let Eddie work her magic. We had many people stop and ask to pet Eddie and stayed to chat. She is such a people magnet. Eventually we continued on our way to the Badlands. What an incredible place! We can’t describe it any better than our National Geographic National Park guide: “ …vast rolling grassland drops away to a fantastic landscape of pyramids, pillars, bluffs, knife-edge ridges, and narrow canyons.” These rock layers reflect the geological history of the land which built up sentiment when it was covered with a shallow sea and thick volcanic ash once the sea was gone. I know we keep repeating ourselves, but it really shouldn’t be missed. On the way back, we stopped in Wall, SD again and had a late lunch and then headed back to Rapid City for a good night’s rest. Tomorrow, we head to North Dakota.
I don’t remember any walls in Wall. The people were really nice, but they wouldn’t let me inside. Their loss.
Devil’s Tower in full glory…let’s all hum along.
Halfway up the picture you’ll see a very brave rock climber. There were actually two on the tower the day we were there.
A scale model of Chief Crazy Horse when (or if) it is completed.
The current progress on the Chief Crazy Horse monument.
Mount Rushmore and you know who…
No introduction is needed.
So many Bison! Just amazing!
The end to a long but thrilling day!
Hey moms! This was a good day!
Wow! So impressive..a definite destination on my bucket list, too, although I’ll leave the dizzying heights to the rock climbers! Continued safe and spectacular travels! 🧡🐾