Day 8
12844 mileage
8:13 A.M.
9670 steps
Box Elder is the first city we've actually stayed in longer than one night. It was a different feeling not having to get up, pack, fill up the ice chest, load everything onto a dolly, repack the car, and have to wipe down another hotel room. We leisurely made our way down to see what they had on offer for breakfast. We were very surprised to see they have microwaveable breakfast choices. So far the hotels have been giving us these Grab-and-Go bags usually filled with a packaged muffin, a granola bar, and a Red Delicious Apple - the worst kind of apple. They either have them set out on a table to pick up or behind the front desk for us to ask. I never thought I would miss those overrated continental breakfast bars hotels usually offer.
It is Mount Rushmore Day, one of my Bucket List items. I've been interested in seeing this landmark, but thought it was completely out of the way. Now I'd get to walk straight up to it myself and marvel at the ingenuity. We had to drive through the town of Keystone first. Which was packed with tourists, about half wearing masks.
On the way there was a sign announcing directions to Carrie Ingalls's house. If you did not have my childhood then you don't understand the reference. I grew up in the 70's where one of the most popular shows on TV was Little House on the Prairie. I was fascinated by that lifestyle, braving it out on the vast open land where your nearest neighbor was three miles away, not in your backyard. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote the series of books that series was based on. Her little sister was Carrie Ingalls.
How could I not stop to see the actual place where she lived out her last days? G, on the other hand, had a different outlook on the situation. But since I don't ask for much, he indulged me. As we followed the signs for the house I got on my phone to see if there were any other locations nearby related to the Laura Ingalls Wilder and her legacy. Sadly there was not. Even worse I found a map of historical sights to visit from her life. One of them was in DeSmet, South Dakota. Here I would be able to see a museum and visit the grave sites of many of the Ingalls clan. Which is outside of Sioux Falls.
Umm, if you recall, Sioux Falls was one of the choices I had back on Day 5. Remember how I chose Agate Fossil beds instead? Yeah. And remember how that was all locked up? Now you can feel my deep disappointment in not going for the second choice. Grrrr!
Anyway, I digress. Carrie's house was locked up as well. I can't catch a break.
We made it up to Mount Rushmore National Park pretty early, around 10. It was very quiet as attested by the very open parking garage. We were able to park right on top near the entrance. We had to keep our ticket with us to use one of the kiosks to pay for it. Be prepared for a ton of questions about yourself before you get to pay. Just a note: being 62 or older knocks $5 off the $10 charge. But good news! The ticket is good for full year! We put on our new bandanas and headed in to find a stamp for my passport.
We wandered the gift shop and headed further in to come face to face with a security fence blocking the Avenue of Flags. They are currently under renovations. Hmm.
Thankfully the path leading up to the base of the mountain was still open. It was an easy hike, but the park warns folks about all the stairs necessary to reach the base. It was amazing getting to be so near to this sculpture that took 14 years to complete the 60-foot tall busts of four American Presidents. I loved seeing all the blasted rocks leading up to the sculpture. You can tell the age of the blasts by how wide apart the blasts holes are placed.
Me thinks Mr. Washington is a bit stern, or very judgy.
There's not a whole lot to do at Mount Rushmore besides stare in wonder and the short hike. So we headed on over to Custer State Park which you have to get to by using the Needles Highway that drives through, over, around, and out of a beautiful forest. There are these short tunnels cut right out of the mountain to pass through.
The complete park is over 71,000 acres, we only had time to do the Wildlife Loop which did not disappoint. We ended up seeing buffalo, deer, prong horns, wild burros, prairie dogs, a bear, and even fox. Great ride.
The visitor's center has a lot of activities with a museum, sculpture work, gift shop, cafes, and offers a shuttle ride out to the backside of the statue. We chose not to ride packed inside of a bus of strangers and headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.
Talley's Silver Spoon in Rapid City gets my Thumbs Up Approval. They were abiding by Covid restrictions limiting the seating and staff wore masks. We were hankering for some fried chicken which apparently takes a while to make. We passed the time by watching the peaceful #BLM protest march walk past the restaurant's windows. 45 minutes after we ordered the owner came over to apologize. We assured her we weren't upset but we did need to go soon to make the lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore. She brought the food over personally and stayed to make sure it was tasty. Totally was.
The ceremony was set to begin for 9 P.M. We came dressed in shorts and a windbreaker because, umm, it's June. We were wrong. It was so cold others around us brought blankets and long pants to wait out the darkening of the sky. There was a good number of people, but they managed to stay spread out as the lights slowly came up on Mount Rushmore. A ranger asked for veteran's in the crowd to assemble and help him with the ceremony. At exactly 9:02 the small parade gathered in a circle with the sculpture as their back drop. The ranger gave a speech thanking the veteran's and played the national anthem as they folded the park's flag for the day. It was quite moving. However, we ran back to the car as soon as it was close to being over.
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