Day 6

We woke up at 7 and enjoyed a free breakfast complements of the luxurious Econolodge. Then we walked to Wall Drug through the tiny town of Wall. We walked by the high school which looked like portable classrooms. We weren't sure where all the classrooms were because the building was tiny and when we looked in the window all we could see was a weight room. At least all the kids are in good shape! We got to Wall Drug which was kind of like an indoor flea market of stereotypical Western/Cowboy chachkas. It also featured a giant jackalope, a gorilla playing piano (think Chuckie Cheese style), a mechanical T-rex hiding in fake bushes, a bucking bronco, and lots of other places for classic photo ops. Wall Drug is famous for its free ice water but we tried some and it was sub par tap water. After Wall Drug we walked back to our car and headed to the Badlands. We drove through the park and saw prairie dogs and bison and took at least 500 pictures. Then we drove to Mt Rushmore. We are embarrassed to say that we didn't know which four presidents were carved into the Mountain and in case any of you are similarly confused the four presidents are Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. We only stayed there for a short time because there are only so many ways you can take pictures of one thing. Then we drove to Needles Highway. It was really scenic and windy and the flies were aggressive and obnoxious but its ok because many of them have ended up on our windshield. Then we went to Wind Cave National Park. We took a tour of the caves which contain 98% of the world's boxwork, a point of which the park rangers are extremely proud of. Then we drove to Buffalo, Wyoming, the town that Maya lived near last summer when she worked on the ranch, and stayed at a cheap but classy motel.