Great American Road Trip – Part 2

If you need a refresher, here’s where we left off in “Part 1”. Let’s hit the road again…

Day 9:  Time to say adios to my sis and nephew (bro-in-law had to go out of town on business a few days earlier). The compass didn’t point east just yet, though, as we took a northerly route home instead of simply backtracking. First up was Deadwood, SD. Yes, the same Deadwood from the HBO show, where we learned of it in the first place. Low and behold, it’s actually on the National Historic Register.

To get there, however, we had to drive through the most gigantic expanse of this country I’ve seen yet – eastern Wyoming. Do not undertake a road trip through this two-lane section of the country with anything less than an overflowing tank of gas and rations for weeks. I’m not kidding – there are literally hundreds of miles between the tiniest hints of civilization out there, cell phones don’t have a chance of working, every gas station we came upon was boarded up, and cows outnumber humans by probably about 20,000:1. It’s no joke. If something were to happen to you out there you’d be screwed. Thank god we got new tires put on the car in Colorado. Wyoming is wide open spaces to a tee.

We did find one diamond in the rough out there, though – Ft. Laramie. This little historic gem is smack dab in the middle of nowhere Wyoming, but is a really, really cool place. We spent a good hour walking the same grounds so many soldiers and Indians did before there was anything out there but wide open spaces. It was once a major stop on the Pony Express, and taking the same sets of stairs that some of the first people to settle this country did was an almost indescribable experience – humbling, maybe?

one sarsaparilla and one cream soda, please

But we finally rolled into our destination for that day, Deadwood, SD, that evening. Unfortunately it was seriously disappointing – every place has been taken over by gaming, with window upon window full of crappy slot machines. We found what appeared to be the solitary business in the town without a casino stuck in it to take the girls in for dinner. It’s a shame too; it could have been preserved as a very cool historic place, but now it’s not so much. I hate casinos, so I was ready to leave. After driving through the famed Sturgis, we decided to stop in Rapid City, SD, for the night.

Deadwood, SD

Day 10:  Mt. Rushmore day. We woke up to thunderstorms, however, so got a much later start than we would have liked. On our way to see the big faces, we went to the Crazy Horse monument, a big mountain tribute to the Lakota Sioux leader in progress. Very cool.

the mountain in the back is being carved in the likeness of the statue in the forefront

so far only the head of the statue is complete

Some of Ryan’s friends had said that Mt. Rushmore was very underwhelming, which really bummed me out because I had been looking forward to this part of the trip for a long time. I don’t know from what planet they hail, though, because it was honestly one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. From the moment I first saw it from the highway driving in to the last glimpse we got on the way out, I was in awe. I literally could have spent the entire day just standing there staring at it instead of the couple hours we had. Not only is the memorial itself simply incredible, but the park and buildings they have set up around it are pristine. Definitely put this one on your must-see list. You will not regret it.

There are a couple other national parks in that area that we would have liked to have seen, but we just didn’t have time – Jewel Cave, Wind Cave, and the Minuteman Missile Silo. The Badlands, however, we were not going to miss. So we hightailed it out of Mt. Rushmore and headed east another hour or two to highway 240, the Badlands Loop.

This was another unbelievable area. The highway that winds through the park is about 40 miles long, and it takes you from the top to the bottom of the Badlands (or bottom to top if you come from the east). Words can’t really describe its beauty, and I’m sure our pictures don’t do it an ounce of justice, so just go see it for yourself. Again, you won’t regret it. We want to make another pilgrimage out there just to see these 2 places again and get to explore them more in-depth. You can easily spend at least a day at each park.

Badlands, SD

When we left the Badlands it was already evening, and I wanted to get the girls fed at a normal time that night instead of pulling into a hotel super late and getting them all out of whack again. Unfortunately central South Dakota is apparently not known for dining hot spots, so we had to settle for a little hometown diner in Kadoka, SD. Yeah, I’d never heard of it either. You can skip that place. Double unfortunately, massive thunderstorms were rolling in as we ate, so we quickly got the girls cleaned up and into pj’s so they could fall asleep in the car until we stopped for that night, wherever that was going to be.

Something else I learned – thunderstorms on the wide open plains of South Dakota are NOT to be taken lightly. We drove through over 100 miles of non-stop lightning, and I have never been scared of a storm like that before. When you are the only thing on the horizon and lightning is flashing around you like a strobe light, you just hope and pray you make it to shelter before getting charred. Thankfully we did, with the storms accompanying us the entire way. Our last hotel for the trip was in Sioux Falls, SD. We had made it all the way across the state!

this was our view for the entire eastern half of SD. too bad we couldn’t enjoy all the daylight on the 1st day of summer

Day 11:  Homeward bound! We hadn’t gotten settled into the hotel room and the girls put to bed the night before until about 1 a.m., so we pulled the shades and let everyone sleep as late as possible. We were finally all up around 10-10:30 and got ready to head home. Checkout wasn’t until noon so we took our time and finally left Sioux Falls around noon, after breakfast and a much-needed Starbucks stop. Minnesota seemed to fly by compared to Wyoming and South Dakota, and then we entered the homeland once more.

say french fries!

After a stop in Madison for dinner with some friends at one last brewery, we pulled back into our driveway late that night. Whew!

This was an outstanding trip, and I am so happy we decided to do it. The girls were absolute dreams of travelers – barely a peep from either side of the backseat for all those miles and hours in the car, countless stops, and 3 different hotel rooms. Ryan got 5 new stamps and stickers in his National Parks Passport, Della got her own Junior Ranger National Parks Passport to start, and Lana, well Lana got to chew on a red Solo cup to her heart’s content. (note to self – keep a red solo cup in the car at all times to placate a restless baby)

Thank you, America, for gorgeous scenery, an established interstate roadway system upon which we can travel to said scenery, and memories our family will cherish for a lifetime.