July 25 – Mt. Rushmore , Go Karts, Wall Drug, Camping Next to the Grain Elevator in Wall

We drove from Custer State Park to Mt. Rushmore early in the morning. Not knowing exactly what we were doing, Binh and I chose to drive via something called “Iron Mountain Road”.  It was a great decision. The road was winding and scenic, with something called a “pigtail” which is when the road loops back over itself  in a tight circle because of the hilly terrain.

There were several scenic stops along the road which showed Mt. Rushmore in the far distance – closer at each stop. And several tunnels were blasted through the mountains that frame Mt. Rushmore as you leave the tunnel – all very fun.

The weather was actually a bit hot, but much better than rainy.

Mt. Rushmore itself was interesting. We all completed National Park Badges – Danny and Audrey got the Junior Ranger badge while Max, Binh and I got Rushmore Ranger badges.  Fun for all. We ate Bison hotdogs and then had ice cream.  Did you know that Thomas Jefferson wrote downthe first recipe for ice cream in the Americas? Yea, I didn’t either.

Once we had our badges and we were satisfied with our knowledge of Rushmore esoteric – they used dynamite to carve 90% of the façade – we took off east, not sure where to go.

We hit Rapid City around 2 pm and on a whim stopped at Ranch Go karts. We had never driven go karts on  a large track, so this was fun for everyone. We all did a few laps in the go karts.

Onward we went, through Rapid City to Wall, SD.  It was getting a bit late, so instead of heading into the Badlands, we simply camped next door to Wall Drug, an old country store turned into a tourist trap.  Our campground was right next to a grain elevator and a railroad crossing.  The pool was surreally located below 4 giant grain silos. 

But it was walking distance to Wall Drug, which had a post office and a restaurant and other stuff.

Also, we saw 5,000 or so grey haired old people on Harley Davidsons, all getting ready for Sturgis.