Day 11 God Only Knows What Day We're Up To (Rapid City to Sioux Falls)

Yes folks, we no longer know what day it is, the date or what time zone we're in. But time flies when you're having fun...

I feel we need to fill you in on a few more cool facts about the Alex Johnson hotel... First, the eighth floor is supposedly haunted. What room were we in? 820. Nothing spooky in our room but kind of a cool tall tale. Second, six Presidents have resided there in the Presidential Suite. Third and probably coolest, when North by Northwest was shooting in the area the cast and Hitchcock stayed there. Kind of neat!

Once we said goodbye to our cool hotel, we headed to Alternative Fuel, a cute little breakfast spot in Rapid City, SD. It was a good jump start to the long day of driving that lay ahead of us.

It was raining but that didn't stop us. We headed out to Art Alley. If any of you have visited Graffiti Alley in Long Island City it's the same concept. Some of it is cheesy cartoon work but a lot of it is really interesting portraits and political messages. Very cool stuff.

Then we headed to the Crazy Horse Memorial. For those of you who don't know the story behind this memorial it is actually pretty neat. Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski was asked by the Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear to sculpt a monument of Crazy Horse in 1947. According to Korczak, Standing Bear wanted to show that there are great 'heroes in the Red Man's history too'. The memorial's mission is to honor the culture, tradition and living heritage of North American Indians. Korczak essentially had nowhere to go and no money so he decided to dedicate his life to building the largest sculpture ever created in the side of a mountain using dynamite and chizzelling tools. Luckily he apprenticed on Mount Rushmore so he knew a thing or two about it but still... it's no little undertaking. He also built and outlined several scale models and drawings so that his TEN children could continue the project after he died. Seven of the ten do in fact continue to work on this massive project. Incredible. Should be really interesting to see if they finish in our lifetime ... probably not.

Next up we headed for Mount Rushmore. The fog unfortunately returned and we couldn't see a damn thing. Kind of creepy to think that there are four ginormous president heads looking down at you as you drive through thick fog... oh well.

Then we set out on our old friend I-90. All along I-90 are signs that read 5 Cent Coffee at Wall Drug or Cowboys Saddle Up at Wall Drug. Turns out Wall is a town and it has Wall Drug, a drug store started in the '30s that now has expanded to a large department store with all sorts of Western knickknacks from cowboy boots to native American art to homemade ice cream and fudge. I desperately wanted a cowboy boots but this cowgirl doesn't drop $500 on boots even if I'm on vacation in South Dakota. No way, no how. So after I purchased a $17 cowboy hat and got some homemade ice cream with Jesse we were back in Champ...

... this time heading for the Badlands National Park. Major shout out to Tyrene for telling us to visit here and to Erica for informing us that it was free national park week. THANKS to both ladies! We considered turning back because the fog was too thick but just as we were about to throw Champ in reverse the fog lifted and we saw the most beautiful rock formations, horizon lines and valleys you've ever see. GORGEOUS!!!! And in keeping with our national parks experience we saw new wildlife ... coyote, prairie dogs and long-horn sheep. And of course we saw more danger signs. This time, much to my chagrin, they were Be Aware: Rattlesnake Area. Needless to say, I did an about face and got back into Champ. But it was cool, the Badlands are essentially a driving tour. Ever time we came around a bend there was another amazing piece of picturesque landscape. Glorious!

After that we drove through dark, rainy and deer infested highways to Sioux Falls, SD. We listened to one of our books on tape the whole way which was kind of the only thing that could save that trip. Lots of boring stretches of highway between the Badlands and Sioux Falls. Let me put it this way ... there is a 3 hour stretch without a McDonald's on the side of the highway. HELLO?!