Morning comes VERY early for me. The plan this morning is to hit Mt. Rushmore early, before it's crowded and then hit the road. Another big drive day.
7:15am
Breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express in Keystone, SD.
 |
| From Sabbatical Ro... |
Day 5 - mile 1671
7:45am
We pay our $10 [annual pass no good here] and pulled into parking at Mt Rushmore. We're early and we get to park on the top level, near the memorial. It's fantastic to be here so early. It's like having the memorial to ourselves... definitely worth doing. Even though there are some clouds, we can still see the memorial well. Experiencing it in the quiet solitude is very inspiring.
 |  |  |
| From Sabbatical Ro... | ||
 |  |  |
| From Sabbatical Ro... | ||
We walk the 0.5 mile Presidential Trail. It's an easy walk that brings you close to the foot of the monument and offers some interesting views. You also can get right up to pieces of rock that have been carved away.
 |  |  |
| From Sabbatical Ro... | ||
The walk gives you more than the classic views of Mt. Rushmore and really lets you appreciate the scale of the place.
 |  |  |
| From Sabbatical Ro... | ||
Charlie's favorite president is Teddy Roosevelt. We paused to read the plaque about him at the monument
 |
| From Sabbatical Ro... |
Charlie took this picture of Laura and me.
 |
| From Sabbatical Ro... |
We visited the sculptor's studio and saw the model they used for measurements to make the monument.
 |
| From Sabbatical Ro... |
Elodie had some fun playing on the statehood walk.
9:25am
Inside the gift shop, Charlie and Katie got a chance to talk with Donald "Nick" Clifford, one of the last surviving workman who carved the monument.
Charlie bought a copy of Nick Clifford's book and got it autographed. It included a signed baseball card. The workman had a pretty famous baseball team -- in fact, being a good player was how some of the men actually got their jobs on the site during the depression.
Outside, there is a list of all the workman who worked on the site. We went out and found Nick's name.
 |
| From Sabbatical Ro... |
Charlie and learned about Lincoln Borglum, the son of the man who designed the monument and the foreman in charge of the project. Charlie found Lincoln's name on the wall, too.
 |
| From Sabbatical Ro... |
While waiting outside the gift shop [gift shops with lots of little, breakable things are hard places for 2 year olds] Elodie entertained me with a rendition of "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
Day 5 - mile 1571
10:05am
We head out of the parking lot of Mt. Rushmore on our way to Clear Lake, IA. Along the route, we pass a collection of signs for Wall Drug, a drug store that started by giving out free ice water and blossomed into a roadside attraction of near House on the Rock proportions.
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
 | ||
| From Sabbatical Ro... | ||
Day 5 - mile 1646
11:31am
WE ARRIVE IN WALL, SD!!! After miles of anticipation, we exit I-90 at Wall and head to the famous Wall Drug.
Wall Drug is hard to describe. We eat lunch and actually end up spending an additional hour absorbing it all.
 |  |  |
| From Sabbatical Ro... | ||
Finally, we hit the road again at 1:45pm.
Day 5 - mile 1784
4:40pm
Somewhere through South Dakota, we switched into Central Time. At Reliance, SD, we pull off for another rest break.
 |  |
| From Sabbatical Ro... | |
Day 5 - mile 1938
7:43pm
We pull off at Brandon, SD for dinner. We ate at a place called Tailgators. It was friendly enough and had free WiFi which meant that I could upload pictures and catch up on email during dinner. We get on the road again at 9:05pm.
Day 5 - mile 2136
12:05am
We arrive at our hotel in Clear Lake, IA. The room smells a little musty, but we're all very tired and we're glad to be done driving. We covered 568 miles.
No comments:
Post a Comment