This morning, we had breakfast by a not so roaring campfire. Seeing as we were trying to get going, there seemed little point to getting a blazing fire going, when we would just have to put it out. I think everyone slept better either due to exhaustion from lack of sleep the night prior, or due to familiarity. In any case, we had breakfast, packed up our gear, and headed out. The oatmeal was warm today, as we broke out the propane stove for cooking (thanks, John!)
After camp breakfast (cold oatmeal, made with lukewarm water heated over the remains of the campfire), we headed out to Mt. Rushmore.
From there, we thought to stop by the Crazy Horse monument on our way to Jewel Cave. But when we drove in, we discovered it was nearly $30 just to get a closer glimpse than you do from the road. Oh, and also for the opportunity to buy souvenirs. So, we turned around after taking a picture.
We went onward to Jewel Cave, only to learn that we should have called ahead to make reservations for a tour. So, we made reservations for a late afternoon tour, and drove back to town for some lunch.
We had lunch at the Cowboy Cafe in Custer City, where I had a buffalo burger, just for some authentic something or other. It tasted unsurprisingly a lot like hamburger. It was drier, and I think that’s because it’s a leaner meat, rather than overcooking. But who knows.
After lunch, we went across the street to the mini-golf place that only took cash, and played a round of 18, which takes nearly forever with a family of five. Two of the children took turns being cranky.
From there, with a little time to kill, we stopped at the National Museum of Woodcarving, also about $30 to get in, but it seemed more worthwhile than Crazy Horse. After having paid, we learned that it is really a gallery of one person’s work. An amazing artist, to be sure, but I found the name to be rather deceptive.
Then finally, our appointment at Jewel Cave. And the cave did not disappoint. We had a tour of about an hour and a half, which started with a 27 second elevator ride down 230 feet. It’s an amazing cave, with many large caverns, and they’ve built in platforms and stairs and catwalks and sidewalks for a great walking tour (lots of steps, though!) The kids did not get bored, even though much of the crystal structure was the same throughout. This guide seemed much more at ease and practiced. Highly recommended.
The badlands of South Dakota are quite amazing. Pictures won’t do it justice, but here’s one anyway
The structures are amazing, and they come in many different colors and textures. The feel of the clay soil beneath youyr feet is very different from “regular” soil, especially when wet! And of course, we did have some rain today.
As Donna correctly answered, Mitchell is the town famous for the Corn Palace. Turns out we decided to go to De Smet instead. De Smet is the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little Town on the Prairie. They had lovely exhibits there, including a re-creation of the home that the Ingalls family built there. The kids got to make rope, and corn hust dolls, and a little button and string toy. They also got to go on a wagon ride and visit a one room schoolhouse, and ride a horse. And once again, the less than stellar weather kept the crowds down.
After the water park, we didn’t want to have too long a day of driving, so we only drove as far as Onalaska, WI. Upon arrival, we realized we might have felt better if we had driven a few more miles over the Mississippi into Minnesota. This Comfort Inn is essentially in a little shopping plaza. That’s where we start today’s journey, which may or may not include DeSmet and Mitchell, both in South Dakota. Comment if you know what’s interesting about those places, without looking them up!
Today, we hit one of the major attractions of our trip — the largest water park in America, Noah’s Ark Water Park. We arrived at around 11:00, and had a nice picnic lunch on the tables outside, then enjoyed about 4 hours of wet fun!
This morning we are in Madison, WI, at another Comfort Inn. After Whitewater, we drove for a little over an hour and ended up here. When we got out of the car to go into the hotel, we were greeted by a cloud of hungry mosquitoes. Some followed us into the hotel, and a few were still following us when we went into the room. For dinner, we drove basically across the highway to the Texas Roadhouse, but coming back we ended up having to follow the highway for about a mile, then I took the next exit to find a place to turn around, but that was a divided highway as well, so I made an illegal U turn at the next light, drove about 3/4 of a mile back, made a legal U turn, then was able to get onto the entrance ramp to the highway, going in the right direction, go get to our hotel.
From about age two to four, my family lived in a town called Whitewater, Wisconsin, where my dad taught at the University of Wisconsin there. My mom couldn’t remember our address, but as we had decided to head north from Illinois, I thought it would be fun to take a brief detour into the town. We found Frosty’s there, and had some frozen custard.
Here is the sign at the main entrance to the campus there:
This morning finds us awakening in Morris, IL at the Comfort Inn. Morris is home to the Dresden Nuclear Generating Plant, and I did a little research to see how far away from us it is, but it would take about half an hour to get there. Would love to drive by and at least take pictures for Susan’s dad, but it is in exactly the wrong direction. Susan wanted to go get a few groceries last night and asked where there was a supermarket, and was given directions to the local WalMart. But we have sworn off WalMarts and fast food for the whole trip. Groceries will have to wait.
And by the way, the title is just a reference to the famed Morris the Cat; no disrespect meant to the town.
