It Really Rocks!

Our South Dakota To-Do-List was not short.  We didn't want to drive through this rugged terrain without seeing the Crazy Horse Memorial, Mount Rushmore, the Presidential Alpine Slide (the 2,000 foot slide was closed at 2:00 p.m. on a weekday afternoon for some reason, so unfortunately we had to miss it) Wall Drug Store or the Badlands National Park.  So, we got our casino fix in Wyoming, a new crack in our windshield & drove to the world's largest mountain carving.

O'Babbitt's with the Crazy Horse scale model being used to construct the REAL memorial in the background ... Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski began working on this carving in 1948 to honor the North American Indians & since his death in 1982, it doesn't look like much has changed...we are pretty sure it will never be finished...however, we did get to see his widow, Ruth walking through the cafeteria during our visit so we haven't given up hope yet

Mount Rushmore from the parking lot in Keystone, SD
When we realized parking was $12 per vehicle & that the Crazy Horse head could fit across
all 4  presidents, we decided our view from the parking lot was humbling enough

The South Dakota Black Hills

Babbitt at America's Favorite Roadside Attraction - Wall Drug Store in Wall, SD
They have obviously raised the prices in recent years, but they still offer free ice waters, a
huge jackalope & an animated T-Rex, which made it a must see in our opinion

The Badlands National Park
We were hot & tired by the time we finally got to the Badlands,
but the prairie dog colonies really made up for our bad attitudes

The Giant Prairie Dog statue on the way out of the Badlands at The Ranch Store
Since our real prairie dog photos did not do them justice, we knew we couldn't go wrong with this one