Reporting from Alliance, NE
LAT 42.5 N LON 102.53 W
Now in our fifth state of the trip, with three of them new for me. But let’s rewind to this morning, when we left Wall, ND and ventured into the middle of nowhere, which is where you would place a Minuteman missile. Duck and cover, kids!
We move from the morose to the wacky—ladies and germs, the world’s largest Quarter Pounder with Cheese!
Hey, don’t tell me what to do!
We found another contrast in a Rapid City ND park—a giant rock you can spin, and a piece of the Berlin Wall.
Near Checkpoint Charlie.
As we made our way to Mt. Rushmore, we ran into Keystone. If you’ve been to Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, you would find it very familiar. This also means tourist attractions like the Cosmos Mystery Area—one of those places that use optical illusions to convince you gravity has run wild. Photos don’t do it justice.
We also found a place where, for an enormous fee, you could get chainsaw sculptures.
And then it was Mt. Rushmore itself. You see it from quite a distance away, but it’s still impressive, mostly in terms of the amount of labor involved. It’s a national monument AND a tourist trap! It was $10 to park, but we got the senior discount, plus we charged up our hybrid car.
Had to get a shot of this—what’s the only state with a pennant flag?
Still haven’t gotten the knack of selfies.
If you’re going to protest, you must do so in this pre-defined area!
George, can we get a shot from the side? Great!
The guy that made it happen. Plus a great Scrabble move.
We finally found a place to eat in Custer, ND (we’re in the “off season”, and it’s a Sunday). Pretty decent Mexican food.
The final image for today is from Hot Springs, ND. There’s a archeological site there where Mammoths were found. It was expensive to take a tour, plus they were 20 minutes from closing, so we chose to take a shot of the fellow in the front hall.
It’s a living.
That’ll do it for now. Tomorrow includes another state capitol and (maybe) the Mile High City. #gowestboomers