On Friday we drove into South Dakota. We left the freeway to drive to Britton South Dakota because I keep seeing a "Wickre Family Restaurant" mentioned on the internet. Well, they closed the restaurant two weeks before we got there but we got a picture of us with the sign. We then drove through Webster and Wauby, South Dakota where my parents grew up during the depression and Dust Bowl era. We stopped at Blue Dog Lake between Webster and Wauby for a family ceremony and drove on to the Black Hills and Mt Rushmore. In driving across Montana and the Dakota's we encountered a lot of bugs. Outside of Oregon you pump your own gas. so when we stopped my son would wash our windows while I pumped the gas. A few minutes on the freeway and the bugs were back all over our windshield. We stopped at Wall Drug in Wall, South Dakota. I love tourist traps and this is one of the best.From there we drive through Rapid City to Keystone, a small tourist town, a stones throw from Mr Rushmore. Since this is the "off season" all the motels in Keystone were advertising rooms for $34.99 for 1-4 adults. We got a real nice room with a microwave and refrigerator on the ground floor and got some pizza at a near by restaurant. We spent Saturday at Mt Rushmore. I love the place. They have changed it since I was last there and have underground parking and a new lodge. They have a good book store there with history's of the Presidents on Rushmore. We had lunch at the lodge and went on a walk around the front of base of the mountain (350 steps) We went to the studio where Borgland (the builder/sculpture) built the monument in the 1930/40s. We then went on a trip around Custer State Park looking for Buffalo. We saw three. We then went back to Rushmore for the lighting ceremony Saturday night. It rained a lot! While at Rushmore I bought a statue of George W Bush and a documentary on Teddy Roosevelt on DVD. My dad worked on Mt Rushmore in the early 1940's- he drove a dynamite truck. So, Mt Rushmore always was a special place for my parents and it is a special place for me. A part of them will always be there.
On Sunday we left Keystone and traveled through a corner of Wyoming and all the way through Montana , Idaho and on to Spokane Washington.. We had a short stop at the Little Big Horn where Custer had his "last stand". On Monday we traveled back to Oregon , stopped at my sister's home in Portland, and made it home to Medford by 8 pm. It was an exhausting trip but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. It was a chance to spend some time with our son who if he goes to North Dakota we will see less and less of. For his view of the trip click on the title above for a link to his blog.
