Day 5: Casper, WY to Rapid City, SD

As last night's hotel didn't have the free wifi (or any internet at all for that matter) they claimed, this is a retroactive post.

On a tip from the front desk person the night before, today we took a backroads route today. It ended up being a great decision. In the few hours after we left we saw only a handful of cars and did 75 the whole way. There was very little civilization on this route either, though there were some extensive oil and coal fields that made for rather unique scenery. The natural landscape was distinctly prairie which was a great change of pace from the desert landscapes of the past few days. The big plus is that, given a large enough shoulder, we can pull off the road for a break if the kids explode.

Most of today was relatively flat and grassy. The views were absolutely stunning. The sky was clear and with few trees or buildings we could see for many miles into the distance. The antelope were out again in full force and one took a jump into traffic before clumsily wiping out on the pavement and almost falling off the road.

As we came up to Newcastle, just outside of South Dakota, the rolling hills gave way to steeper more pronounced mountains in the foothills of the Black Hills. We stopped briefly to recharge and stock up in anticipation of the high prices in the national monuments. Our first official stop in the hills themselves was at Jewel Cavern National Monument just inside the South Dakota border. The cave is huge, with over 80 miles already mapped and more discovered literally every day. The maps are truly impressive and, we were told, they are taken down and replaced with updated maps every few days. The wait was over two hours for the cave tour so we decided against it. We did take a short walk on the trails to get our first glimpse of the black hills. Though both of us adults have been there before, the mountains never ceased to be impressive.

We passed by Crazy Horse next, though we didn't stop. We got some great shots of the monument from the road. Our actual destination was Mount Rushmore. I have to admit, we'd both seen it before and been underwhelmed, but decided to go for the sake of getting the classic family road trip shot. Rushmore did not disappoint. It was actually rather interesting and, much like the Statue of Liberty, was far more breathtaking up close. We got a great little one-on-one talk with the Sioux information center about the various tribes in the area as well as a few comments about Wisconsin native history and its impact on the plains tribes. Terence once again got a chance to go crazy over rocks in an area he was more familiar with and gave the guide a few new facts on the rock she had been using for her discussions. Tessa got a chance to check out a tepee and dig in the dirt a little. And Jess took a great picture up Washington's nose.

The last stretch was a little crazy. Rapid City ended up being a little crazier than we had remembered and finding our hotel was a trick, especially since Econolodge has changed its logo. The hotel, however, was nice. There was even a waterslide in the pool area, which Tessa thought was great. Daddy took her down a few dozen times and by the end she was waving her hands in the air and screaming the whole way down in excitement. After a few hours of that, the little ones crashed a bit early.

That's all for now.

The Clarks