Day 5 (Badlands to Devil's Tower via Rushmore / Custer State Park

When I woke up on Day 5, my foot hurt. From the fall on day 4, my foot just felt terrible. So, we packed up and headed off to Mount Rushmore, stopping along the way for Naproxen and Fuddruckers.

Mount Rushmore was, as always, incredible. We took the loop trail and heard a talk on the construction. The detail and scale just astonish every time I see it. Mt. Rushmore is however, a strictly complementary destination, more than a roadside attraction, but it is absolutely worth the 3 hours out of the way to see it – especially because the Black Hills are worth the trip.

Iron Mountain Road, with its Pigtail Bridges, and tunnels built to frame the statue is an amazing achievement as well, and the drive is about the most fun you can have in a car – missed the convertible there. One of the rangers told me that during Sturgis Iron Mountain Road become littered with drunken idiots who think their bikers. It was said as though recounting a pleasant anecdote, but also with a venom that said that work comes again in 10 days.

We wandered through the Black Hills to the Crazy Horse statue. The sculpture is slowly taking shape, the museum was interesting, but too often, it feels like they should just be carving a giant middle finger facing Mount Rushmore instead. Not that it wouldn't be warranted, and not that the sculpture won't be amazing, and appropriate, it's just the feeling I get.

From Crazy Horse, we drove through Custer State Park. We saw our second Bald Eagle here. A pretty state park full of Antelope and Buffalo, I picked up a walking stick here. A lot of naproxen and patient sons had gotten me through Rushmore, but my ankle HURT.

From Custer we tried to get to Jewel Cave National Monument, but it closed before we got there, so we headed into Wyoming and toward Devil's Tower.

Approaching the tower is amazing, because it just doesn't seem like it should be there. Coming in as we did at night was wonderful because the kids got to see the outline as we came in, but didn't get to fully appreciate it until the next morning.