Last Day in the Great Plains

It was drizzly today. It was in the 30s pretty much all day, so time outside was limited. As we drove back into South Dakota, we made a stop in Deadwood, the town known for its lawlessness -- now home to tacky tourist shops selling confederate flags and t-shirts with Donald Trump riding a motorcycle. We plugged a meter for 45 minutes, and this was ample to explore the town. As previously mentioned, it was also rather cold, so we didn't feel like lingering too long outside in the elements.

After arriving back in Rapid City and checking in to our hotel, we made a brief stop near Ellsworth AFB to visit the free air & space museum. As it was free, there wasn't a lot to it, but they did have some aircraft parked outside. By now, it felt like the temperature was in the 20s since the wind had really picked up. We went to the movies to get out of the elements for a couple hours. After that we had some fine Italian dining at some place called the Olive Garden. After stepping back outside into the cold, we debated whether we should go check out Mt. Rushmore at night.

This was, after all, an outdoor activity. After a brief discussion, we decided to do it. We were the only ones there and it was almost a little eerie. Snow had started to fall. I attempted to catch some of it in the spotlights as it fell onto the monument when all of a sudden the lights went out. Now we were looking out into a black void. I fiddled with my camera settings to work some magic. Unfortunately the sky was a thick overcast, so the prospect of getting the monument with stars was not in the cards, but I did get this bizarre shot of the monument.

Yes, this was taken at night despite appearing to have been taken during the day. The weird scratchy texture is from the snow streaking over the image during my long exposure. It's lucky we showed up when we did, so we saw it illuminated for a few minutes. And that was that. As we returned to the car and headed back into town, our random trip to South Dakota had drawn to a close.

Off to Wyoming!

We woke up this morning in our cabin in the middle of the Badlands. I did a little research on visiting an old ICBM launch facility and found out tickets were first come first serve, so we drove just outside of the park to get our tickets for the afternoon, and then headed back into the park to do some exploring. We drove west a few miles and stopped of at a few viewpoints and did a couple hikes. It was very nice weather. Clear skies, 70 degrees, light breeze. This would all change drastically later in the day.

After feeling we had adequately explored the Badlands, we drove down a dirt road toward Delta-01, the missile launch facility. We weren't entirely sure if we had reached the facility when Google maps said we had arrived at our destination. It was very unassuming from the outside, which I guess is the point. It looked like an average ranch house, other than the chain link fence going around the area. The ranger showed us around the facility, which they tried to showcase as it would have looked when it closed in 1993 -- a People magazine sitting on an old coffee table with Princess Diana on the cover.

Once we passed the crew facilities, we reached an elevator that descended thirty feet underground to a massive concrete and steel door that separated the control room from the outside world. The crew room was actually suspended in a way so that it could move several feet in either direction if it took a hit from a Soviet missile. The two-man crew who would be stationed inside did not have much in the form of entertainment. They would typically be in here for 24 hours straight. After exiting the facility we drove to an old missile silo, which was several miles down the road. We could just look down some plexiglass into the ground to see the missile (now a dud obviously). Despite more than half of America's nuclear missile arsenal being decommissioned, there are still over 450 missile launch sites in existence around the U.S. -- primarily in states with low populations like North Dakota, Wyoming, etc... On our way out of the visitor's center, there was a guestbook where people were supposed to share their thoughts about the prospects of nuclear war and multiple people had trolled the guestbook with things like, "Build a wall!" "Trump!" Disconcerting stuff if you consider that the order to launch comes directly from the President of the United States.

On our way out of South Dakota, we made a stop in Wall for some gas and continued our journey into Wyoming. After checking in to tiny Hulett, Wyoming (pop: 384), we witnessed the temperature plummet about 30 degrees in about an hour. We brought our jackets with us when we drove 20 mins over to Devil's Tower.  The wind had really kicked up and the unseasonably warm and pleasant weather we had experienced thusfar abruptly ended once the region realized it was, in fact, October.  We did a perimeter walk around the tower that was about a mile and a half.

The weather was beginning to seem actually quite ominous. We drove back into the booming metropolis of Hulett and had dinner at a place called the Ponderosa Cafe. The town is about two blocks long, so we walked there from our hotel. People we had seen at Devil's Tower were also at Ponderosa. We saw them again back at the hotel. It's crazy for me to think that people actually live here -- all 383 of them. Though to be fair, we passed through a town called Aladdin on the way in. There were mile distance signs for a ways, but when we drove through we discovered it had a population of 15 (yes, one five). Welcome to Wyoming.

Wait . . . You're Going Where?

After an uneventful flight up to gloomy Seattle and back, I was overdue for another quick vacation. South Dakota it is! Most people did not readily understand this decision. The Uber driver taking us to LAX was a bit confused. The fact of the matter is, the area around Rapid City has a surprising amount of things to do. Also, the weather elsewhere is not exactly ideal. In what became one of the easiest nonrev trips to date, Nicole and I easily got on a half empty flight to Denver and the regional jet connection to Rapid City. The only issue was food upon our arrival. Everything was closed, so we ended up buying snacks at a gas station and that became our dinner.

The following morning, we drove about 20 minutes into the Black Hills to Mt Rushmore. I can't really think of anything to say about it because it's pretty self-explanatory. It's stone heads of presidents. The fall colors were just barely starting to show themselves. The temperature in the morning was about 40, but within a few hours it would be over 70. Confusing weather. After about an hour at the site, we continued on to Custer State Park. The ranger at the gate pointed out where we should see some bison since they hadn't been "worked" yet. Neither Nicole or I had any idea what this meant.

The bison were all corralled behind fences, so it wasn't some kind of majestic migration across the plains we were hoping for, but we did see plenty of antelope roaming the hills. It was a long, winding drive around the park. Eventually we stopped to get some lunch, where I ordered a buffalo burger. One would assume it would be fresh, but the place overcooked it until it was dry and void of taste. Following our exit from the park, we drove back through Rapid City making a quick stop at Dinosaur Park with very natural-looking green dinosaur sculptures and then hit the road toward Wall.

Perhaps you have heard of Wall Drug before. It is the stuff of western legend. Whether you want to buy a dreamcatcher, some fudge, a new pair of spurs, or some pepto-bismol, Wall Drug is your stop. It's also virtually the only thing in existence between Rapid City and Sioux Falls unless you count the Corn Palace in Mitchell (and who wouldn't). Nicole and I stocked up on merchandise -- t-shirts, bottles of water, a magnet, a christmas ornament, and a donut. The creature you see here is a jackalope, half-antelope, half-jack rabbit. Yep.

After departing Wall with a few sandwiches for dinner later, we entered the Badlands National Park. The sun was working its way down on the horizon and the temperature was actually above 80. We stopped off at an overlook and did a few short hikes as well. It's a really interesting topography to see sprout up out of nowhere in the middle of the prairie. As the sun set, we ate our sandwiches and went back out to try our hand at some star photography. Despite being a long way from the nearest town, it was still a bit bright from the waxing moon in the sky overhead.

This created an interesting effect with shadows showing up in our long exposure shots. It was fair to say that Nicole and I were the only people out and about within the park at this hour. In fact, the lodge that we are staying at inside the park closes next week until May or something like that. It's the quiet season in South Dakota. While it has been a challenge to acquire food, it's nice to get away from the crowds. We don't really have any plans for tomorrow as of yet, so stay tuned for further adventures.