"Dust in the wind"

Hi everyone!
Greetings from Wyoming!!! Well, its Thursday, but I'm going to discuss yesterday since I wasn't able to last night...so here goes:

We entered South Dakota yesterday morning and began chasing pavement on the pink highway....no really, the highway looked pink!! Either side of us consisted of endless green land, beautiful black cows, and cinnamin rolls (what I call rolls of hay). I was driving the first leg and let me start by saying that the speed limit was 75mph and we barely had to share the road...this is when I discovered cruise control, and boy it was fabulous!!!

We first stopped in a town called Mitchell, got some ditties, and walked around the Corn Palace. It's been there since before the turn of the century, and there's mosaics and murals made out of corn!!! It was too cool. That was a minor detour, and we hopped back on I-90 on route to the Badlands. After much cruisin', we needed to make a gas stop. We ended up seeing a gas sign (that looked hand-written) so hey, why not stop! We pulled down this dirt road in silence, both wondering where the heck this was sending us too. All of the sudden, thumb-sized grasshoppers were landing on my windshield, and hopping all over the place, to the point where I started to drive slow so I wouldn't hear them crunch under my tires. We arrived at this ghost-town gas station made out of old wood and only had 2 pumps. I drove a little further and saw run-down saloons and even a post office! I opted to stay in my car and risk looking for another gas station then take my chances outside with the grasshoppers. Oh, I must mention that after we got back on the highway, there were still 3 or 4 grasshoppers clinging to life on my wipers....it was actually quite funny. (Sandy- I know you'll appreciate this!)Poor things couldn't catch a break!

Ok now the most important parts of the day: entering the Badlands!!!!! We got out of the car and were in awe of what was before us. Rock formations resembling hills that seemed to go on forever, and as we drove along the scenic bypass, they only got better and better. At one point we stopped on the side of the road only to see hills with purple and orangey-yellow sand (you'll see what I'm talking about when I post the pictures). It was UNBELIEVABLE!!!! I can't wait for you to see it!!!! We spent about 2 hours touring around, then needed to get some dinner. We stopped at On the Border and finished around 7:30. We were still about 45 mins from Mount Rushmore, and the sky was looking glorious at this time of night. I couldn't wait to get there - and we were almost in a race against time to get there before dark.

When we were driving up the mountain road, I saw the President's faces between the trees. AHH!! I couldn't believe it. I was nearing a place that I have been wanting to see since I was a kid. Seeing it in person was just the icing on my cake-filled day. We stayed about a half-hour staring at the amazingness to try to let it sink in, then decided to try and find Crazy Horse Nat'l Monument. It was about 25 miles away, but it was dark. The park ranger said we could still make it to see the laser show, but to be careful of the windy mountain road and watch out for deer! My mom and I looked at eachother, and without hesitation, we booked it to the car and headed towards Crazy Horse. (Speaking of crazy...)
We made it in time for the last 15 minutes of the laser show (they put lasers on the monument, which is a gigantic carving of a mountain (even bigger then Rushmore!) of an Indian chief on his horse. Yay- we accomplished our goals for the day!

By this time, it was around 10pm and we debated on what to do next. We could either drive straight thru the night, or stop and sleep. We did a little of both. Please envision this setting: just me and my mom on a dark mountain road only lit up by the full moon and countless stars above us. We could go 65 mph but we remained at 40mph because there was a good chance we'd see some animals (we saw a deer by the way :) ). I just put on one of my favorite songs, "Dust in the Wind" when all the sudden my mom comes to a full stop right in front of the "Welcome to Wyoming" sign. We made it to another state and the timing was perfect. We drove for about an hour thru complete nothingness and I honestly thought I would be a little creeped out, but I felt the complete opposite. I was hanging my head out the window staring at the sky and out of nowhere I saw a shooting star!!! My mom ended up pulling over and shut the lights off so we could get out of the car and stare at the sky together. Now that was cool.

About 30 mins later we arrived at our motel for the night. We wanted to drive thru the night, but both of our batteries died in our cameras so that was reason enough to drop $75 and sleep somewhere with an outlet for the night. The bed and shower were just a bonus.

Ok I am sitting in McDonalds in Wyoming (free Wi-Fi!!) and I need to go see some more of this beautious state. It is un-freakin-real. There are seriously not enough words in the dictionary to describe what I have seen so far today & it's only going to get better.

Will be posting pics tonight....keep an eye out!!!
LOVE to y'all

Ang (& Mom)