South Dakota, Part 2: Wall Drug, Rapid City, Cosmos Mystery Area, and Mt. Rushmore

Here's Part 1, if you missed it.
I REMEMBER SEEING PHOTOS FROM A family vacation to South Dakota in a photo album before I was, as my mom says, "Even a glimmer in your daddy's eyes." Or something. But I didn't remember any specific photos before Alie, Bunny, and I headed out on the road. It wasn't until I visited my parents after the trip, and looked again through the photo album, that I realized I had pretty much retraced their trip exactly, approximately 29 years later.

My photo album had startling similarities: there were the photos on the giant rabbit at Wall Drug, the photos in the old mining town of Keystone in the Black Hills, photos at Cosmos Mystery Area. Granted, of all the trips people take, I would think all South Dakota photo albums look the most alike. In any case, it was eerie and exciting to see that I took the same trip my family (mom, dad, older brother and sister) took before I even existed.

Too boot: I found out we stayed at the same Holiday Inn in Rapid City that my family did, too! Pure coincidence.


So, we arrive in Wall, South Dakota and it's like someone has made a town just for me and Bunny. It's touristy, sure, but it's far from boring. It's darn right fun. Hell -- there's a whole yard full of standees, a giant rabbit, and replica stagecoach to climb on! We stayed there for about two hours, but for my time-to-be-determined return trip, I would like to get a room in one of the tiny motels in town and spend an entire day in Wall.

I was able to find a cheap pair of cowboy boots, pink ones, and I wore them for the remainder of our trip. I also got my refreshing cup of free ice water -- the very gimmick that put Wall on the map -- and also picked up my free Have You Dug Wall Drug bumper sticker.



I love Wall.

High on all the fun we had at Wall Drug, I couldn't wait to move on to the next leg of our journey: Rapid City and Mount Rushmore! We were only a little over an hour away! We stopped at a Holiday Inn in Rapid City to relax for a moment and freshen up before heading out to Mt. Rushmore. The room was huge. I wonder if I managed to stay in the same room, much less the same hotel, as my parents!

We take the long, winding route, higher and higher into the Black Hills. There is something luxurious about being surrounded by pine trees growing out of the rock. We wound our way through Keystone (which looks incredibly fun, but we didn't have time to stop) and up to the four faces carved into the side of the mountain.


Do you know? The pass to get into Mount Rushmore is good for an entire year!

Bunny was first to point out all of the different license plates in the parking lot. No two seemed to be from the same state! A new walking path opened recently that leads to the base of the mountain. You can get up close and personal with the blast rubble! There is also a great photo opportunity to take a photo of the Presidents from the inside of a bolder. We also were lucky enough to see mountain goats! I knew something was going on when everyone was aiming their cameras into the woods rather than at the mountain!

I got a pressed penny souvenir (I'd been collecting them the whole way), and we drove back the way we came, but this time stopping at Cosmos Mystery Area.

Cosmos Mystery Area, according to our tour guide, is the location of some sort of unexplainable vortex. A vortex that warps and binds the trees, architecture, and gravity itself! Whoa! So that's a load of crap, but it was highly amusing and a ton of fun. We arrived just as the last tour of the day was getting ready to depart -- we were pretty lucky with our timing!



We walked up an uneven, steep, paved path to a crooked house-like structure surrounded by twisted trees. There were all kinds of tricks. I'll let the photo, above, say it all.

After that, the three of us were pretty punchy. But we were also hungry, so stopped at a Mexican restaurant before calling it a night back at the hotel. The food was delicious, the margaritas were huge and delicious, and in entered a mountain man. Well, he was more of a prospector looking fellow. We couldn't believe our eyes. That, coupled with being sleepy, punchy, and full of half a giant margaritas -- we got a little giggly, too. We were baffled and didn't quite believe our eyes. The prospector had continued walking toward the back of the restaurant.

That's when we started hearing knocking on the wall behind us. And more knocking. And then some more. By now we were full on laughing, probably being a touch annoying to the other diners. When the waiter came by to ask if we needed anything, I asked, "Did I just see a mountain man walk by? And is he knocking on the wall? I don't care, I'm just curious." The waiter shook his head with one of those "I don't know" shrugs. And then almost immediately we saw the prospector get escorted out of the restaurant. I felt terrible! I don't know if that was a direct result of me or a coincidence.

But the knocking stopped.

We brought our leftovers back to the room, watched some bad cable tv, and we all slept as hard as bags of bricks in our giant room. I woke up sad that we had to leave for home, but as I got dressed and put on my pink cowboy boots, I and made a promise to myself that I would return again someday.

But there was one more stop to make before we made a bee-line back to Minneapolis. The Dinosaur Park.

To get to this area, you have to drive through a regular old neighborhood and, once again, we wound our way up the side of a small mountain until we could see the city around us, unobstructed. The Dinosaur Park was made as a part of WPA Project #960 in the 1930s.

Basically what you do when you get here is climb on the dinosaurs as much as you want and take silly photos. It's a good thing that's what me and Bunny do best. The gift shop here is wonderful -- all kinds of goodies, including snacks like popcorn, hotdogs, and slushees.

Home again home again jiggity jig.

See the entire photo set on my Flickr page!