Adam's Blog August 1st, Day 27
We have a full docket of sites today as well as Courtney finding out her score for BEC hopefully so we attempt to get out of the hotel as soon as possible. After getting everything together and breakfast eaten we jump in the car to head to our first site, the Crazy Horse Memorial. We had actually gotten a glimpse of the site as we drove to the hotel last night so we head in to the visitor center. There's a lot of Native American art work and historical information here. Then we turn the corner and there are some paintings that I am being kind to call subpar. What a mixed bag this place is. We turn another corner and there's an artist putting up her artwork in a gallery area and again I'm less than impressed. We head out of the building and on to the observation deck for the carving. Finally something that I can definitely appreciate. There's not much complete speaking in regards to the overall plan for the site but what is done is impressive. The face looks out of the cliffside and you can see where the arm is taking some shape. On the cliff there is white paint outlining where the horse head will go which is the part that they are currently working on. You can tell that a lot of effort has been put in and entering the workshop building shows that as well. They have been working on the carving for more than 50 years! The kids each pick up a rock from the mountain blasting and we head out to the Jewel Cave again.
The first tour that doesn't involve 700+ stairs of the cave starts at 9:35 and we arrive at the park at just past 9. I rush down before the rest of the family in the hopes of getting right in and out so that we can keep on moving through the day. I get there and ask for the next available tour and am told that the 9:35 is available. Perfect! We book it and head in to the visitor center to look at the exhibits there while waiting. There is some fighting between the kids over a display that's playing a video about bats but generally speaking the wait goes pretty well. Our tour group gets called and I'm expecting quite the line to form but it is just us and two other families! We head down to the cave through an elevator and enter a rather large cavern. The talk is interesting that is given and the room is neat but it's not the cave that I was expecting. Maybe the other tour is more exciting but there is no way that we could do that one with Gideon. Oh well, maybe another time. We head back up and head out of the park.
It is now nearly noon Eastern. The significance of this is the score release for Courtney. The downside, there is no cell service in that area so we head in to Custer hoping to have her score available by the time that we get there. We arrive in Custer and park to see if we have a score, no good. For those of you that don't know the drama around these score releases, there are four tests and the testing company releases scores in batches focusing on an individual test first. This time it's regulation that gets first dibs. Oh well, we head off to Mount Rushmore expecting to not be able to check scores again until we reach Rapid City between sites.
The drive to Mount Rushmore is pretty when we get closer. There are some rather tall spindly rocks that look really cool standing there next to the pines. As we get closer we see some phallic rocks on our side of a rather large rock formation. We quickly realize that these are right there are back side of Mount Rushmore, just something to think about. Anyway, we come around a corner and there is Washington looking out over the road that we are driving. The way that the light hits the sculpture it beautiful. We pull more completely around the corner and there they all are. It really is a beautiful piece of art and the pathway up to the viewing areas and museum are well done as well with archways, flags of the states and territories, quotes from the presidents, etc. There was a lot that I learned here today for sure. The most interesting thing being that the final piece that you see today was not the intended final piece. Also, it took about 20 years to complete the carving as it stands now so what's the deal with the folks over at Crazy Horse? After visiting what we wanted at the site we head back out to the parking area to drive off to the Badlands National Park. Now this whole time we've had cell reception and I would occasionally check to see if the scores were released or not. Sometime before our arrival here Audit starts getting its scores released. On our way out the website that has the scores crashes so we have no idea but it looks like from a different website that Finance is getting their scores released. Courtney has to wait longer.
On our drive from Mount Rushmore to the Badlands, we see a ton of signs for Wall Drugs. Since we needed a couple of things and this place looked like the typical tourist trap, we decided to stop, we were getting off at the next exit anyway for the park. Courtney runs in to get the items we need because we didn't need the kiddos seeing something else that they wanted and Gideon was watching a movie when we got here anyway. No more than 2 minutes after Courtney left, I recheck the score availability and they are there! So we wait for Courtney to come back and act like nothing has happened. When she gets in the car we ask her if she wants to know now or if she wants to go somewhere more quiet. She chooses here and we all unload from the car. Abigail holds the phone with the score behind Courtney so that she can't see it and I get recording. I do everything I can to drag it out a little bit longer but eventually we give it to her. An 84, she passed and is now done with the tests. She immediately starts crying with joy (See the videos page for this video). The whole time Gideon is confused and keeps saying "It's okay Mommy, you passed", Abigail is crying with joy as well, it's a great scene. I wasn't paying attention but I'm sure that there were people in the adjacent parking lot looking at us. Congrats Courtney on the accomplishment and all of the hard work and effort that went into it. You are amazing and we all knew that you could do it and we are all so proud of you!
Our last stop was the Badlands and boy do they have a good thing to start them off with the whole finding out that Courtney passed. As we enter the park there are signs warning us that the prairie dogs carry the plague, that's a good welcome. At the first overlook there is also a warning sign about the rattlesnakes, also good. The views though are amazing yet again. Part of the drive through we gave the kids lolly pops and Gideon is a sticky mess when he is done. We stop in a pull off so that I can go clean him up and I keep hearing these chirps behind me. I look over my shoulder at one point and there on the other side of the road is a prairie dog yelling at me for being out of the van cleaning up Gideon. Hopefully no plague later, we are on our way to the panorama vista point. This particular spot was windy. When I say that I mean, it was difficult to stand at times and getting a picture with exactly what you wanted in the frame was nearly impossible. That being said, the wind in the grasses around the point were beautiful. I could have watched it for hours. At our last big stop here there were some dinosaur sculptures and a history of the fossil record here. It was really interesting and then Courtney points out a kid running around on top of the formations. I understand that he's a kid and he's going to do what boys do. Heck, I probably would have done the same thing at his age if I were not reminded that park guidelines asked to stay to trails and keep off the formations. Makes me wonder why his parents brought him there because it was pretty obvious that they didn't have respect for the beauty of the site.
We depart the park on a rather long haul out to our hotel for the evening. Unfortunately, likely thanks to the Sturgis Bike stuff, most of the hotels in the area were booked solid. When we finally arrive at our hotel that we managed to snag a room in, the check in and unloading area that's covered is completely packed with motorcycles that have parked there even though it's obviously not a parking area. Most of the parking spots are full of bikes and their tow alongs as well. What a mess. We manage to get a spot around the back of the building and check in for the night.
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