God’s Sandbox

Note: pictures added to yesterday.
   must see: zombie Lincoln!

Our day started early.  We wanted to go see 1880’s town and decided since the average temperature for the past few days has been over a 100, and 1880’s town was all out doors - early was a good idea.

The plan was to leave around 6:30 (they claim to open at dawn.  We didn’t make it - mostly fighting with the hotel’s wifi, but that’s a different issue.

We got to 1880’s town around 7:30 - but that was mostly because we crossed into Mountain time vs. Central time and gained an hour.  At any rate, 1880 town was a lot like Cowboy Town, but a little wealthier.  There were more buildings, the mannequins were less scary, but they didn’t talk.  I am sorry to say my romantic view of the Old West is pretty much gone.  There was a time when I would have found the lifestyle intriguing - saloons, horses, general store…  I’m not sure when the glamour wore off.

But 1880 town held a couple of claims to fame - it was the home of Kevin Costner’s horse in Dances With Wolves and apparently much of the film was shot there or in the area.  That was kind of neat… but I didn’t like the film.  And the horse died in that film….  However, for me all was not lost, we saw a cotton tail rabbit, a baby grass snake and really big pine cones.  There were also tons of kittens.  Sooo very cute and they had their own house in the back:  Miss Kitty’s - no dogs allowed and mice welcome for the noon time buffet.

There was also a sign indicating we were exactly 1/2 way between NY and San Francisco.

The landscape at this point was flat, yellow and never ending.  No wind farms like Iowa,  No roads like the start of the state - dirt or otherwise.  No little houses or barns 8 - 10 miles apart.  Here was burnt grass, occasional herd of black angus and that was it. I liked it though.  Big sky - flat ground… if it only had an ocean or even a lake.  (Later in the day we drove past a “Lake Resort” just outside of Rapid City in the Black Hills.  I would have called it a pond.  Since M. calls CT lakes ponds, for him it was a puddle.)

A few miles down the road from 1880’s  I convinced M. to stop at the Petrified Garden (est in 1930’s).  This was a field of petrified wood stumps.  I liked it.  M. was not sure it was worth the $10 entrance fee.  It wasn’t, but it was still interesting as anything gathered in mass tends to be interesting.

It also prompted an interesting conversation about the region’s snakes.  Have I ever mentioned that while I love snakes and run at them, M. hates snakes and would prefer to run from them?  I was pretty sure that the region had rattlesnakes, after all, I’ve read enough little cards at zoo’s etc. to have picked up a few things.  He wasn’t sure…until we stopped at the rest area.

Immediately driving in were big signs - watch out for poisonous snakes.  I might have suggested we take a careful walk, but the place was covered with grasshoppers and cicada.  Every where.  Inside the building.  Inside the restroom.  Inside the stalls in the rest room…  And they’re lethargic critters:  poke em, prod em, pet em, they just stare at you.  You could hardly walk without stepping on one.  Very creepy really.  I kept thinking about the news article a few year back about frying them up and eating them.

I didn’t consider this.  But I did imagine would it would have been like to be a farmer swarmed by them.  There’s a horror movie.  And I did stop and get inches from one that was chirping just to watch him.  Her?

From this scary stop we went to the next scary stop - the Minute Man Historical Park - missile silo.  You have to register for the tour at a ranger station that’s a ways a way from the silo.  We arrived there at 10 am, the first free tour was at 1:30 - this was for the manned silo where they actually had the button that could destroy the world.  Or, you could travel down the road to just visit an unmanned silo, where there was no button and no man, just the missile.

We couldn’t see back tracking or waiting hours to view something we found rather politically horrific, so we didn’t sign up for the “tour”.    I was also reeling a bit at that point having just learned - from their displays there were 150! Silos in this region.   And 500 still in the "Northern Planes".  It was more chilling than Kent State, and that was pretty bad.

So, rather than hang around to see the actual control room - we headed into the Badlands.

What can I say about this?  WOW.  You’re driving along - like you have been for days - 5,6,700’s of miles - literally - and you go from flat to flatter to nothingness.   You see a rise and a some bluffs, but… pretty much they are isolated.

And you enter into the Badlands - at least coming at it from the East and suddenly you’re on the top of this canyon like area.  The ground looks sandy and huge points come up…  You know those sand art things kids can make where you drip sand into large stalagmites?  Picture yourself as an ant in one of those and you are in the Badlands.    It’s awesome.  It’s odd.  The ground looks like it will crumble into dust with a strong wind and yet people are climbing all over the place.

You go up and down and around these sand castle towers.  I can’t imagine how people got through them on horses and wagons.  How discouraging it must have been to travel over flat fields with no shade or tree or water and where do you end up?  There - in a sand box.

As we wound our way through, we did see a deer and I got really excited when I realized there was actual cactus growing in the wild.  By the end you could see colors in the sand - stripes of gold, red and purple.  It is truly the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.  And then you’re out of it and it’s flat again.  Though there are mountains in the distance.

We left the park and visited the missile silo Delta 09 - not the manned station with the button - but the missile.  No man.  No button.  Nothing around but a big whole in the ground and a sliding concrete lid.  The lid slides open and there’s a missile.  This was one of the most disturbing things I’ve seen on our adventures.  Kent State, Selma, AL and Delta 09 missile silo.

Moving on, we decided that after all this we needed lunch and  Wall SD was the nearest and virtually only place to stop.  Wall SD is home to Wall Drug.  Something the highway does not let you forget.

In the East - when you drive south - when you hit the North Carolina border you start seeing signs for South of the Border.  They appear every mile or so with some obnoxious saying as you travel the length of the state.  Just into South Carolina you reach the destination - an over grown fireworks stand that has managed to purchase every plastic alligator East of the Mississippi.  Wall drug seems in kind. A beach town - without a beach.

We saw so many signs we were resentful of the place before we even arrived and some how after all we’d seen this trip - the lure of a large fiberglass rabbit, etc. we just couldn’t do.  So we parked in front of the town library (and you think SBL is small?) and went to the only ~other~ restaurant in town.   It was edible.

More interesting, we were driving along and everything was flat and then I blinked and suddenly there were hills.  Not rolling hills like NE where you drive over and around - but like big bumps suddenly popped up.  And then the bumps got bigger and bigger and we are definitely in the Black “hills”.  The hills are going to become mountains - that writing is clearly on the wall for me.

We’d already decided to stay in Rapid City and we arrived mid afternoon.  After checking in we did some exploring.  We like Rapid City - oddly enough.  Most likely because of the tourist industry  (we are approx 20 miles North of Mt. Rushmore) the area feels more contemporary and is clearly more diverse.

We visited a Sioux pottery location, toured the city, went to a delightful little art museum down town that featured local artists.  I am becoming completely convinced that smaller museums are better than larger ones.  They very consistently don’t charge and have much more interesting shows.

We also had the best meal since last year’s visit to Cleveland.  A tapas place where M. actually didn’t mind anchovies (one of my fav’s) and I thought the gazpacho (one of his fav’s) was the best thing ever.  Not what we would have expected in Rapid City SD.

With happy tummies, we took a little ride on Skyline Drive and my mountain convictions were confirmed.  As it’s name implies the drive going along a ridge - the views were spectacular.  The hairpin turns and nice drops kept my attention a little more.  I have a feeling I’m going to be nervous for a few days.

But the end of skyline drive is dinosaur park.  Also est in the 1930’s several concrete dinosaurs sit on the side of the hill looking over the city.  We didn’t get out to stroll among them.

Instead we headed to the other side of town to a Norwegian Chapel - The Chapel in the Hills.  It’s an exact replica of a chapel in Norway - and is still used.  It’s truly beautiful.

For the next couple of days we plan to be in the Black Hills so I’m sure it will be interesting.