September 24th,
2010, Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota -- I love spontaneous road trips. Okay, it wasn't spontaneous, spontaneous but
my brother, dad and I did throw this trip together on a whim. I've had a goal to visit Mt. Rushmore for a
while now and watching North by Northwest the previous month sealed the deal
for me – I had to go as a true blooded American.
So off we went on an epic guy’s weekend… just us, the open
road and one heck of a lot of antelope through Wyoming! First pit stop? Green
River, Wyoming. To learn what we did on
this little stop please read on the post that shan’t be named…
Then it was another stop in Rawlins, Wyoming home of the
Frontier Prison and some pretty cool Victorian Era homes.
Next stop, climbing
Independence
Rock and reading names in axel grease.
Hundreds and even thousands passed by this rock on their way to new
futures as they migrated the Oregon and Mormon Trails. It was surreal to think today we travel the
same miles for a weekend trip in a temperature controlled car…
We also made an impressionable stop at Martin’s Cove which I’ve
covered in another post.
From Martin’s Cove to Casper across the Thunder Basin
National Grassland to Newcastle there sure isn’t much to see besides well…
grassland and antelope.
We were relieved to get a break from the road and stayed in a small motel in Newcaslte, Wyoming (just across the South Dakota border).
South Dakota welcomed us with a quick stop at Jewel Cave
National Monument. Then we saw the
incomplete
Crazy Horse on our way
to Custer State Park.
Custer State Park is a must for anyone visiting South Dakota! The rock formations are incredible and its such an beautiful drive.
I know I said the goal of the trip was Mt. Rushmore and it was pretty incredible but I need to disclose that it was at this point I just didn't take that many pictures. I mean if you haven't seen Mt. Rushmore in person then you really have a hard time appreciating the scale and complexity of the art piece but there are thousands of pictures of the famous faces so I trust if you are still reading this post you won't be disappointed that I just haven't included too many pictures of the monument.
Now Wall Drug is one crazy place on the way to Badlands National Park. The tourist trap, I mean attraction is riot. It's like one huge niche mall in an old west theme. I had so much fun just observing and looking around. It was a riot and great stop.
The Badlands... well imagine all the really cool red rock places in Southern Utah but well... grey... that's the Badlands. It's not that I was disappointed or didn't enjoy the Badlands it's just that there is only so much you can say about nothing...
And then on the other side do Sturgis there was Belle Fourche, the geographical center of the United States. Um, yes, I am proud and took the obligatory picture. Supposedly this isn't really the center, supposedly the center is in some guys field like 20 miles further north but well, I wasn't that committed.
Devils Tower, now there is a cool random National Monument. If you stood in the visitors center you could actually see people rope climbing the formation. Really cool.
On the way back we stayed in Cody, Wyoming and drove through Yellowstone. I could never get tired of this place. I just hope I'm not around when it explodes...
Another quick stop at Mesa Falls, Island Park, Idaho. We were pretty travel wherry at this point but what an awesome trip! Can't wait for another opportunity to hit the open road!
