Friday, May 22nd

Faye
Ok, we actually passed up The Devil’s Tower today, not Thursday, but it fit well into yesterday’s paragraph. Today I found a new man, but he soon got shot during a poker game. Life in Wyoming! – Well, Deadwood WY anyway. More later.

To start from the beginning, after spending Thursday night in Wall, SD, we decided we had to check out the famous Wall Drug before leaving town. It was worth the visit, only because it was not out of our way at all. Then we headed to The Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore. Rushmore is one of the most photogenic places ever – I don’t think we got a bad picture, and we took a lot. There were lots of people there and we were very happy to be there in May, not July or August!

We also went to see the Crazy Horse Monument, which was good, but couldn’t compare with Rushmore. Kelly kept up her tradition of finding local wineries to check out. This time it was Prairie Berries. The Black Hills are very pretty and we were happy to spend a little time on smaller, scenic roads. My only complaint so far is that pretty much every restaurant we’ve been to has had the same boring, “American” menu – lots of fried and fatty, bland foods. That should improve in CA, if not sooner. Oh, about the man getting shot - he was an actor playing Wild Bill Hickock in an old west saloon in Deadwood, and he liked to draw the audience, including me, into his performances.

Kelly
It's true, Mom got married to Wild Bill. He died playing cards about 5 minutes later, so I think it should all work out.

I will say that South Dakota, while having a lot of flat dull land, has found ways to make up for it by having the best billboards. Ever since we entered the state we've seen sign after sign for Wall Drug, The Corn Palace, Reptile Museums, Crystal Caves, 1880s Town, and a dozen or so other small attractions that get most of their business from people following those signs. Wyoming so far hasn't had as many. Hopefully we will soon hit the rockies, and won't need any signs to keep us occupied on the trip.