Dead Men's Heads in Stone

We did get up early and threw the camping gear in the trunk and drove off to see more of the badlands. It was worth getting up early as the sun was just coming up and was in our view and making the lands pink and other colors. We watched the buffalo and got to a very fun, and short, scenic hike. After a little cleanup, we left the park and headed west. We stopped at Wall Drug and saw all that there was to be seen there. Or at least a bit of it. We spent perhaps an hour there and then kept driving to Rapids City for some groceries and onto the Black Hills. Our first stop was Mount Rushmore. It was super busy with tourists, but fitting since it is kind of a spectacle to begin with. My feelings were strange regarding this stone monument. Though amazing with the talent consumed to construct it, it seems wholly disrespectful of a site to have this in the sacred land of the First Nations people that we already disgraced (during the gold rush) and we presumably knew better. There was that and also the oozing patriotism for dead white men’s heads carved into a rock, which was otherwise beautiful to begin with. I would argue far more beautiful left raw and untouched. I do find a way to enjoy it all though and simply take in the spectacle and play along with the narrative of my nation. This was my third time there and the other times were far less busy. Jojo really was loving the sites of the mountains. We took a gander at Crazy Horse Monument after that, and then went to Custer State Park. She was glad we paid the $15 to get in as the views were astounding, especially when we got up to the Cathedral Spires. throughout our drive we saw a lot of wildlife, buffalo, mountain goats, prairie dogs, elk. It got rainy when we got to the top of the mountain and the Needles and Spires. We decided to come back tomorrow for a hike. I talked Jojo into driving up to Deadwood. Since it was raining so hard, we decided to get a motel rather than camp. We watched a couple episodes of Deadwood the TV series.