We're From Indiana!

We made it to South Dakota! Side note: how come no one told me that the previous first sentence was...not a sentence? Thanks guys. Fixed now. That was a feat. The drive through the rest of Minnesota and all of South Dakota was painful. Stunningly so. Flat farmland everywhere. The one shining moment came when we crossed the Missouri River. As I descended down the suddenly hilly highway I was confronted with the most incredibly dazzling blue body of water I've ever seen in the continental US. Behind it green hills rolled lazily off into the horizon. Unfortunately this lasted about 10 miles then it was back to flat farmland. 

We reached the Mt Rushmore area and tried to figure out where to spend the night. After much debate we settled on a KOA campground 9 miles from the monument. Ch'nel set up our tent in record time with absolutely no help from me. I sat on the bench trying not to vomit from the splitting headache I had as a result of the 10 hour car ride of death with no food. Note for future rides, wheat thins and rice cakes does not a lunch make. We went to the supermarket, grabbed some food, then Ch'nel continued to show off her camping expertise by making us a delicious meal of hot dogs and beans. We blew up our air mattresses and went to bed. Well, Ch'nel did. 

I have never been more cold in my life! I had on a t-shirt, long sleeved shirt and two sweat shirts, two layers of pants and two layers of socks. If it didn't involve taking off my two pairs of pants I probably would have added a second layer of underwear as well. The wind was whipping into our tent causing me to wake Ch'nel up in fright because I thought a bear was outside. She was less than pleased. Luckily we had crossed a time zone so even with my inability to sleep I had an extra hour once I did get to sleep. 

We woke up and sought out breakfast. We went into town where each store seems to serve a certain purpose. There are no choices. There is the breakfast place, the hardware place, the t-shirt place and the German food place (all mountain towns have German restaurants. It's a fact). We ate at the breakfast place, their food was completely forgettable. I hoped this wouldn't set the pace for the day. 

We hopped back into the car and drove to Mt Rushmore. The Rush did not disappoint, with Mother Nature providing beautiful blue skies as a backdrop to this titan of patriotism. Our sour moods immediately flew out the window and we began snapping pictures like none other. Marianna with Mt. Rushmore, Ch'nel with Mt Rushmore, both of us with Mt. Rushmore, alright now individual shots of each head, wait, take a picture of the New Jersey flag over there! As we were snapping pictures we engaged in a picture trade of sorts with a couple next to us. We took their picture, they took ours. We exchanged pleasantries and they asked where we were from.

Me: New Jersey

Man: Oh that's great! We're from Indiana!

Alright it doesn't exactly translate over the blogosphere but his intonation implied that Indiana and New Jersey were neighbors. We nodded and agreed that this was a crazy coincidence that we should run into each other. At this point we inched toward the staircase and made a beeline for the museum. Things were about to get awkward upstairs, we needed to remove ourselves. The museum was just a bunch of posters talking about why the presidents were awesome. I always like it when people feel the need to explain why Washington was awesome. We know. We all passed first grade. Teddy Roosevelt needs a little explaining, but we would find out his awesomeness in a few minutes.

We hopped on the park ranger guided tour and learned the entire history of the area and Mt Rushmore in 30 minutes. It was awesome. Did you know that Mt. Rushmore is named Mt Rushmore because some guy named Rushmore saw it and his buddy jokingly called it Mt Rushmore? Then years later he read about the sculpture project and saw that the name had stuck? Did you know that the Sioux Nation currently have a trust fund that they are trying to decide whether or not to accept that is worth over 900 million dollars? Did you know that the sculptor of Mt Rushmore nearly started a war between North Carolina and Georgia? Did you know that Teddy Roosevelt once wanted to send the navy to around the world to shoot their guns off in every port to show their strength but the government wouldn't give him the money? So he sent them anyway and when they ran out of food and fuel he told Congress that if they wanted their navy back they would have to finance their trip home? Yes! That is why Teddy Roosevelt is awesome. He held his own navy hostage. 

We explored the grounds of Mt Rushmore a little more then headed off for a scenic drive. The Black Hills (named for the ponderosa spruce trees that cover them) are gorgeous! The twisting and turning roads are slightly terrifying but totally worth it for the views. Large outcrops of rock pop up everywhere between the thick bunches of trees and deer and mountain goats scamper along the mountain faces. Well, we assume the mountain goats do. At one scenic overlook we stood next to a family and two senior women. The women were locals and were frantically pointing to mountain goats on the mountain in the distance. The family claimed they could see them, I think they were just being kind. As we walked back to our cars the father pointed at our license plate and yelled to his son "Hey! New Jersey! We've got a New Jersey!" That made me feel good. I love the license plate game. They got into the car in front of us and we saw that they were from Michigan. "Do you think we should introduce them to our friends from Indiana?" I asked Ch'nel. 

Further up the road we reached The Needles, tall thin rock formations. These were really awesome and were made more awesome by the professional climbers jumping between them. Unfortunately this was also where our camera batteries ran out of charge. We were tired and planning on returning to the campsite anyway so we figured we would charge them there.

The skies were starting to gray as we reached the campsite. The winds were whipping as hard as they had been the night before and Ch'nel couldn't even get the camp stove to light. I checked the weather and saw that it was going to be cold and rainy tonight. I started to get nervous thinking of how uncomfortable I had been the night before and tonight could only be worse. Ch'nel was worried as well and suggested that I go see how much it would cost to be upgraded to one of the tiny little cabins surrounding the site. I practically ran over there because I was so excited at the idea of an actual structure to protect me from the wind. Once there I did a little *metaphorical* dance when I heard that for the low price of 15 bucks I could have a roof tonight. Score. 

We secured our cabin just in time, as just as we got our tent down the rain began to fall. We moved our stuff down the road to a tiny cabin with a little porch out front, perfect for making the dinner that the wind wouldn't let us make down at the tent site. After a dinner of hot dogs we went back out to see the Crazy Horse Memorial. It was getting dark and starting to rain again but we were determined to see it. 

The Crazy Horse Memorial will one day be the worlds biggest sculpture. Emphasis on one day. It's been in the works for over 60 years and while they claim a lots been done...I beg to differ. Although I guess when you're turning an entire mountain into a sculpture time moves a bit differently. We watched the orientation video, which had to be one of my favorites ever. Occasionally they would just stop talking and cut to footage of rock being blasted off of the mountain. They really knew how to play to my attention span. We ventured out to the "viewing veranda" to snap a few pictures but by this point it was finger numbing cold and we quickly ran back inside. After viewing some of the sculptor's other works we discovered a display that allowed you to take a piece of blasted rock from the sculpture home with you. I'm not talking about pebbles, I'm talking cantaloupe sized pieces. I now have one. Awesome. 

We thought about going to see Mt Rushmore lit up but it was raining and the roads were slippery. It wasn't worth it. So we returned to our cozy cabin to relax and write postcards. The rain is pelting outside yet I am dry and warm. This is fantastic. Onward to Yellowstone tomorrow! Another long drive, but this one should at least be interesting. This is also the end of our long drives as the West Coast ones are 5 hours max. I'm looking forward to that. 

The Money Shot

What up, Lincoln?
What the sculpture is actually supposed to look like

I'm adorable
Ch'nel goes exploring
More exploring

This is what I saw all day. Love it!

These mountain goat/ram things were causing traffic to go nuts trying to find a parking spot to photograph them. And they just chilled there like pros

When Chiz sees someone taking a cool picture she has to copy it. We're copying someone else's picture right here
Gorgeous 
The Needles Eye
Crazy Horse Memorial
What it should look like when it's done
Shaq's shoe? Why not