Devils Tower National Monument

On the morning of Day 5, we headed out to Devils Tower National Monument.  This was the first American National Monument in 1906, and it is 1267 feet high!  The oldest rock was formed 225 to 195 million years ago and there are many theories on how it was formed, which I do not fully understand :)  Some theories say it was an old volcanic rock but that has been disproved recently.  It was very neat, with the trails and red sand.  We weren't allowed to bring Lucy on the trails though, so we didn't hike around too much because she was in the car.  Lots of bikers here too!

Crossing the South Dakota/Wyoming border... I think.

Words of Wisdom: do not take a dirt road in Amurica.  When there is a "dirt road" on the map, it is not what you think.  You'd think a dirt road would still be, uhhh how do I say it, driveable?  Not a path through a farmers field?  Think again.

So our last stop of Day 4 was supposed to be along a scenic byway at various waterfalls.  All is good and we find the turn off for the first falls, and somehow drove by it and didn't realize until we were about 10 minutes down this one-lane dirt road.  By this point, we were exhausted, my camera was dead, and we were almost out of gas so we decided to just continue to our hotel.  Which the GPS and map showed we could get to by continuing along this road.  Well, let me tell you, it was honestly a dirt path with cows on it running from South Dakota to Wyoming.  At some point on this journey, we crossed the border without knowing it.  We had one "tick" of gas left, and we hadn't seen a barn or "house" for miles.  I honestly felt like we were going to die out there in the bush.  There were massive rocks and holes on this path, and we bottomed out more than once.  A cow also almost rammed into the side of Gary.  This tour continued for at least two hours, and once we got out to civilization, I was actually surprised we survived.  On the plus side, we were so far out in the middle of nowhere, we saw 25 deer!  They were just everywhere.  All this, and we didn't even get to see the waterfall.  Fail.

These pictures are from my phone, because of the dead camera.  This needed to be documented, and these photos don't even do the situation justice.

"Civilization" ... there was pavement ahead!!!

Day 4: Custer State Park

After our afternoon at Mount Rushmore, we veered off the itinerary and went to Custer State Park.  The park is 71 000 acres and has 2 main sections: the Wild Life Loop and Needles Highway.  We started on Needles Highway and the scenery was absolutely amazing. It is named after the granite needles that are all around, I've never seen anything like it.  It is a very narrow road with cliffs on either side at some points.  There were one-lane tunnels too, where you had to stop and honk your horn while driving through so nobody from the other side drove through at the same time!  I enjoyed the views, but Dane was very stressed driving it because of the twists and sharp turns and hills, while avoiding bikers on every corner.  So his opinions are probably a little less positive than mine.  In addition to not going when the bike rally is on, I would also not recommend not going in a packed Honda Civic and a very heavy roof rack... I don't think Gary (the car) was very impressed.  

 The Needles Eye Tunnel

The second part of the park we went to was the Wild Life Loop.  Apparently there are herds of buffalo and other animals, but we mainly just saw motorcycles.  And donkeys, which were ADORABLE.  They stuck their heads in the car windows wanting food, and you could feed them out of your hands.  We didn't drive the whole loop, because we still had to drive to our next hotel and had one other spot to stop at, so that may have been why we didn't see as much as we thought we would.

Overall, I thought Custer State Park was absolutely beautiful.  It would have been nice to have a few days there, and taking our time on the Needles Highway and Wildlife Loop on two different days.  But definitely worth the $15 for the car to get in!

Day 4: Mount Rushmore

This was what Dane was looking forward to the whole trip!  The history buff was in awe of Mount Rushmore, we even bought a Mount Rushmore puzzle!  All the bikers were enjoying the view too, in case anyone was wondering.  Apparently it attracts 2 million people a year, and I feel that about half of those were bikers on August 11.  Just my hunch haha!  Carving began in 1927 and was never completed because they ran out of money.  We were imagining Obama's head up there with Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.  Dane tells me this will never happen though.  The faces are 60 feet high... massive!  Definitely worth our massive detour down to South Dakota.

Our first view of Mount Rushmore, and the beginning of the invasion of Harley Davidson.

The view from the Presidential Trail.  The trail went along the base and gave the opportunity for many closer pictures free of thousands of people.  Definitely would recommend the trail!  Dane said it was his favourite part. 

Dane being a history geek, er... buff.

Dogs aren't allowed "in" Mount Rushmore, so this is as close as she got.  At least the traveling pooch can check Mount Rushmore off her bucket list!

Day 4: Bear Country, USA

On the fourth morning of our road tour, we went to Bear Country USA.  This was in the Black Hills area, also where Mount Rushmore is.  It was very similar to African Lion Safari, where you drove in your car and the wildlife was all around you.  I have never seen a bear before, so this was pure excitement on my part!  They have over 100 bears here, as well as elk, buffalo, mountain lions, wolves, etc.  We got there pretty early so it wasn't very busy and we could travel at our own pace.

Lucy when she saw the wolves.  We thought it was because they were her ancestors and she was excited to see her great great great great (x100) uncle.

I could have watched these bears play all day.  They were adorable, and were so cuddly looking!

This was Dane's favourite.  The way the bear was sitting was hilarious!

The baby bears!  You could go in their cage and feed them if you won the hourly draw.  Just the cutest little teddy bears.

Motorcycles in Black Hills, South Dakota

To start off, I have a little piece of advice.  I would not suggest being in Mount Rushmore and surrounding area the week of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.  We arrived in Wall, South Dakota our 3rd night and thought we were staying at a "biker hotel."  Little did we know, this was just the beginning.  When I was booking hotels, I was very surprised how expensive the hotels were even an hour drive from Mount Rushmore.  Little did I know, it was also at the same time as what seemed like the worlds biggest biker get-together.  So that explains it a little.  


In our hotel, there was a garbage can (clean) with towels in it just for washing/polishing your bike so the hotel towels were kept white.  This is how intense this was.  Once we figured out what was going on around us, I did a little research online.  Here are some of the statistics I found...

• On average, there are 500 000 bikers in attendance
• This has been going on for 71 years
• There are around 100 marriage licenses issued every year
• In 2005, it made 15 million dollars
• In 2005, 705 tons of garbage was hauled
• In 2004, there were over 79 000 motorcycles

All of the bikers were very friendly, but they were everywhere.  And that is an understatement.  Swarming.  Dane compared it to a swarm of black flies.  So when you wonder why there are so many bikers in the photos, this is why.

Day 3: Jellyfish and eels and sharks... oh my!

On the third day of our travels, we went to the Mall of America Aquarium.  The original plan was to go shopping, but we had absolutely no space in the Civic for the purchases I would have made.  Or the extra cash.  After all, it is the second biggest mall in North America, after the West Edmonton Mall which I will tackle this winter...  SO to say I went to the Mall of America, the aquarium was a great compromise.   I had to go to this mall because Mary-Kate and Ashley filmed a movie here, and I have wanted to go since I was a young grasshopper. The Sea Life Aquarium is the largest underground aquarium in the world, and the first part of the exhibit was interactive where you got to touch different sea creatures.

 Crazy little eels!

 Sea horse picture for mom... they were really neat!

My FAVOURITE creature in the aquarium, hilarious with his buck teeth!

After the sea horses and jellyfish areas... there was a huge tunnel that you walked through.  It's 300 feet long and sharks literally swim over your head.  It was probably the closest I'll ever be to sharks and I am okay with that!!  

All in all, it was a really fun experience.  We didn't know about the walk-through tunnel, which was definitely the highlight.  It was a pleasant surprise!!  After the aquarium, we began our long journey to South Dakota.  Mount Rushmore and more coming soon!