Day 5: Spearfish, South Dakota, to Brookings, South Dakota

ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY IN SOUTH DAKOTA:
BUT IS IT ALWAYS WINDY?
It was very windy from just outside Billings all the way to South Dakota. When we arrived in Spearfish, the wind was blowing so hard, it blew the car door shut. I thought maybe it was a storm front, but the next morning, the wind was blowing just as strong as the night before. I wonder if autumn is a windy season or if this section of the country is always windy. Does anyone know?

CRAZY HORSE AND MOUNT RUSHMORE:
Entrance fees of $20 and $10.
Can you match the fee to the monument?
I visited Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore in the early 1980s, but Steve had never been to either before. I was excited for him to see them. Our route took us to Crazy Horse first, which I thought would be interesting so he could see one monument in progress and then a finished one. The entrance fee was $20. I didn't think much of it until we got closer and I saw that the monument is still very far from being finished, even after more than 50 years of work. I understand that sculpting something so massive is not easy or quick. However, I thought that 25 years after seeing it for the first time I would see major progress. Steve & I were disappointed in what we saw. We also didn't find the Visitor Center to be very effective, specific or inspiring. It was filled with many photographs and artifacts of Native Americans, and to me it had a jumbled feeling.


Crazy Horse

Mount Rushmore was next. $10 entrance fee (cash only, unlike all the other parks we have visited). Covered parking garages. Grand entrance to the monument. Even though there were many people visiting, it never felt crowded. We gave it a thumbs up!


Obnoxious Tourists

WALL DRUG: WAS IT WORTH IT?
Depends on whom you ask: the person who loves shopping and looking at interesting, unique items, or the person who detests anything remotely resembling shopping? Actually, both of us thought Wall Drug was a tourist disaster. For me, it was fun to just wander around in the different shops and see what ridiculous things they had. (e.g. a wall plaque that said: 'Cowboy Wisdom - Don't kick a fresh turd on a hot day.')
Inside Wall Drug



The Sign Outside

That being said, it was geezerville. Oh, and nightmare tourist mecca. OMG. Did you know that there never was a Mr. Wall? It got its name from being on the 'wall' of the Badlands. Also, it became such a tourist stopover when, in the late 1940s, they began to advertise and dole out free cold water to travelers. It's simply become more and more bloated since then. Reminds me of the old barn structure in P-Town that burned down. Just a lot of little shops strung together. Don't expect anything of quality, though. And the signs are fun to pass on the highway.

One of the first "rooms" of Wall Drug that we walked through was filled with cowboy and western wear.. When we entered, I saw a TV on the wall showing the John Wayne movie "True Grit," which was one of my favorite movies when I was a teenager. The scene showed Maddie Ross, played by Kim Darby, and I said to Steve, "There's this scary scene in the movie when Maddie falls into a pit filled with rattlesnakes." The store clerk caught my eye, and without missing a beat and with a monotone voice said, "And screaming ensued." I laughed out loud! (I still would recommend seeing "True Grit." It was filmed in southern Colorado and the cinematography is beautiful.)

ENGLISH MAJORS MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Beware all you bad spellers, Deb and Steve are on the prowl for your signage mistakes and we won't take know for an answer!

Across the street from Wall Drug was a nice little diner with a large sign out front that read 'LIEVER AND ONIONS $6.99'




Of course, a picture was taken. Apparently some smartypants inside the restaurant saw us do this and by the time we got back to the car the sign said:

"DANCES WITH WOLVES"
As we drove through South Dakota after leaving Rapid City, I couldn't help but think of the movie "Dances With Wolves." Much of that film was shot where we had been and where we were going. As we drove along Highway 14 toward the South Dakota capital of Pierre (pronounced "pier," I'm told), we passed the Cheyenne River and other buttes, hills and miles of grassland that made me think I would see a stampede of buffalo at any minute.

The photo below reminds me of the spot where Lt. John Dunbar, played by Kevin Costner, sets up camp near a small pond.



FARTY MAN
Ok, so we're at Mt. Rushmore and Deb lies down on a granite bench just outside the main entrance to rest for a while. I toddle around for a few minutes, then return just in time to hear (and then see) this guy sitting not 6 feet from Deb on the same bench lift up his left cheek - the one facing Deb - and let loose a very audible and lengthy eruption. I was flabbergasted (pun intended, since he was a good 100 lbs overweight). Speechless. I just walked by, but later Deb told me that she heard it but hadn't known the specifics. 'Dear Abby, How should I have handled this situation? Signed, Blown Away

GROOVY CARS
On the road heading up to Crazy Horse we passed by a tremendous flashback to the 50s - a soda shop and auto musuem along the side of the road named Boondocks. Though we didn't have a malted or bother to get our pics taken in period costumes, I had a great time taking shots of the cars and the other miscellaneous items. The highlight was the old Nash Ambassador Deluxe (I suspect it would be pronounced DEE-lux).



QUESTION OF THE DAY: Anyone care to come up with a story for the derivation of naming a town Holabird?


Harvested hay along Highway 14 in South Dakota


Hay truck along Highway 14 in South Dakota


Nothing but wide open country for miles


Crossing the Missouri River at Pierre, S.D.

SOUTHERN FRANCE OR SOUTH DAKOTA? As we were driving from Wall to Pierre, S.D., we passed miles and miles of sunflower farms. At first I thought the farms were corn because the sunflowers were past their bloom and the plants looked a bit like cornstalks. But then I saw that these were crops of sunflowers. I tried to imagine the fields all yellow with the flowers in bloom. It must be gorgeous!

Here's a bit of info I found online: "South Dakota sunflower farms color the countryside with rows and rows of big, bright, yellow fringed balls the size of pizza pies. As they uniformly bob in the breeze, they create an image of a wavy sea of lemon yellow. Most of the crop will be used for salad oil, the remainder will be used for animal feed."