The second day of our trip we traveled for 12 hours. (We miscalculated the distance from Missoula to Rapid City by 100 miles. The last 2 hours were L-O-N-G. Thank goodness for 75 mph speed limits!) We learned that two back-to-back days of 11+ hours in a car are not really fun! But the scenery was amazing! The mountains were awe inspiring. The sky lived up to the Big Sky name. There were ranches and horses and cattle and farms. Every minute of the ride was beautiful. We arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota at 8:30pm Thursday night.
Friday we slept late (yea!), did laundry, and explored the quaint downtown of Rapid City. The downtown is full of statues of the presidents on street corners, following the theme of Mt. Rushmore. There is an alley called Art Alley where all the walls are covered in murals. And there was a visiting exhibition about Pope John Paul II, in part created by Xavier University. We also made time to see the Hellboy II movie - which was great! We rested so that we would have energy for the next day.
Today we got up and hit the road early. We went to Jewel Cave and toured it for 1 1/2 hours. It was incredible! We had a Park Ranger tour guide, Shay, who was charming and lovely. Then we went to Flintstones Bedrock City for lunch. This area is filled with fun and kitsch vacation spots, and we like to try a few of them! Next we went to Crazy Horse. This place is awesome and inspiring, to say the least. The project is in its 60th year, and still faces a long uphill battle before it will be completed. Finally, we toured Custer State Park in the hopes of seeing buffalo. We did spot prong horn deer, but no buffalo. Then we headed for our temporary home.
Quirky experiences:
We went to Wal-Mart in Missoula, Montana for batteries for the camera. We went in the 20 items or less check-out aisle. Two women with a baby were ahead of us. They must have had over 100 items combined, far exceeding the limit. The guy directly in front of us with 2 items was rightfully put out. We exchanged rueful looks and comments, and when he got to the cashier he did make a comment. The cashier told him that it is "illegal" for her to deny service or send the person to another line. Hmmmm....illegal? Then why bother having these designated lines? Missoula lost its charm for me right then.
Dave and I prefer to dine at local estabishlishments and experience the flavors of the region when traveling. Some of the fun places so far have been Zips in Ritsville, Washington, Colonial House in Rapid City, South Dakota and Sanford's Pub & Grub in Rapid City, South Dakota.
On day 2 I had my first scrape, literally. I tripped and fell in a gas station parking lot in DeSmet Lake, Wyoming because my shoes were not tied. I have a huge strawberry on my right shin as a result! Very pretty!
Rapid City, South Dakota has many streets named for saints, St. Ann, St. Patrick, St. John, etc. We also saw a Saint Onge street! Neither Dave nor I realized the prevalence of Catholicism in this part of the world.
You know how I can never remember when you're going to be gone?
Posted by: Stacey | 07/21/2008 at 01:40 PM
We'll be back on Saturday, July 26th!
Posted by: bmac | 07/21/2008 at 07:09 PM