I started writing this yesterday, but never posted, so I'm combining into today.
Day 52:
A good, productive day today. After a great breakfast at Dakota Dream B&B, I drove up through Custer State Park on Needles Highway. It was a pretty drive - some people were annoying and drove really slowly when not necessary and wouldn't move over to let me pass. Grrrrr. From there, I went to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Have you heard about this? This guy was commissioned to carve Crazy Horse into a mountain back in like 1948. He started working on it, but progress was pretty slow. He refused to take any federal or state money for the project and at times would halt work altogether for years because he didn't have the funds for it. So he died in 1982, and his wife and 7 of his 10 children took over the project. 65 years after the project started, it's still nowhere near completion. It's a massive sculpture depicting Crazy Horse's torso, his arm pointing straight out, and the head and neck of the horse he's riding. The eventual plan is to have the sculpture be the focal point of a whole campus that includes a college and a medical center. Currently, there is a museum connected to the homestead of the sculptor, connected to the workshop, connected to the sculpture studio, connected to an educational & cultural center. Yes, it's as disjointed as it sounds. The museum is a conglomeration of a ton of items donated to the family. There is a lack of flow through the museum and little to no explanation of the items. It's just really weird. The whole time I was there, I was reminded of the Winchester Mystery House. They just keep building stuff and adding at seemingly random with no eye on the end goal. Just weird.
After the Crazy Horse Memorial, I hit up 3 wineries. The last one, Prarie Berry, didn't have my favorite wines, but had a kitchen with some amazing food. That one, of the three, was definitely the destination winery. Then I went to check out Mount Rushmore. I figured, "Why not? I'm here." I've seen it a few times previously, so it's quite anti-climatic, but whatever. Mr. Jefferson is one of my heroes (I went to the University of Virginia, so we're all pretty grateful to him), so I ended up taking pictures of the pictures of him in the museum. I even found a picture of the UVA rotunda and had to take a picture of that.
My car has been dinging at me since somewhere in Washington state that it needed service soon. Did you know that there are no Acura dealerships in the Northwest? It's true. I found a Honda dealer in Rapid City, so after Mount Rushmore, I went to get my car serviced. Good scheduling on my part, I showed up 5 minutes before the scheduled time. After that, I stopped by a grocery to pick up some road snacks and then stopped at Wine & Tapas bar for a quick dinner. Then made my way over to the bed & breakfast for the night.
I'm loving this whole bed & breakfast thing. I know some people hate b&b's, but I really like them. Generally, the hosts get you checked in, show you around, and then get out of your way, so I don't feel like I'm imposing on anyone's personal space. I like to chat with the other travelers, but I can always retreat to my room if I want privacy. But I feel comfortable to use the common spaces provided as well. I could totally see myself opening a b&b. Then I could also write books & software on the side. I think this sounds like a great plan.
Day 53:
Well, today was pretty uneventful. I had breakfast at the b&b - Peregrine Pointe B&B - it was a super yummy asiago souffle, sausage w/ asparagus, fruit salad, and amazing cream cheese pastries. So glad I stayed there.
I spent most of the day driving - it was a 10 hour drive in total. I had planned to stop at the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, but for the life of me, I didn't know exactly where it was (super conflicting information on the internet), and when I was in the area, I was only about an hour and a half into my drive and wasn't ready to make a stop yet, so I just passed on by and kept driving. By the time I made it to my hotel tonight, I was glad that I did. I had finished listening to Harry Potter back in Yellowstone, so I've been trying to figure out what to listen to now. I had 3 options downloaded for me today and option 1 worked just fine. It's called Cleaving by Julie Powell, who wrote Julie & Julia. I did actually ready Julie & Julia a few years back, so I knew I liked her style enough. It's definitely a very different book than her first, but I like it so far - I'm about 2/3 of the way through.
Tonight I'm staying at an actual chain hotel, my only one of the trip. I had an airbnb reservation, but she contacted me earlier in the week and told me that her hot water heater was out, but she could give me passes to the YMCA to shower. That seemed like too much of a hassle for me, and I was able to find a hotel room for the same rate, so I switched to that. I arrived at the hotel right around 7:30, checked in and then went to the restaurant next door. I had been craving pasta (not an easy food to eat on the road), and the restaurant came through with a HUGE bowl of fettuccine alfredo. When I was done, it looked like I hadn't even touched it. So much food, and super cheap - my bill was all of $7.37. Just been relaxing in the hotel for the remainder of the evening.
Excited for tomorrow - Wisconson cheese country!!
No comments:
Post a Comment