Merica Road Trippin Chapter 5 "America the Beautiful"

While spending our day in Glacier, the rain came in during the afternoon.  Not a lot but enough to muddy up the trails.  We had considered staying an extra day, but with the rain and the fact that there were some ongoing issues back home because of storms while we were gone. We thought we should push on towards our next stop.  We headed to Rapid City, SD.  Our target areas here would be Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial and the Badlands.


Mt. Rushmore



Birth, Growth, Development, Preservation
 

There is a secret room carved into the mountain behind one of the president's heads. The Hidden Hall of Records.  Do you know which president?  Who was known as the 5th face on Rushmore?  

As we're walking up the Avenue of flags at Mt. Rushmore, people were of course taking pictures and chatting.  What I found interesting was once you reached the end of the flags and approached the main viewing spot for the monument, there was silence, almost like a sign of reverence. While I have seen many pictures of this monument, none compare to actually seeing it in person.

Crazy Horse Memorial

Our next stop and probably my favorite for the day was Crazy Horse. 


 




The monument itself is pretty amazing, but I liked the Indian Museum of North America even more.  It cost us $30 for two to enter the Crazy Horse Memorial.  The monument receives no government funding, and relies on private donations and admission fees to help fund the project. The project was initially started in 1948.  So this year they are celebrating their 75th year.  I'm not sure, it will be done in my lifetime.  Did you know that Mt Rushmore was never finished?  We spent a couple of hours looking at the Indian artifacts.  I've always had a deep respect for the Native Americans of this country.


  














 
We brought a piece of the Crazy Horse memorial back home with us.  They had a bin of blast rock from the mountain to take home a souvenir.  We'll find a place out by the Koi Pond for it.  I'm sure our rock hound grandkids will enjoy how this one sparkles!

From the Crazy Horse Memorial, we are headed to the Badlands.  The area around Rapid City is full of little tourist traps to keep vacationers occupied.  This area is much more commercialized than Glacier.  

No trip down I-90 in South Dakota would be complete without a stop in the town of Wall and a visit to the famous Wall Drug Store.  This small town with a population of around 700 gets around 2 million visitors a year!  






No Road trip would be complete without a stop for some fudge.


The Badlands

For our trip through the Badlands we would take the loop road, Scenic Byway, State Road 240.








 


       

While we didn't see any Rattlesnakes.  We did see some juvenile Big Horn Sheep.  We also saw some humans imitating Big Horn Sheep and hanging off some cliffs during the drive.  Our drive through this area was during the middle of the afternoon.  I think to really catch the Badlands in all of its natural splendor, utilizing the natural lighting at dawn or dusk would most likely bring out the colors and probably more wildlife as well.

Something that I was not aware of until we rolled into Rapid City was there is a Minuteman Missile National Historical site right off of I-90 in the Badlands.  It is now part of the National Park system.  My plan was to make this our last stop of the day.  I never knew there were Nuclear Missile sites right along the highway.  They called these silos “Hidden In Plain Sight” of course these particular sites are no longer active missile sites.

From the NPS web page




Unfortunately, the visitor center closed at 4:00p.m.  We arrived at 4:30p.m.  Oh, well, maybe a stop back on a future trip.  While stopped at the gate, we had to make some hotel reservations in Sioux City, and we managed to open ourselves, or I should say the car, up to another Road trip annoyance.  Remember those things that cause displeasure, irritation, agitation, and discomfort.

There's a fly in the car.  Not just one, but several. We spent a good part of the trip headed to Sioux City in a battle of who's riding shotgun. My co-pilot or the flies.  I found if I would wait till they landed on my window near the top, and I slightly cracked the window, it would teleport those suckers into the next county at 80 MPH.

Our trip will end the next day with the last stretch back home.  We saw some beautiful country, passed through some areas with some interesting names. 

Road Names or places:
Hell's Half Acre
Crazy Woman Creek Road
Dead Horse Creek Road
Dead Man's Pass
Dead Broke Street
Big Foot Pass Road

 At this moment, I have to say the most beautiful place in the U.S. is Glacier National Park. We are planning some more trips in the future, so maybe we'll change our mind at some point.

Our Country's landscape is as diverse as the people who inhabit it, I'm so glad to live in a country where I'm free to experience it as I wish.  From Sea to shining Sea and all the areas in between, it all seems to fit together so well.  Nature continues to evolve.  One can only hope we as Americans evolve with it rather than destroy it.

I purposely only placed one song lyrics or song titles in this chapter. From “Sea to Shining Sea”  which is a lyric in “America the Beautiful”. I will now provide you a list of the songs that I purposely placed in the previous post.  You can then go back and google them if you like to listen to them.  I got to say a couple of you took the assignment and really began looking deep. You must have been googling for answers because you came up with some songs where I was like where did that come from?  However, they weren't the ones I picked.  But sure enough, there were songs from the words you mentioned.  Most of you also failed to list the Artist as well.

Songs or Lyrics from songs

“It's my Life” -Bon Jovi
“Let's get it on”- Marvin Gaye
“Who let the dogs out”- Baha Men
“Red Solo Cup”- Toby Keith
“On the Road Again”-Willie Nelson
“Running on Empty” -Jackson Browne
“Money, so they say, is the root of all evil today”-Pink Floyd
“Born in the USA”- Bruce Springsteen
“I'll be your huckleberry”- Toby Keith
“Take it Easy”-Eagles
“I need a favor” -Jelly Roll
“These boots are made for walking”-Nancy Sinatra
“I Always feel like somebody's watching me”- Rockwell featuring MJ
 And of course “America the Beautiful” sung by just about everybody

Angela Hesch also mentioned the song “Road Trippin” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, I wasn't aware of the song but since it was in the main heading for this series of post I went back and checked out the lyrics and listen to the song.

OK, Best I can figure is when they wrote the lyrics to that song those guys most of been on some Acid trip.  Angela, while we were in a state of euphoria from time to time while on this road trip, none of it induced by Acid!

Congratulations! Angela Hesch you win my co-pilot's favorite new hard candy.  Come and get it!

In the words of Bigfoot, “When nobody else believes in you, believe in yourself”
  Cheers!



        





Comments

Angela said…
Whoohoo! That was fun!
Red Hot Chili Peppers, so many songs in the 90s I still remember!
Excellent job Rob!
July 23, 2023 at 7:59 PM
JimBob said…
Great pictures! Great post! I feel like I just read an article in National Geographic! ☺️
July 24, 2023 at 9:09 AM
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