Day 2: Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands

Panoramic view in the Badlands

We left Austin, Minnesota a little before 8:00 and the highway was virtually empty and with visibility of over 10 miles on the virtually flat lands of the great planes, that is saying something.  We continued to have the road virtually to ourselves for the first couple of hours of driving.  Once we were in South Dakota we stopped at a rest area/information center.  They take their information centers seriously in South Dakota!  Before I even had a chance to ask anything the little old lady behind the counter began spewing more information my way than I could digest.  She did it with such enthusiasm and vigor that I just had to listen to wealth of choices I had in the great state of South Dakota, including something known as The Corn Palace.  The next thing I know we had about 5 days worth of itinerary lined up with about 6 hours to accomplish it.  We decided to whittle the choices to a couple, the first of which was the next rest area/information center we would visit.

Sign over the counter at the Information Center

A little over 150 miles of traveling brings us to the Missouri River and our second well staffed South Dakota rest area/information center.  This one doubles as a mini Lewis and Clark museum as it is evidently built on the site that Lewis and Clark camped for several days both on their way out and 2 years later on their way back.  We ate our lunch, stretched our legs and too in the views of the wide Missouri River.  Pretty neat!
One thing I noticed traveling on from the Lewis and Clark mini museum is that billboards are everywhere along this stretch of I-90 and one is never left with a wanting for something to read.  The problem is that even though a bill board appeared every 300 to 400 feet (very little exaggeration here - at least in one section of road) there were only about 5 unique ones being shown and most of them were for Wall Drug, which we started to think might be a bigger attraction than Mt. Rushmore.

Pooh takes in the views at the Badlands

The second change in itinerary that we decided to make based on the enthusiastic suggestions of our friendly South Dakotan hostess was to leave I-90 and take a 35 mile detour through The Badlands National Park.  This was indeed a very wise choice and we are grateful for the suggestion (I know wonder if the Corn Palace might have been something to see after all).

    The Badlands are a very unique sight to behold.  In part, they remind a little bit of Chimney Bluffs near Rochester NY but of different color and very different scale.  In other places the views remind you of canyons of the states farther south.  One thing that Katie kept mentioning and I had to agree was just how quite it was once you were away from the other tourists.  The air was still and there wasn't a sound to be heard anywhere.  I wondered if it had to do with a lack of animals.  There was some vegetation (they do get 16 inches of rainfall a year) and warnings to be on the lookout for rattle snakes.

Pooh looks so much bigger than those guys

Once we left the badlands we were only a little over an hour away from our destination for the night in Keystone SD and the Mt. Rushmore National Monument.  Not only that, we are also beyond the location of Wall Drug and are no longer bombarded with bill boards advertising this western marvel of merchandising.  Maybe next time I'm out this way I'll have to check it out to see what all the fuss is.  We drive past our hotel which is situated in the heart of the brief tourist trap that is 2 miles outside of
Mt. Rushmore to visit said attraction before checking in and settling down.  I'm sure there is a lot of fascinating information to gather and absorb at all the theaters showing movies and the museum full of exhibits, but the big busts themselves are, well, just shy of that.  One could actually hike up them and I'm sure that would make for interesting views and perspectives but our take away is that we can say we've been there and we were really glad we spent time in the Badlands instead of rushing here.  Better yet, maybe we should have visited Wall Drug.