Day 4 - Wall Drug, Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial

Today was our first "short" drive - 116 miles, but we (aka I) had it jammed packed. Our initial plan was to go to Wall Drug and then the RV park, park Betty White and jump in our van to head to the other sites. I decided mid-way that maybe I should call the places and double check the hours. I'm so thankful that I did. Mt. Rushmore told me they were closing at 4:00 pm but Crazy Horse was open until 8:00pm. We switched up our schedule and kept a trucking. Our first stop was Wall Drug. It still remains one of Alexa's favorite places. We laughed because all of the billboards kept advertising "free water since 1931". We never saw that free water. We also discovered that we were ahead of the summer rush and somethings just weren't open yet or they were making repairs, getting ready for the busy season. No matter, we still had a great time.

The kids humoring me as they took a trail ride across the prairie.

This was the day little man decided Mitchell was his "best friend" and the best place for a best friend was on the shoulders of said best friend. The whole day, he was either on Mitchell's shoulders or holding his hand. Who needs a gym for a workout? After we left Wall Drug, we ate a delicious meal of tacos on the way. Upon arriving at Mt. Rushmore, this was the first time Ryan started his driving abilities.

The road leading up to Mt. Rushmore left Ryan sweating. We had to go 10 miles per hour and ole Betty was straining. But she made it like a champ!

I'm not sure what I was expecting when we got to Mt. Rushmore, but it was what I expected. Last year, we went to see the Liberty Bell and I was dumbfounded by the fact that it was so small. It was cool to see Mt. Rushmore in person and to read the stories behind what the artist was thinking and why he chose the Presidents he did.

This is what the artist envisioned Mt. Rushmore looking like. WWWII is the reason sited for not completing the statues - from the waist up as Gutzon Borglum had envision. Still, it was pretty impressive.

Because, apparently, Thomas Jefferson was the inventor of ice cream, we had to get some in his honor. This was our first "outside treat" and it was very well received. In fact, the kids began looking for ice cream shops everywhere we went. Because of Emily's deep rooted love for ice cream, she had to get herself one of the t-shirts, giving Thomas Jefferson credit for his amazing invention. After leaving Mt. Rushmore, we got back in the RV and headed to the Crazy Horse Monument. When completed, this will be the largest stone carving in the world. The carving was begun in 1948 and this is what it looks like:

I didn't think to take a picture of what they wanted it to look like when completed. It will be Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, riding a horse and pointing in the distance. We were able to take a bus down to the bottom of the construction site. (You could take one to the top too [the construction site] but they were sold out for the day.)

When we got to the bottom, the driver let us get out and gave us a mini-geology lesson. He said everyone could take "one" rock. Apparently, my little man realized his siblings were not taking care to gather their one rock so, he got one for everyone. He got back on that bus loaded down. The man was telling us all about the mica and I handed my guy a piece, it was glittering in the light - he took it, tore it in half and said "that ain't no rock". I guess he isn't quite ready for geology 101. Here is what the statue looked like from the bottom:

Once our bus ride was over, we headed over to our campsite, finally. We got set up and had our dinner outside with a fire. So far, this has been our one and only campfire. We are still carrying around the second bundle of South Dakota firewood, we just haven't been able to use it yet.