(Scott wrote this.)
Today we started off at Venessa's sister's house. They were great hosts and took us in as if we lived there, and after I gracefully left a scratch on their Pergo floor, I'm sure they were sorry they were so hospitable. After about 2 hours of driving, we arrived at our first stop, the Billings, Montana Temple.
This is a smaller temple, but a very unique temple (architecturally speaking). It has a single spire, but to my knowledge is the only one of it's style in the world. I could be wrong and I wouldn't be surprised if I were, but it is unique and I can confidently say that! After the temple, we continued on our way.
We have had several misses on pictures of the state signs as we zoomed by them, completely unaware that they were coming up. Knowing this and being the one in the navigator's chair, I was determined to catch the "Welcome to Wyoming" sign. Although I was extremely tired, I was not to be defeated. To make it even better, I swore to myself that I was going to get a shot that was worth remembering. As the time drew nearer, the sign was in sight, NOW is my moment...as I aimed out the windshield, there were too many bug guts, time was running out, I went to the passenger side window. It was too hard, I couldn't find it in the view finder...I panicked and tried to time it as well as I could.
Too bad I have really bad timing! All I got was an impressive shot of the Saturn next to us! Needless to say Venessa hasn't and won't let me forget it!
After the picture fiasco. We ended our I-90 treck for awhile and decided to take Highway 16, a small two lane road the Black Hills National Forest. A very good move! It was a slightly slower drive, but absolutely beautiful. I would definitely do it again! As we were on the 16, a bird flew right in front of our car. The poor clucker never had a chance! He took the brunt of the force from the front grill, only to then bounce up, smacking against the windshield and then off the car. He left a nice little splotch of blood, assuring all of us that the last thing he thought and saw was "Oh crap".
We finally arrived in Keystone and went to the "Crazy Horse Memorial". We paid $27 to see a head carved out of rock...It is a total ploy to get your money and not impressive in the least. I'm glad we went, but have no intentions of returning until it is done, which means that I will never be going back there again!
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| The darker image is a smaller replica of what the monument will eventually look like. |
After checking into our hotel, we headed off for something to eat, Subway! When we got there, we were reminded that we weren't in Vegas anymore. It was closed. After driving around and debating where to go, we decided to go to "Teddy's Deli". A little more expensive than Subway, but very enjoyable! They treated us well and the food was pretty good. At around 11:00 p.m., we finally went to bed!
July 21 - Day Nine: Mount Rushmore and Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Checkout today was at 10, an hour earlier than we would have liked, but we pulled it off. Our first stop was to go in and fully take advantage of Mt. Rushmore. We spend a couple of hours there admiring the amazing monument that that is.
When we finally left, it was well past noon and seeing that we lose an hour, due to the change in time zones, we knew it was going to be, yet another long day. It is amazing how quickly South Dakota goes from breathtakingly beautiful to Wyoming-like boredom. Shortly past Rapid City, that is exactly what happened. Furthermore, the humidity kicked in, right around that time. From there it was drive, drive, drive.
We jumped off the freeway to look at the Corn Palace, but that was about a 10 minute detour that we didn't even get out of the car for, trust me, it wasn't worth it!
From there it was on to Sioux City and dinner at KFC. Not one of the more eventful days, but due to Mt. Rushmore, it was definitely memorable.
Tomorrow: Minneapolis, Minnesota
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