The wind finally died down enough for us to make it to South Dakota. The first thing we did was head to Crazy Horse Memorial, which was by far more impressive then Mount Rushmore which we saw real quick afterward. The actual memorial isn't anywhere near completed yet, but is still a work in progress. The original sculptor has passed away, but luckily 7 out of 10 of his children and his wife have continued his dream.
Mt Rushmore was mush smaller in scale then Crazy Horse. We payed our $10 for parking, and walked up to take a picture, and that's about it. It was very unimpressive compared to Crazy Horse.
After Mt. Rushmore, we finally headed to Deadwood. We stayed at a campground right in town, so we could walk to town. The town of Deadwood (in case you haven't seen the show--which was awesome--to bad they cancelled it), was a wild west town founded by folks looking to make their fortune in panning for gold. The famed "Wild Bill" Hickock and Calamity Jane where infamous inhabitants. We got to see the bar where Wild Bill was assassinated, and their museum in town was interesting. Today Deadwood is like a minature old west Vegas. Casinos line the main street amoung the saloons and hotels. We hiked up to the cemetary where Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, and the sherriff Seth Bullock were buried. That was definitely a bit eery as it was cloudy and it even started hailing on us. So we took off after a nice lunch in town to head towards the Badlands.
A trip to the badlands would not be complete without a stop at Wall Drug, which was as silly as I thought it would be. There were many "Jackalope" souviners amoung other sily South Dakota trinkets.
We arrived at the Badlands late, so we set up camp and hiked them the next morning on the way out of town. One of the trails went up a steep formation and we had to use a ladder to make it to the top, where the view was amazing! After a good hike, we were on the road again to head towards Wisconsin to see my friend Allison...
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