I made it to Mount Rushmore!!

On Thursday we arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota! We expected the Mount Rushmore area to be pretty desolate, but Rapid City was a busy town. We went to a local restaurant for some barbecue. I was wearing my Jersey Shore sweatshirt and a waitress at the restaurant came up to me and said that she had the same one. She told us that she "went to a town called Toms River," on a mission trip a few years ago. We told her we were from Toms River, and she mentioned that she was there right after Sandy. We couldn't believe we met someone like that in the middle of South Dakota! There was a big street fair going on that night, and there was live music. There was an alley in town that was covered with graffiti art. People were painting and playing music there, too. It was awesome to see all the artwork done by locals. That day we also drove through Badlands National Park, which was beautiful. Today's pic is from there.

The next morning we went to Mount Rushmore! As many of you know, I have wanted to see Mount Rushmore since I was about 10. I have no idea how that fascination started. I was so excited to finally see it! As you approach the national park, you can start to see part of the sculpture. Mount Rushmore was so impressive! It sat on top of a huge mountain surrounded by trees and rock that was blasted when they were making it. It was very serene there. Dad and I decided to go on a trail that would give us a different view of the mountain. We climbed 250 stairs to the observation deck. It was a great view!

After Mount Rushmore, we headed to another monument called Crazy Horse. A sculptor began this project as a tribute to Native Americans, but died before it was complete. Now his 10 kids work on it. It was pretty cool, but they haven't gotten too far with it yet.

This morning we began our trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. What was supposed to be an 8 hour drive turned out to be an 11 hour trip. We took a detour because a road we needed to take was closed, and then when we got to the alternate road,that was closed also. We handled it okay but by the last hour and a half at the trip we couldn't take being in the car anymore! Dad and I considered it an accomplishment that no colorful language was used in the final hour of the trip. Go us!

One of our detours took us to Nebraska, so we took a picture in front of the state line sign. When we took the picture, a field of about 50 cows all stopped what they were doing and stared at us in silence. It was a little strange. Also, the route was so desolate that the only bathroom was a porta potty that shook every time a car drove by. Who needs Disney when you can ride the shaking porta potty in the middle of Nebraska!

Dad and I had dinner at a place that I already forgot the name of, but it was delicious! I tried my first buffalo burger which was really good! I had a locally brewed beer called a Snake River lager. That was necessary after our drive.

We thought our hotel was going to be near Yellowstone, but it's actually about 5 minutes from Grand Teton National Park, so we're going to spend the day there instead. Yellowstone is about 2 hours away- whoops! We don't mind, people we've met here say Teton is beautiful! Looking forward to tomorrow!
Rocking my Taylor Swift t-shirt in South Dakota!