south dakota hither and yon

After our morning at Wind Cave, we headed to nearby Custer State Park to do some exploring. We had a very close encounter with some bison who came out of nowhere to CHARGE down the road at us. There were cars coming on the other side of the road, so we couldn't just drive around them. Nobody was behind us, though, so Mike decided to try to back up enough so we could get to a pull-off area a ways behind us. Friends, it was chaos! The boys were screaming and offering "helpful" suggestions, everyone was wide-eyed, and I might have been laughing a little hysterically at the unreality of the whole thing. Meanwhile, poor Mike was just trying to get us out of the way before we got overrun by charging bison, so finally he snapped and yelled "SHUT UP" at everyone (totally justified). Once we got backed up, the bison ran right past our car, and a direct impact was avoided. It was a pretty exciting game of chicken ... even though we were definitely the chickens.

You'll blink first. I guarantee it.

After that excitement, we proceeded along Iron Mountain Road, a very windy road with tunnels and switchbacks ... basically everything we look for in our minivan vacation stunt drives (see also Moki Dugway). These tunnels were something special, though: two of the three of them offered perfectly framed views of Mount Rushmore.

We started in Custer State Park, then we passed into the Black Hills National Forest. Along the way we found a little rest area with picnic tables, so we decided to stop for lunch. For once, we didn't fall into our classic vacation trap of not planning for lunch, getting totally involved in what we're exploring, and then suddenly realizing it's mid-afternoon and we haven't eaten and have no idea where we can obtain food. Nope, this time we made trays of little sandwiches using Hawaiian bread. We had chips and fruit and even some treats for dessert. And so we sat in this beautiful rocky woods and had a picnic. It was really lovely, and now we have a newfound commitment to actually plan ahead and not always fly by the seat of our pants.

After lunch, we made our way to Mount Rushmore. We paid to park in the ginormous parking structure, hiked up to the wide promenade leading to the presidential faces ... and immediately got claustrophobic and overwhelmed by the writhing mass of people. We stepped into the gift shop, discovered that it was even more wall-to-wall crowded than the outdoors, and immediately retreated. After some quick recalibration, we came up with a new plan: take some pictures, get some of the much-vaunted Thomas Jefferson original recipe ice cream, and get the hell out. And that's exactly what we did. We took our very expensive ice cream to go and ate it in the car. (Verdict: TJ's recipe was fine but left a weird coating in our mouths.)

Much people. No space.

Thomas Jefferson's best idea

That was our second and final escape of the day. We left Mount Rushmore and took the Needles Highway, another scenic drive with very narrow tunnels, to the Sylvan Lake Lodge, our destination for the night. I regret to report that none of us have much enjoyed the Sylvan Lake Lodge. The internet is pretty much nonexistent, which wouldn't be a big deal except that I needed to do some work and then be able to turn that work in. I sat in the lobby, as close to the router/modem as I could get, and still couldn't access the files I needed to meet my deadline. Eventually, Liam and Max ended up setting up a wireless hotspot using my phone, but it was a huge hassle. One of the beds was broken (as in, it was basically a platform teeter totter) so we ended up having to switch rooms. They have wood burning in a massive fireplace in the main lodge area, which is great for that old-timey feeling but hell on allergies, which four of the five of us have. You get the idea. But it's only one night, and then we'll be off to pastures with more modern amenities. Onward!

Needles