A Vain Attempt to "Catch Up" Part 4: A Crazy President Devil

We awoke Sunday morning in a totally adorable cabin in the Black Hills:

The only thing they lacked was a small sink. Other than that, I didn't mind using the community showers/restrooms, and hey, I had a place to lay my head. What more can you ask for?

We set out to see Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse and whatever else we could find along the way.

As we got closer and I started taking pics, I actually started to get a little excited. I knew we wouldn't have to stay long there as there's not much to do save for taking your typical touristy type pictures, but I was just excited for the experience. And then we pulled up to the parking garage you can see in the foreground here:

I didn't snap a pic of the sign, but they were charging eleven American dollars to enter. I know this is going to make me sound like a cheapskate, but there is no way I was about to pay that much just to take pictures and maybe spend even MORE money on postcards, souvenirs, etc. We kept driving.

Cliche, but I had to do it:

We continued on to the Crazy Horse Memorial, which was still under construction. We knew that, but we still wanted to go.

Once again, however, the exorbitant admission fees deterred us from entering. Pics from the road would have to suffice, and I think they did. The very nice gentleman at the gate DID inform us of what was actually in the Crazy Horse Memorial area, and it seemed like nothing but souvenir stands, food stalls and informational videos, none of which really interested either of us. On a whim, we stopped for a hike:

For the first time, I felt like the elevations were actually affecting me. I was slightly out of breath, which is concerning for a person in such fantastic shape as I am. Anyway, on to Wyoming:

I realize it looks like a lot of nothing (and it was), but strangely, I wasn't bored at this part of the drive. I guess it's because the desolation I've experienced so far in my life looked nothing like this. One of my old roommates told me I'd be absolutely amazed at how wide open the western states are, and he was absolutely right. I never thought I'd be in awe over nothingness.

We took a little detour to stop at Devil's Tower. Very sadly, I did not experience a Close Encounter of the Third Kind. Still an awesome sight to see, though:

That's about all I can handle for right now. Enjoy your Saturday!