Day Twenty-Six

I had a great urge today to watch Close Encounters. I wonder why?

Oh right. Devils Tower.

It's sort of in the Middle of Nowhere, Wyoming. But that's okay, because I was heading that direction for stuff later in the day. It just sorta pops out of nowhere, which is really cool. You turn a corner on one of the Wyoming state highways and it just sorta is there, popping over the tree-line.

In the park, I saw this sign… it's the most adorable warning ever.

There's a 1.3 mile trail at the National Monument (what they classify the Tower as), called the Tower Trail, which loops around the base, allowing you to see it from every angle. That's where this next group of shots is from.

The tower is, I think, 800 or so feet tall. There was a sign saying that over the years, over 1,500 feet of rock have been weathered away, so this thing was super huge at one point.

Also, on the trail, I ran into my new friend, a baby cottontail rabbit.

More tower.

Another friend! The least (or lesser) chipmunk, the smallest chipmunk in the world.

My next real stop was in Deadwood, South Dakota. I got there about half an hour after the visitor center and information and gift shop or whatever sort of closed, but the town was still really disappointing. It's really built up and has lots of terrible tiny casinos and hotels. I was hoping for something more historic or Wild West-y or more fun. NOPE!

There was this bust, though, which was cool.

I found him! We were still looking for him, right?

En route to Mt. Rushmore, you pass this tiny little four building "town," I guess, which is all 1950s themed.

Less than half an hour later, you're at Mt. Rushmore. The faces are huge -- 60 feet tall -- but for some reason I thought they'd be bigger. Still amazing, though.

First, the guy who carved them, using dynamite and jackhammers and a team of local workers.

Then, the Mount.

George. You know George. (Oh, imagine if it was the OTHER George? Like with Ringo? That'd be a wholly different Mt. Rushmore, but still one worth visiting.)

Just like at Devils Tower, there's a looping trail that brings you right underneath the Mount.

Abe!

I had gotten there around 7 p.m., and at 9 p.m. they have a lighting ceremony. So I hung around for about an hour and a half after I was done to wait for the ceremony. It starts with a 10 minute speech by a park ranger, a 20 minute video on the faces, and as the video is wrapping up and the crowd is singing America the Beautiful, the Mount is lit. Pretty awesome.

I drove to Rapid City, the closest city to Mt. Rushmore, and somehow haggled a $99 room down to $60. I booked cheap rooms through Expedia for Denver and Kansas City, and also bought ANOTHER Royals ticket (for the day before) because I can get there earlier, so why not see two Diamondbacks / Royals games? Plus, there's a really sweet promotion that night, which I'm not going to spoil (but you can Google if you want).