Vacation '08, day 2

We get up early to start across the state towards Hill City, our day's destination. It's a fairly short driving day, so we plan to spend lunchtime at Wall Drug, that shrine of the American Roadtrip. All morning long we see the signs along I-90 announcing the wonders of the Mecca of the Badlands: "See the T-Rex!" "5¢ Coffee!" "As seen on Good Morning America!" "Free Ice Water!" The signs have all the charm of the old Burma-Shave placards, and it becomes a game to be the first to spot them as we travel through an otherwise (mostly) featureless landscape. The kids shout from the back seat, "I see one!" with increasing frequency as we get closer and closer.

Wall Drug doesn't disappoint us, except for the mediocre dry-as-sawdust burgers in the cafe. Everything else about the store is larger than life and over the top. There's a huge fiberglass jackalope in the back courtyard (it appeared on Boo's blog when she went through Wall a few years back.) Hunter complains that it's too babyish, but poses anyway.

We wander around, shop and look at all the stuff that crams the aisles and hallways of the store, which has grown to encompass a whole city block.

Mike has a new girlfriend...

...so does Hunter!

We pose with Annie Oakley and get ice cream in the old soda fountain.

The T-Rex mentioned on the billboards is an animatronic creation that comes to roaring, flashing life every quarter-hour. It makes a lot of noise as it threatens to break out of its "enclosure" before it goes back to sleep for the next fourteen minutes.

After the weirdness of Wall, we keep heading west towards Mt. Rushmore. We stop at the Rushmore Borglum Museum, which has a whole lot of interesting exhibits and information about Rushmore's sculptor, Gutzon Borglum. The kids pose with a replica of Borglum's "Seated Lincoln" outside the museum.

Then, having visited the museum to get some context, we head up the mountain to see the momument itself.

It's one of those things that you've seen a million times in pictures or on TV or whatever, but it's a completely different experience to be there looking up at the carvings.

We take the obligatory photos of the faces on the mountain before heading off to check into our hotel for the night. Later, after dinner and a little goofing around in the pool, we drive back up the mountain to see the nightly lighting ceremony. The ranger makes a little speech about the National Anthem, then there's a short film about the four presidents on the mountain, and then they light the faces with massive floodlights while stirring patriotic music plays. Despite the slightly creepy jingoistic overtones, I get choked up.

So ends our second day. Tomorrow we've got a long drive... all the way to Yellowstone, where we'll stay put for a few days. Good night!