Wallgreen's, Charlie Horse, and a trip to the DVD

Wallgreen's, Charlie Horse, and a trip to the DVD.  Better known as Wall Drug, Crazy Horse Monument, and the South Dakota DMV (I'll explain later).  These are all places we recently visited on our week long road trip to South Dakota.  And after our first visit to our new home state, all I can say is WOW!  There is some amazing stuff to see here.  Okay, the drive westbound across I-90 was less than thrilling, but thankfully every few miles we would see a big billboard advertising Wall Drug, not to be confused with Wallgreen's.  It seemed like Wall Drug could appeal to everyone, I mean who can say no to free ice water, and nickle cups of coffee (Oh, by the way coffee is free for honeymooners).  I don't know how they did it, but Wall Drug advertisers have figured out how to make a tourist attraction out of what once was just a drug store.  It's actually a neat story, and definitely worth the stop.  And that ice water and ice cream sure tasted good after a hot day at the Badlands.

After a day at Devil's Tower in Wyoming, a day at Badlands National Park, it was off to see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse, aka Charlie Horse.  It's crazy to think that these two monuments were once mountains.  Not sure how I feel about that, but they were impressive.  Now off for a drive on Needles Highway.  For those of you who have never heard of Needles, it is one of the most twisting, curvy roads I've ever seen.  It was unbelievably exciting from inside the minivan, but I can't imagine how it would feel on a motorcycle!  Maybe next time.  We were in the Rapid City area just a week after the famous Sturgis Bike Rally, and there were still plenty of bikes riding around town.  We did visit the Sturgis Harley shop just for fun, although I did feel a bit out of place.  Not sure those leathers would have matched our Polo shirts ;-).

Next we were in search of some animals.  At Custer State Park we got to see deer, antelope, and LOTS of buffalo.  No "Guy on a Buffalo" though.  And at Bear Country we saw lots of bears.

But our trip had to come to an end, but not before a stop to the DMV, or as Chris' Mom called it the DVD.  This makes Chris and I official residents of the state of South Dakota.  At this point you may be wondering why all the silly names?  Wallgreen's, Charlie Horse, DVD?  Let just say some members of the family can mix up words occasionally.  We had such a wonderful trip, full of lots of laughs and memories.  I have to thank the Graves family for having me.  I wasn't sure what to expect on our trip, but now that it's over I can say I'm proud to be a resident of this Beautiful state!  You should come visit sometime.