July 04, 2005

No WiFi sucks

Yesterday's cheap ass hotel didn't have WiFi, so we were completly out of touch (evidently there's no Sprint PCS service in the ENTIRE state of SD...... Sheesh...)

But, as a compensation, I have LOTS of pictures. Yesterday was WI, MN, and SD. We stayed in Rapid City and made a SMART decision to stay the HECK away from Mt. Rushmore's fireworks display last night, and watched The Wizard of Oz on TMC instead.

We left La Crosse and crossed the Mississippi into MN, where rained all the way across the state. The clouds were interesting, though. We even saw the starship Enterprise


Two interesting things about SD:
1) They like to make big animal sculptures:







2)You always have to drive through town to get to any landmark:
The Corn Palace at Mitchell

World Famous Wall Drug


They're also a little behind the times....


South Dakota is beautiful, but very very long and very very straight....



We got up early this morning and drove out to Keystone and Mt. Rushmore. We got to the monument at 8am, and beat ALL the traffic.
Here's a couple of shots:




After some wandering, shopping, and picture taking, we left and stopped in Keystone at an amazing rock store and DH bought some native rocks, and the nice lady in the store told us where we could go pick up some more (legally) for free, so after we left there, we went rockhounding for a bit, then we were off. Stopped in Sturgis for gas and a bike week shirt (for the Princess) and set off for parts unknown.

Today was SD, WY, and MT, and we're currently in Billings, MT. Tomorrow we land in Spokane, and hopefully to meet up with these people.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Posted by caltechgirl at July 4, 2005 07:27 PM | TrackBack
Comments

How funny! I dreamed about the Enterprise last night. Among other crazy things, like a giant ice-lined cave being filled with water, adjacent to the futuristic, (partially?) underground city/arcology I was in, which recurs in my dreams but hasn't been in one (that I have remembered) in recent years.

The Enterprise or a ship looking like it flew into a landing bay like area (or one that served the purpose in an emergency, seemed more like it) and skidded to a crash landing. Just missing me, as I was standing right off to the side, where a corridor went off of the larger area.

Nice pictures of Rushmore!

And what's up with the whine-fi thing? They make modems and phone lines for that. :>

Posted by: Jay at July 4, 2005 09:21 PM

Happy 4th, CTG and DH!

And Jay's right, those are great pics of Rushmore. Look like a postcard.

Posted by: Amanda at July 4, 2005 10:59 PM

Hehe...Tom Daschle...what were they THINKING?!?! :-P

Glad your trip is going well! Stay safe and Happy 4th!

Posted by: Pam at July 4, 2005 11:05 PM

Looks & sounds like a great trip! Nice pics... continued safe travels!

Posted by: Marie at July 5, 2005 09:47 AM

You assumed they had computers in SD?

Posted by: Ogre at July 5, 2005 07:00 PM

Sorry about the no service in SD. That sucks!

Posted by: Sissy at July 5, 2005 10:08 PM

mmmm...South Dakota. Looks exciting. ;-)

No...really...it did.

Posted by: Jeremy at July 6, 2005 12:40 AM

Those are some sweet photos! Good job.

Posted by: Paladin at July 9, 2005 03:33 PM

Man, you guys are moving! Kind of like one of my trips - 5000 miles in two weeks.

Posted by: Mace at July 13, 2005 01:40 AM