Thursday, October 23, 2008

Melissa writes:
When you put 4 thoroughly exhausted people in one room and they fall asleep...they're quite loud.
Not snoring exactly, but I woke up at one point and thought - man we're loud!

We all woke up quite early. 8:30am local time to be exact. We probably (definitely) could have slept later, but were excited to begin the sight-seeing.

Breakfast was first on the agenda. Fortunately there was a Perkins attached to the hotel!
Vogel got his omelette, and we ate well. mmmmm Perkins.
Sock Monkey made a friend. A little boy who after seeing Monkey, started singing the Monkey mail song. "Did the Monkey mail come? Yes the Monkey mail came..." Those of you with kids will know what I'm talking about.
Aboot - I should say. We are in South Dakota you know.
Vogel and I spent much of the breakfast trying to learn the local accent.


Sock Monkey makes a friend


We returned to the hotel (2.5 minute walk - inside) to re-group and devise a plan.

The plan remained the same. Go to Mt. Rushmore.
We got extra-big coffees and started on our way.

First of all, the Presidents seem a lot bigger in pictures. I mean, they're still big and all, but you're not very close to them, and they are awfully high up. No snide comments necessary - Vogel felt the same way. Humpf.
We walked up to Mt. Rushmore, had a group hug ("We made it!") and continued our adventure.
Mt. Rushmore is a cool place.



Took lots of pictures and took the "strenuous hike" trail to the base of the mountain.
We saw MOUNTAIN GOATS!!!!
They were great!


We did our first "confessionals" at Mt. Rushmore.
Can't wait to see what everyone said!

Next we went to Crazy Horse. Where the "White men will learn that the Red men have heros too."
Their words - not mine.
It's the Native American version of Mt. Rushmore. It's a very cool story, and I must say for that reason is as cool as Mt. Rushmore.
They started carving/blasting it in the 40's and have only finished Crazy Horse's head.
All four of our President's heads from Mt. Rushmore fit in Crazy Horse's head.
It's that big.
If you ever come out to South Dakota, you should totally go to Crazy Horse.
We made a pact to come back when it's finished if we're still friends. :-)

The sketch of what Crazy Horse will look like


Crazy Horse - South Dakota 2008


So then we had lunch.
I tried a bite of buffalo burger. Tastes an awful lot like really lean beef to me.

We then decided to try to make it to the Badlands.
Well, the sun was going down, and we weren't going to make it.
We pulled over at a gas station to let the GPS catch up to us (after it had tried to take us to a KOA Campground).
Vogel tried to leave Nick behind. He even threw change out the window, but it didn't work.
Nick got back in the car, 50 cents richer.

The decision was to bite the bullet and drive to Devil's Tower. In Wyoming.

We did make a slight detour through the town of Deadwood.
Deadwood is where Wild Bill Hickock was shot, killed, and buried.
It would've been cool, except that there was no one there, and it was completely modernized.
Nick and I slept. Vogel drove, and May was co-pilot.

May does pick a good hotel. I have to give her that.

We landed in Devils Tower, Wyoming. At the local Best Western.
It's cheaper here than in Rapid City.
May made us go to the local bar.
We walked there as it was only 2 blocks away.

On the way, we were slightly frightened, because we heard very loud music and a lot of "whooping".
This is not comforting when you are the only non-locals in the area, and you're walking.

We found a quieter bar across the street from the scary bar called The Rodeo Bar.
TOTALLY FUN!!!
We had some frozen pizzas that were cooked in the toaster oven - one at a time I might add.
The bartender's name is Dusky.

Dusky after a tequila shot WITH worm

Enough said.
There was also a great couple named Greg and Shannon.


Shannon was drinking a shot made of some florescent red vodka called "UV Red" and Red Bull.
Ew.
She got May Tam to drink one though.
Or two.

note May's grimace

We played 80's hair band music on the juke box, and danced and acted fools and I must say thoroughly entertained the locals.
We will definitely keep in touch with the folks here in Devils Tower, Wyoming.

We are now back at the hotel.
May Tam is drunken Panda.
I have to go now and protect my side of the bed from cover thieving.

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