September 6. From Wall, South Dakota it was not a bad drive to Mount Rushmore. Unfortunately, it was not ideal viewing weather. Grace claimed that she could easily locate an umbrella and raincoat in the jammed car, but I was skeptical so we braved the elements.
At first it was just drizzling, but it turned into a downpour so we spent a good deal of time in the gift shop, followed by a good deal of time in the museum. In addition to some interesting displays about the construction and carving of Mt. Rushmore, there was a show devoted to duct tape art. David, this one is for you, both because it is duct tape and because it is Acadia National Park:
After Mt. Rushmore, we had a disappointing non-visit to the Crazy Horse monument, where we paid our $11 to enter the premises only to find that we would have to board a bus to get to the viewing area. We had no patience for that, with a long drive ahead of us, so we sacrificed the $11 and left.
Lunch was at Edgemont, South Dakota.
Edgemont is in the middle of nowhere but had a couple of key features: a post office, at which Grace could express mail to her former roommates the house keys she had accidentally taken, and a good cafe. The cafe’s walls were lined with pictures of the local high school’s sports teams over the years, and Grace remarked that there was not a non-white face in any of the dozens of photographs.
We spent many an hour in Wyoming with nary a stop, and I have barely a photo to show for our presence there. Sunset, and I’m realizing that we don’t have a shot yet:
By now we were well into Book 2 (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), which meant I was not getting any work done at all. We crossed the border into Utah after sundown and rolled into Park City a while after that. I was edgy about whether we would actually be able to get into the Mitchells’ house (given that Bill had expressed some doubt about what the code was), so we went there first before going out to eat. No problem getting in, and we hustled out for a very late dinner in town.