North Oklahoma (more popularly known as South Dakota)
Thursday 20 July
Day of Kelly
Welcome to South Dakota, or, as we come to think of it, North Oklahoma. Lacking the spectacularness of Wyoming and Montana, we could tell we’d left The West and were now in the Mid-West. Not nearly as dramatic sounding, even, and for good reason. To keep this interesting, we knew we’d need a special attraction… time for Day of Kelly.
I almost don’t want to give this state too many column inches so here’s the skinny:
Mount Rushmore? Worst excuse for a National Park in the system. A state that needs to carve some presidential heads into a mountain to create a tourism industry is questionable at best. Plus, our National Parks Passport, which had let us into YELLOWSTONE for free, did not gain us a waiver on the $9 parking fee at rainy Rushmore. My friend Kathy had helpfully told us NOT to pay – it is not worth it – you can see Rushmore from the road and it doesn’t look any different once you’re inside. So, I had to forgo my passport stamp (gar!) and stood in the rain for my portrait. We headed back into the tourist trap town and had lunch (fajitas!), wandered a brief little bit and then hit the road, stopping again at Wall Drug.
Wall Drug is another weirdo tourist ‘attraction’, essentially the South of the Border of the Midwest. It is a tourist attraction built around being a tourist attraction. There is no there there! Just gift shoppes… and plenty of photo ops perfect for Day of Kelly.
Back on the road and driving fast. So fast, that Beth got friendly with (but not friendly enough) one of the locals, a nice guy named Josh.
SoDak's Finest
But it was no sleep ‘til Minnesota, and we were determined to make it to Darwin in order to see the Ball of Twine first thing. Midge (our GPS) let us down a bit with some botched hotel and campground citing, but one of Darwin’s friendly cops pointed us to a not-too-shady destination. Too bad the morning receptionists were totally… erm, not customer friendly and Beth and I left flipping them the one-finger salute. This trip was definitely winding down.
Except not so much.
Day of Kelly
Welcome to South Dakota, or, as we come to think of it, North Oklahoma. Lacking the spectacularness of Wyoming and Montana, we could tell we’d left The West and were now in the Mid-West. Not nearly as dramatic sounding, even, and for good reason. To keep this interesting, we knew we’d need a special attraction… time for Day of Kelly.
I almost don’t want to give this state too many column inches so here’s the skinny:
Mount Rushmore? Worst excuse for a National Park in the system. A state that needs to carve some presidential heads into a mountain to create a tourism industry is questionable at best. Plus, our National Parks Passport, which had let us into YELLOWSTONE for free, did not gain us a waiver on the $9 parking fee at rainy Rushmore. My friend Kathy had helpfully told us NOT to pay – it is not worth it – you can see Rushmore from the road and it doesn’t look any different once you’re inside. So, I had to forgo my passport stamp (gar!) and stood in the rain for my portrait. We headed back into the tourist trap town and had lunch (fajitas!), wandered a brief little bit and then hit the road, stopping again at Wall Drug.
Wall Drug is another weirdo tourist ‘attraction’, essentially the South of the Border of the Midwest. It is a tourist attraction built around being a tourist attraction. There is no there there! Just gift shoppes… and plenty of photo ops perfect for Day of Kelly.
Back on the road and driving fast. So fast, that Beth got friendly with (but not friendly enough) one of the locals, a nice guy named Josh.
SoDak's FinestBut it was no sleep ‘til Minnesota, and we were determined to make it to Darwin in order to see the Ball of Twine first thing. Midge (our GPS) let us down a bit with some botched hotel and campground citing, but one of Darwin’s friendly cops pointed us to a not-too-shady destination. Too bad the morning receptionists were totally… erm, not customer friendly and Beth and I left flipping them the one-finger salute. This trip was definitely winding down.
Except not so much.
posted by kelly at 5:21 PM
2 Comments:
See? I warned you Mt. Rushmore was a total letdown. But I'm suprised you didn't give more ink to the FABULOUS Wall Drug. Maybe I was just road-punchy while we were there, but we had a fantastic time posing with all the statues and playing with the tacky tourist crap. Seriously, who buys that stuff?
Is the Tyranasaurus Rex that roars, lights up, and blows smoke still there?
Oh, you just wait until I upload 'Day of Kelly' - it's a Wall Drug Opus...
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