Touring the Dakota's

Time once again for some long driving days, we want to make it from Glacier to Mount Rushmore for the 4th of July Fireworks. So, once again we find ourselves at a Wal-Mart parking lot for the evening to save a bit of cash which normally works out great, free parking and a place to grab a few supplies. However we were across the street from a refinery of some sort and they started power blasting tanks at 6:00 am – not the best noise to wake up to! And just so you don’t think we are the only people staying at a Wal-Mart we took a picture of our “site”. There were about 6 RV's the night we stayed, you can see 2 other's in the picture.

On our way through Montana (gorgeous state that never seemed to end) we stopped at The Battle of the Little Bighorn National Monument — also known as Custer's Last Stand, where we listened to the Ranger tell what they think happened on June 25 and June 26, 1876, near the Little Bighorn River in the eastern Montana Territory. Here is a bit of history for you: The battle was the most famous action of the Indian Wars, and was a remarkable victory for the Lakota and Northern Cheyenne, led by Sitting Bull. The U.S. Seventh Cavalry, including a column of 700 men led by George Armstrong Custer, was defeated. Five of the Seventh's companies were annihilated and Custer himself was killed as were two of his brothers and a brother-in-law.

We finally made it to South Dakota and headed to Deadwood, final resting place of “Wild” Bill Hickok so Troy really wanted to check it out. Legend has it that Hickok was playing poker when he was shot, was holding a pair of aces, a pair of eights, and a queen. "Aces and eights" thus is known as the "Dead Man's Hand". The town of Deadwood is trying a bit too hard to still be in the year 1876, the year “Wild Bill” was shoot. The town has turned into a tourist trap with numerous saloons, casinos and reenactments of the shooting taking place in the streets daily. If you are in the area check it out but we would not recommend going out of your way to stay or play in Deadwood.

Happy 4th of July!!! Custer State Park in the Black Hills of South Dakota is our new favorite state park. So many things to do and see! Close to Mount Rushmore and our campsite was within the park, what more could we ask for. Well we could ask for a camp host that does not look like they live in a junk yard, his refrigerator was outside of his trailer along with numerous other items, what a mess! This is the first impression people get when arriving at the campground! But as we said, perfect location, we love it when we don’t have to do a ton of driving to get to see all the sites.

We took off on a scenic drive along Needles Highway, which twists and turns its way past towering rock formations and through narrow tunnels. At the end of one tunnel stands the Needles Eye, a granite spire with a slit only 3 to 4 feet wide but reaching 30 to 40 feet in the air. Very cool rocks! At the end of the drive we came upon Sylvan Lake, a gorgeous lake surrounded by large rock formations and crystal clear waters with fishing, paddle boats and rocks for folks to sun themselves on – great place for a family vacation. On our way back to camp we saw 5 beautiful Big Horn Sheep. The size of their horns is truly amazing – take a look:

Upon arriving back at camp we took the dogs for a long nature walk. Many of the parks don’t allow you the take dogs on the trails but Custer does, streams to run through, bugs to chase, must have been a dream come true for the puppies!

That night we decided to go out for dinner at The State Game Lodge located within the park a short drive from our campsite. On the way we spotted a small herd of Big Horn Sheep (Lamb & Ewes) as they were munching on the side of the road. Wildlife is everywhere! The lodge served as the "Summer White House" for President Calvin Coolidge in 1927 and was visited by President Dwight D. Eisenhower for several days in 1953 so we figured if it was good enough for the presidents then it would be go enough for us, we were not impressed! The food was boring as well as the decor and the best part of the lodge, the outside views, were hidden upon entering the dining room so we had a quick app and hit the road again to drive the Wildlife Road.

Within moments on the Wildlife Road an Antelope and her 2 babies were right next to the Jeep. We sat and watched them roam for a bit, they are so graceful in their movements.

Funny this place is known for Bison (over 1500 of them) and we have only seen 1, Where's the Beef??? A bit further down the road we spotted Mr. Antelope, with some very cool antlers!

Before long we were surrounded by Jackasses, Donkey’s that is! Rumor has it that Donkey rides were once offer at the park and when they were no longer offer the park set them free to roam within the park. They were so used to people that they were begging for food to all the cars that passed by, they were creating a traffic jam in the middle of the wilderness. Lisa felt like she was being pulled over in the picture below while being asked for her License and registration! Note: Check out the smile on the Jackass, this is not photoshop - he was posing for the camera!

Dusk turned into night and it was time to head to the city of Custer for their annual fireworks. We stumbled across the perfect location just off the main road. With the top off the Jeep we could hear the music being played to accompany the Fireworks while we peered into the sky to see the brilliant colors explode into the night! It was a perfect ending to a perfect day! That is until we got home and Lisa went online to check out the details for the fireworks at Mount Rushmore the following day. Mount Rushmore on the 4th of July weekend was one of the very first things we put on our calendar when planning the trip. Somehow we had it down that July 5th was the firework display this year, not the 4th, boy was that not the case! Troy’s mom called us that night letting us know how cool they looked on TV and that they must have been spectacular in person, well we don’t know this year but we will make it back another year to see the fireworks above the presidents and I am sure then it will be a spectacular event!

Driving the Iron Mountain Road through Custer on our way to see Mount Rushmore we finally saw the “famous” Bison of Custer. And when we say famous some of them starred in "Dances with Wolves" so they really are “famous”. The picture below is of a Bison scratching himself on a tree, you should have seen the tree shaking as he was conducting his scratch, we though it might fall over!Driving along the windy road we came through a tunnel and had our first sighting of Rushmore, how awe inspiring! We were unaware that this was “the” tunnel to see the Memorial through so we turned around and went back to take some pics (we do this a lot, very important to get the picture just right!)We made it to the Mount Rushmore National Memorial and it was crazy with people. We know what you are thinking; of course it was, 4th of July weekend at a National memorial, duh! But we had such luck with places not being busy that we were not prepared for the summer rush, time to suck it up and stand in line!

A flag from each state greeted us as we walked towards the memorial – breathtaking! We were a bit disappointed as we made our way closer to the presidents as we noticed the crew atop the memorial cleaning up from the “spectacular” firework display from the night before (just another reminder we missed them). Troy did a great job of “hiding” the large white bags of trash coming down the face of the memorial in the photo below, nice work Troy!

Next we headed to the Crazy Horse Memorial located not far from Mount Rushmore. The Crazy Horse Memorial is a work in progress and who knows if it will ever be finished. Once the Memorial is complete Lisa is convinced it will be worth visiting but until that day don’t waste your 20 bucks! Maybe the admission price should reflect the ongoing construction and have a reduced price for work-in-progress. :)

After taking the puppies for another walk along the nature trail we got ready for a night on the town. We went to see “Urinetown” at the Black Hills Playhouse. "Penny for a Pee!" The play was put on by the University of South Dakota and was wonderful, so funny! The little playhouse in the middle of Custer State Park in the middle of the Black Hills made it all the more of a cool experience. We loved Custer State Park and wanted to spend more time there but it was time to move on, we have a schedule to keep, okay not really but we have a ton more places we want to explore!

We had been in South Dakota awhile now and it was time to head up to North Dakota, Fargo was our destination. Along the way we stopped off at Wall Drug. If you took an advertising or marketing class in College you heard about Wall Drug. Wall Drug became famous for it’s “Free Ice Water” signs on the freeway off of I-90 luring tourist in off the highway to their drug store. Wall Drug today is a huge tourist trap but one that is a welcomed stop along the road. They have also become know for the Jackalope in their backyard. Here is Lisa with the Jackalope, she had to fight off a little girl to get her turn, damn kids cutting in line!

Badlands National Park was another stop along the route however the badlands were a little too bad for us; dust, dirt devils, snake signs, we choose to explore this park in the RV – lucky for us much of the natural beauty can be seen from the safety and air conditioning of our RV and very far away from snakes! As you can see from the picture Lisa has overcome her fear of “Beware of Snakes” signs, we are still working on the actual snake part! We did miss the Minute Man Missile Silos on our way out of the Park, they were already closed, sorry Troy, maybe next time!

After spending the night in the middle of nowhere South Dakota, Kadoka we stopped at 1880 Town. Another tourist trap along the route – they seem to be everywhere and sometimes you just have to give in and stop. 30 buildings authentically furnished with thousands of relics from the era with the terrain of a sprawling homestead where you can envision life on the prairie– not a bad tourist trap if you had to pick one to stop at. They also had a museum dedicated to props used in the filming of Dances with Wolves since it was filmed in the area.

We finally made it to Fargo, North Dakota. Not a ton to do but we were happy to have a few days to chill and catch up on life outside of our National Park Tour, but of course we are not done with the tour – read more soon! (Really, we are going to post more soon, we are on a roll!)