Like spectacular, only better.
We stopped in Bozeman for lunch, we just can’t wait until Butte, and lucky for us Google and John’s web site say there is a John’s here.
But there is no longer a John’s here. If you look closely at the pic you may be able to make out the outline of the old sign.
The dude behind the counter of the new restaurant recognized my Rothbury shirt, though, he was there too! That’s cool.
While fueling up the RV in Billings this morning I saw this ad placed above the pump that caught my attention. The ad is from ZeeCreative a company that offers web design, hosting and other consulting services.
Are there a lot of folks in Billings, MT who are filling up their tanks and thinking, “Who can help me sort out an SSL certificate for my web site?”
Just struck me as funny.
Here is a closeup of the ad.
Our plan was to spend the night in Billings, Montana and on the way there we stopped at the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn.
On this hill Custer and his men fought against the indians but lost and were killed. There is no way to know how authentic the placements are, but one thing that is neat about the monument is they have gravestones placed where Cavalry soldiers fell. This gives the place more emotion. I was expecting to find just a hill, and a hill indistiguishable from nearby hills would have had much less impact.
I have never seen the popular Deadwood TV show, and I admit I didn’t know it was a real town, but Jessie did and she was thrilled it would be on our way home.
Deadwood is a neat old town that was incorporated in 1876 following the discovery of gold in the area. Many of the old buildings still line Main Street and newer buildings are built to fit in, so it really feels like a step back in time.
Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are both buried in Deadwood so our first stop was the cemetery where they lie.
After visiting the graves we went down to Main Street to have lunch. I asked the parking garage guy for a restaurant recommendation and he suggested we go to the Midnight Star, owned by Kevin Costner. The Kevin Costner thing kind of went right by me until we got into the restaurant. The walls are covered with photos from his films as well as cases housing customes worn in the films. There were customes from The Untouchables, Robin Hood, Dances with Wolves, and many many more. We joked that there probably wasn’t a display for Waterworld, but our waiter told us that there was. But we didn’t seek it out.
Lunch was good and we hit the road. Deadwood was a neat old town, some day we’ll have to come back and tour around some more.
Leaving the KOA we were stopped by a long line of tractors traveling on the highway.
The woman who stopped us at the intersection told me they were from Iowa and were going to visit Hill City then were going to Mt. Rushmore. There were 42 tractors, all driven by smiling waving grandpas, they were so cute!
We spent our last day at the Mt. Rushmore KOA enjoying their facitilities and relaxing. Sarah Michael and I went on the water slide, went swimming in the pool and played mini golf.
Jessie went on a ride on a horse and she loved it, though she complained about butt and leg soreness later.
At dinner time we weren’t really hungry but at about 8:30pm we decided to use up the last of our firewood and cook over a fire a few hot dogs. It was a lot of fun and got us as close to roughing it as we would get on this trip.
While we ate our campfire dinner we started to see lightning over the hills. The clouds moved closer as did the lightning. The wind was really coming up too so we put up the awning and put everything away. It started to rain while we were in the RV and the lightning continued. Sarah Michael pulled out her new digital camera and made a video of the lightning.
It was a good end to our visit in the Black Hills and the KOA. We hope to come back!
One of the many attractions near Mt. Rushmore is Old MacDonald’s Petting Farm, a petting zoo just outside Rapid City. We learned about it from brochures in the KOA park. Sarah Michael wanted to check it out with one stipulation: She did not want to go anywhere near the turkeys.
The farm is great for kids. In addition to all the animals to see and pet they have a train ride, pig races, opportunities to bottle feed young animals, pony rides and lots more. The goats are funny, they have a high bridge they can climb up to and walk across.
My friend Mike, who recommend the KOA RV park we’re at, also recommended that we make time to ride the Presidents Alpine Slide in Keystone.
When I saw pictures of the slide I was in. I have vague memories of seeing a place like this when I was a kid and wanting to do it, but I never got to. Now was my chance.
Sarah Michael didn’t share my enthusiasm. She didn’t want to go down the slide, no way. Jessie was also not-so interested but when she learned the little carts you ride have brakes so you can control your speed and go slow, she convinced SM to go. They could go slow, I could go fast.
You ride a chair lift up to the top of this little mountain, then you sit on a cart in the track and down you go. I got down first and watched SM and Jessie as they arrived at the bottom. Sarah Michael announced as she got off “That was fun! I want to do it again!”
How could I say no to that? We paid for another run and went back up. This time SM wanted to ride with me so she could go down the slide faster. Jessie went first and Sarah Michael and I went in the next track and tried to catch up to her. We just about did too. SM loved it, I loved it and Jessie enjoyed it too (she probably didn’t love it).
Mt. Rushmore is not the only massive sculture to see here in the Black Hills, the memorial to the Indian leader Crazy Horse is underway just north of the town of Custer.
The Crazy Horse Memorial is spectacular. The size and scope of it, the history behind it, it is very cool.
The first blast on the mountain was in 1948 and sixty years later work continues. The project is entirely funded by entry fees, donations and gift shop sales, no government money has been accepted by those behind the project. So it actually felt really good to pay our $20 to get in (you can give too!). The visitor center experience begins with a film about the history of the project, the sculptor who designed it and his legacy. Then there are lots of artifacts of both Native American life as well as the actual blasting/carving process. The visitor center is beautiful and huge and even includes the home the sculptor built for himself and later his family.
It feels like history in action to see it not yet complete. Some day I can visit again and hopefully see that progress has been made. Some day further on Sarah Michael can return with her children and she’ll see an even greater change.
We’ve decided to stay an extra day here in the Mt. Rushmore area and forgo Yellowstone on the way home. Not only are there a million things to do in the area, this Mt. Rushmore KOA is great (thanks again, Mike, for the suggestion)! There is a water slide, two pools, mini golf, a big trampoline-type thing, Sarah Michael absolutely loves it.
There are a ton of kids here too. They’re all having a blast. Sarah Michael has already announced we’re coming here every year. It would be fun for her to come with a friend, we would probably never see them!
The internet connection here isn’t great (I had to drive into Custer to use the library’s network to upload our pics to Flickr) and our phones display No Service most of the time, but maybe that’s a good thing when you’re supposed to be on vacation.