Day 5
May 25, 2012
No Driving Day
The Foggy Lazy Day
Woke up to two different types of sounds – little kids sorta
screaming sorta giggling. And the rumble of the people in the room above us. We
decided these two things were happening – a kid’s birthday party right across
the hall. Probably named Travis. What a trouble maker! And above us…. Obviously
was a plus size dance party. It seriously sounded like several large people
just stomping around. Anyway – we woke up earlier than we expected since this
was supposed to be our first day to sleep in!
Up and at ‘em!
After some blogging we decided to go for a run around the
lovely Hill City. Ali did not even have to ask Kyle this time!
Here are some pictures of Hill City:
Kyle running around
town.
Just being in the
city we increased its population by 2 %
Jumped in the pool again! Got to take advantage of the sweet
pools these motels have.
Alright time to hit the town and head for Mount
Rushmore. Or as Kyle’s brother
hilariously refers to it as Mountain Rushmore….non of the locals did though,
weird.
We had a delicious lunch at Desperados Cowboy Restaurant.
Privately owned by a local that seemed to be the South
Dakota combined version of Poppa Farr and Grandpa Farr – a neatfreak cowboy!
We immediately asked if the restaurant was new and the owner
just said, “No. we’ve actually been around for decades but I just like to keep
the place absolutely spick and span.” He was not kidding.
Not only was the place SO clean, but it was also full of
awesome Western touches.
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The bathroom stalls were just like a stall in a horse barn.
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Every door form the
entrance to the individual bathroom stall doors had a cowboy boot hooked us to
the door hinge so it would rise and fall as you open and close the door.
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The lights were made
out of cowboy hats.
And the entire restaurant was full of hilarious pictures,
signs, and the menu had some great sayings and “Cowboy Rules” on it.
The waiter, our buddy Chris, even asked us, “Did I see y’all
running earlier? We don’t see very many people run around here, especially not
tourists.”
Shoutout to Ms. Foodie aka the dearest Katie Lovett – they
had Huckleberry Vinegarette dressing that was delicious! You should try and
make it.
All and all I think Ali loved the place so much just because
she was excited not to eat at Subway for lunch for the 4th day in a
row.
We loved this restaurant and our waiter CHRIS so much we
went back for dinner without question.
They don’t have a website but they do have a facebook page
for those who are interested. Highly recommend for anyone in the Midwest.
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| The name of the restaurant is Desperados Cowboy Restaurant |
MOUNT RUSHMORE
Pop quiz – Who are the four Presidents featured on the Mount
Rushmore Monument? What years was the site under construction?
(Answers at the end of the blog)
Soooooo the whole reason why we chose to stop in Hill City
and make South Dakota part of the trip rather than rolling through a more
southern route and maybe hitting up Colorado was to see Mount Rushmore.
Welp… this is what we saw.
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| Kyle doing his best impersonation of Abe. |
FOG.
FOG.
FOG.
And a bit more FOG.
The whole drive there was foggy and we were crossing our
fingers that maybe the higher points might be less foggy. No luck.
This is probably the best view of Mount Rushmore we got.
Vending machines in
the Monument parking lot.
Fun facts we learn about the
monument despite never seeing it.
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Each face is 60 feet in
length.
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There is a special
stone in Lincoln’s eye that is exactly a foot in radius that makes it twinkle a
bit in the sunlight.
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Only 41 workers worked
on the project and over the span of its construction it cost under a million
dollars.
-
90% of the carving of
the moment was done by strategically placing dynamite and EXPLODING IT!!!!! The workers were so precise they could
get within 2” of the finished surface with the TNT. No doubt Wiley Coyote
plunger style detonations.
As we were driving back down the mountain Ali looked at
Helga’s thermometer and noticed it was 45 degrees. Just the day before we had
been outside of Kansas City in 94 degree weather. What a range! If we get to 98
degrees in Nevada we decided we will play the 98 degrees Pandora station for 10
minutes just to mark the temperature high. That brings us to the roadtrip rules
we recently made:
1.
No playing 98 Degrees
music unless it is at least 98 degrees.
2.
No playing Nickelback.
Never. Ever. No Nickelback allowed.
3.
Kyle needs to drink
more water.
4.
Still no Nickelback.
5.
Ali needs to drink less
coffee.
6.
First person to spot
another California license plate has to pay for the rest of the Subway stops
for the rest of the trip. (So far the farthest we’ve seen are Alaska and
Florida plates)
Just to give you an idea of what a gem our hotel is – they
advertise on their website “a wildlife viewing.” This is the wildlife viewing…
The hotel is also the proud owner of the Guinness World
Record for largest teddy bear collection. There are teddy bears all over this
hotel…
Tomorrow we are off to Yellowstone for two days! PRAY FOR NO
FOG! Or snow.
If the weather is good we’ll give Mount Rushmore a second
try on the way out.
Driving facts: NONE
Literally none cause Ali accidently pressed refresh on the
car trip calculator when she was trying to change the time. Whooooops. Luckily
the total miles and the total trip time were not deleted. But the MPG might be
a little off. Sorry Pops and Luke for the potential inaccuracies.
As of our return from Mount Rushmore –
Total mileage = 1941 miles. (Ironically that’s the date the
monument was finished).
Leading us to the ANSWERS to the QUIZ:
-
The four presidents on the monument are (in
order) Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. These four presidents mark
– birth, expansion, reconstruction, salvation.
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The site was constructed from 1927 to 1941.
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