Neu Family Vacation to the Black Hills of South Dakota

Below is my chronicle of our family’s week-long vacation to the Black Hills of South Dakota (Aug 2003).

SATURDAY

We left Sat morning, and drove about half-way, stopping in De Smet, site of Laura Ingalls’ Little Town on the Prarie. Very so-so, in hindsight I would have skipped it in favor of having more time in the Black Hills. Maybe it would have been better during the time when they are doing the pageant.

Speed limit in rural SD (which has got to describe 99.5% of the state): 75 mph. Wow! With the new van, which has the trip computer, we got to see the effect of speed on fuel economy. At 80 mph, it was down to about 18 mpg, versus 21 mpg for 70 mph.

Speaking of the new van, we were able to pack without even breaking a sweat. We didn’t bother to take out even one half of the split-bench seat. Would have been a bit tighter had we had winter bulky clothes, or food and camping equipment.

SUNDAY

We stopped at the famous St. Joseph’s Indian School in Chamberlain, SD, right on the Missouri river. You have probably received junk mail from them. They had a very nice museum of Indian history and artwork, both historical and contemporary. Some of the contemporary artwork struck me as world-class.

We visited a preserved sod house. Privately restored, and one of only three in the country that are open to the public. Worthwhile and interesting. It wasn’t as completely constructed of sod as I would have hoped. I think I have seen photos of ones that are entirely sod. This one was partly dug into the ground (a common practice, I think), and the lower half of the exposed parts were framed in cottonwood, and the rest, including the roof was sod. What I found striking was the fact that it was built in 1909! I think of sod houses as something from Kansas of the 1850s. Incredibly, it was occupied until 1936! As a side note, the premises were host to a prairie dog town of entirely white-coated inhabitants. The only such in the world.

The Badlands were stunning. I’m sure they will prove to have been my favorite part of the vacation. I was surprised to find that the entire park is pretty much wide open to the public for hiking. Or scrambling, or climbing, as the case may be. Our kids really enjoyed this. It was also a chance for them to learn that it is easier to climb up than down.

We got our first taste to western weather. We marveled at the dry heat. It was over 100, but it really didn’t feel all that bad. We certainly weren’t drenched in sweat, since at that temp and low humidity, it can evaporate so quickly and effectively. In the evening, as we were wrapping up at the Badlands, we saw lightning. There continued to be quite a bit of lightning, much of it in bolt form, throughout the night, with hardly any rain—the infamous “dry lightning” that sparks so many of the western forest fires. The thunderstorm system did seem to bring a change of weather, however. The high the next day was only in the low 80s, and it got even cooler after that.

MONDAY

We stopped at the “famous” Wall Drug. It is reknowned like celebrity: famous for being famous. Entirely skippable, but we did have to eat breakfast somewhere. The still-5¢-a-cup coffee was not worth the price.

We visited the Mt. Rushmore monument today. Very magnificent, moving and impressive. One fact that really impressed me: not a single worker was killed over the course of 10 years of work. Considering the extraordinary nature of the work, and the fact that a lot of it involved dynamiting away chunks of the mountain, I think that is a very impressive accomplishment.

While at Rushmore, we observed the artist (can’t remember her name) who created the 125% scale bronze sculpture “Tatonka”, depicting Native Americans herding bison over a cliff to their death. She explained the “lost wax casting” method, which was quite interesting. This particular effort was nine years in the making, commissioned by actor Kevin Costner (think “Dances with Wolves”). Particularly interesting to me was the sheer degree of organization required to produce this. She must have had at least 4 helpers, maybe more, and an inventory of thousands of sub-sections to manage. She used terms like “co-valent” to describe the chemistry for creating the patina on the bronze. Not so suprising when she explained that she had a B.S. in chemistry. She was clearly not your ordinary artist. Ainslee, who has professed plans for a career as an artist, listened intently to the entire 10-minute lecture.

We got to the cabins, at the Calamity Peak campsite, in the mid-afternoon, and stayed for a while to give the kids some downtime. The cabin is quite tidy and satisfactory. The kids and I hiked up a very steep hill and discovered a “junkyard”. I think it is more like the place some landowner chose to dump their personal junk. But nonetheless a treasure house of wonder to a child.

In the late afternoon we went for a hike around Sylvan Lake, on the border of Custer State Park. Quite lovely, the kids really enjoyed that too (it seems like our efforts to inculcate a love of the outdoors, and of physical exercise therein, may really be taking root). We scrambled to the top of several rock formations that commanded a great view of the small lake. The six-mile drive to-and-from was very scenic as well, with a number of what seem to me classic western vistas of grassy, steep hills surrounded by dark green ponderosa pines.

We had frozen pizza for dinner, then read some Harry Potter. The kids and Beth watched part of “Searching for Bobby Fischer”, while I labeled our digital photos, before we called it a night.

There is SO much to do here in the Black Hills. Most of the marquee attractions are also in a very concentrated area, within 30 minutes’ drive of the town of Custer, We will hit most of them, but no doubt would like to do a bit more, including more extensive hiking, and the petrified forest. Also, I would like to just see Deadwood (no desire to gamble), and a couple of other things nearby: Spearfish Canyon, and the aforementioned Tatonka sculpture.

I’ve got to make a point of looking up what Wild Bill Hickock is famous for—other than being shot in Deadwood while playing cards. Because I haven’t the faintest idea.

TUESDAY

Brrr, we had a few windows open just a crack, and awoke to a downright chilly morning.

Today we finally got what passes for an early start in the Neu family—up by 0730 and on the road before 0900. We drove south toward Wind Cave, Hot Springs and the Mammoth Site via the scenic route through Custer State Park. The drive was absolutely gorgeous, and we spotted quite a bit of wildlife, too. As she was turning at an intersection, my eagle-eyed wife, Beth, spotted a solitary bison grazing quite close to the roadside. It didn’t seem like a typical bison location, it was along a 15-foot strip of grass between the woods and the road. We turned around and watched it from the car for several minutes, quite enthralled. We could hear it chewing. As we were watching, another car arrived, and a man got out of the car and proceeded to film the buffalo from close range. I joked to Beth that she should get the VCR out and start filming, just in case the bison decided to charge the guy!

As we drove on, we saw many beautiful, beautiful western vistas. We saw forest springing up a few years after a fire. My sharp-eyed daughter Ainslee spotted a coyote, making a meal on a prarie dog (we saw the dog hanging from his mouth). We also spotted a deer with unusually beautiful white markings. Later on, viewing a photo exhibit of the different wildlife in the area, we realized it was not a deer, but a pronghorn (antelope). We proceeded to see many more bison, both in ones and twos, and several largers groups. One of 20 or so, including 2 small calves.

We finally arrived at the mammoth site. The family went ahead with the tour, while I stayed behind to take care of 11^th hour arrangements to secure our mortgage re-financing. Very harrying. Also involved the use of a pay phone for the first time in years. I was surprised that 800 calls were completely free—last I remember, there had been a recent change that you had to pay the local rate for a toll-free call.

By the time I had completed my work, the family was done. It was just as well, the site, while undoubtedly worthwhile, hadn’t been at the top of my list. Since Ainslee had been specifically interested in it, we made no effort to remove it from the itinerary. Very glad of that decision, because she really enjoyed it, and consistently rated it as tied with the Badlands for her favorite part of the trip.

We drove on to Wind Cave, a gigantic, mazelike cave complex. Over 108 miles of thus-far-explored passages, on three levels, making it the 6^th longest cave in the world. And they think only 95% of it has been explored! Also notable because it contains few stalagmites and stalactites, but 95% of the world’s boxwork (a sort of weblike honeycomb structure). It was very impressive, of course, although I’m not sure it was any more impressive a tour than some of the caves we have seen in southern Indiana and in Kentucky.

The kids did really well. Seth exhibited a touch of claustrophobia, but hung in there. Ainslee and Anna-Claire really enjoyed it. I congratulated them all on being the youngest of the 40 or so people on the tour.

It rained hard for a bit on the way home and the temp plummeted. It is still cloudy 3 hours later, but not much of an accumulation. I can see why drought is a problem out here.

If I had to pick my favorite thing today so far, I would say it was the beautiful scenery on the drive there. That drive wasn’t the main event in Custer State Park, so we are looking forward to the Wildlife Loop later this week.

I love vacations! A drawback, though, is the extent to which they destroy my exercise, and to a lesser degree, eating, routines. Although getting a steady diet of 8-9 hours sleep nearly compensates. Well, hopefully in a few more years we will be able to bring the bikes and the kids will be up to some good, hard riding on our nature vacations. We certainly have seen plenty of beckoning routes, mostly from the car.

We aborted on the evening Rushmore ceremony tonight, since it was cool (60 F) and sprinkling. Especially since the next two days’ forecast is stunning. We improvised and went for a dusk drive around the Custer State Park wildlife loop. The funny part is, the road there, 16A, was a scenic through road, and we saw more wildlife there than we were seeing on the wildlife loop. A number of bison, singly and in small groups; innumerable deer; two wild turkeys;

The views from the wildlife loop were outstanding. The Black Hills may not be mountains, but they sure are big, steep hills! We got out at just about the highest point, and the wind was blowing fiercely. It must have been a steady 35 mph, with gusts over 50. We also again experienced some SD weather. As I mentioned, it had been cool when we started. After we got back in the car, I absent-mindedly noticed that my cold-hating wife had her window open. Then I looked at the car thermometer: back up to a balmy 74 degrees. Strange weather—getting warmer at an increased elevation.

Then we did see a pronghorn, from a distance. The only reason we saw it was because another car had spotted it, lying down in a field far below.

Shortly after that, we were driving up a large hill about half-way through the loop when we came upon it—a honest-to-goodness herd of bison. In fact, as we moved toward the crest of the hill, more and more bison came into view. By the time we reached the top of the hill, we realized that we had encountered a true bison traffic jam—they had the road blocked! We watched them for about 15 minutes, as they meandered about, in no hurry to clear the highway. While we were waiting, one walked directly behind our van.

Also while we were waiting, a pronghorn walked right by our car, offering by far the best view of the three pronghorns we had seen. So now we just need to see an elk and a bear to complete our wildlife list. In fact, the stereotypically laconic male German tourist we chatted with, while waiting for the bison to cross, was out at that hour specifically trying to glimpse an elk. There don’t seem to be so many bear around, so in all likelihood, that will have to wait for our Yellowstone trip in a couple of years.

After a trying couple of days of quarreling and treating one another as one another’s favorite toys (press the buttons and see what happens), the kids have settled down into a pretty good routine. It helps staying in the same place more than one night, especially this comfy cabin. Part of the routine is Seth acting goofy, to amuse his sisters. He eats up that attention. More than once, when he has been away on a sleepover, they have grudgingly admitted to missing him “because he’s funny”.

Well, on the plus side of having modern portable electronics—laptop, digital camera, cell phone, camcorder—on vacation, I can do things like review and name digital photos at night (and write this vacation journal!). Beth and I just went through a bunch of them, today’s plus some of the extensive backlog. The downside? No, it’s not taking business cell phone calls—that, for me at least, is much more myth than reality. It is ensuring everything stays charged-up!

WEDNESDAY

Our last full day here, the day dawned beautifully. Sunny, dry, low 80s. Still somewhat hazy, but clearer than the other days. We again got a reasonably early start, 0900, for Crazy Horse.

I understand now why a travel writer for the NYT referred to it as a “spiritual experience”. The vision for Crazy Horse is extraordinary—it will dwarf Rushmore, and will jut out from the mountain in three dimensions. And that’s only the sculpture. The vision includes a world-class museum, a university, and probably a bunch of other stuff I can’t remember, on a 1000-acre campus. All to be achieved without public funding (they have twice turned down multi-million dollar offerings)!

As of now (2003), only the face of Crazy Horse is anywhere near a finished state. The rest is merely blocked out—after 50 years and 8,000,000 tons of granite dynamited away! My first reaction, upon taking in these facts, was to think “Sisyphean”. Upon reconsideration, however, that is clearly not fitting, because Crazy Horse has seen very slow, but quite steady, progress.

Beth is a trained Myers-Briggs consultant, so at her side, I have learned to become an amateur “typewatcher”. I don’t know if I have ever had such an easy time guessing someone’s type as Korczak’s (albeit without the opportunity for actual corroboration): INFP all the way. I didn’t even have to guess letter-by-letter; his whole, complete type was immediately clear to me. Only an INFP would undertake such an audacious, almost unlimited project, then stick with it over the course of multiple generations, all the while refusing public funding on philosophical grounds (interestingly, he specifically invoked the importance of “free enterprise”: voluntary funding from an interested public). Beth will use Crazy Horse as a case example in her future MBTI workshops.

It is obvious that Korczak’s conception of time is much different than most people’s, and that he was very much of the mind that “the journey is the reward”, but still, I would be Interested to know whether he really believed it would ever be finished (I mean just his carving, never mind the university and the rest of the vision), and roughly how long it might take. Certainly if he were projecting based on how long it took for those first, hard few decades, when he was working nearly alone and with negligible funding, the answer would have been “only a bit faster than the rock might erode”. So I have to believe that he envisioned an acceleration, based on attracting more funding, getting others to buy into his vision, and using larger teams and heavier equipment plus infrastructure (like a road that takes 10-minutes for a bulldozer to drive, instead of one man clambering up 700 ladder steps!).

In fairness to the project and vision, the museum and crafts areas were quite impressive, and would have justified a visit on their own merits.

An interesting aside for us, while touring the Crazy Horse museum, was seeing a promotional poster for Ensign-Bickford, a very old company headquartered in my very old (founded 1670) hometown of Simsbury, CT. Ensign-Bickford makes explosives, and they had donated some to the project.

The previous night the kids had watched “Searching for Bobby Fischer”, a nice family movie about the pressures on a young chess protegy, of course thought by some to be “the next Bobby Fischer”. In that regard it was fairly predictable, for the adult viewer—most of the adults want the protagonist, Josh, to forgo all the other experiences of a normal childhood in order to devote himself completely, a la Bobby Fischer, to Chess. It struck me that Korczak’s nearly all-consuming focus on Crazy Horse (he did find time to marry and have 10 children; 7 of them work on the project) was somewhat parallel, which I pointed out to the kids. With the crucial difference that he decided to dedicate himself, body and soul, to his calling at the age of 40, having had a chance to sample the variety of life and make a mature, independent decision.

After lunch back at the cabin, we went for a drive along the breathtaking Needles parkway. At 20 mph or less, with numerous stops and one extended hike, that took a couple of hours. I can’t say the kids soaked up the scenery, but they did play nicely in the car as we drove. Again, they were among the very youngest children at the various sites we visited.

Hmmm, this is the first journal of any significance that I have ever kept. I must say, I am enjoying it. Contributing daily is definitely the only way I think I would ever maintain it, even for a short, interesting period such as a vacation.

I grilled hamburgers for dinner tonight. We are avid gas grillers at home, just because gas is SO convenient, so I always enjoy the chance to grill over charcoal when we travel. It is definitely better, and more fun, if you have the time. The hamburgers were exceptionally lean and good. We bought them at the local podunk grocery store, so our theory is that you get better beef out here in cattle states.

We went to the nighttime lighting ceremony at Rushmore tonight. Gorgeous night for it—I was perfectly comfortable in shirtsleeves. It was well done. On the way into the monument, we added to our wildlife tally, spotting several white mountain goats grazing on a small patch of grass beside the road.

The focus president for the historical lesson that precedes the lighting was Teddy Roosevelt. I even learned something I either never knew, or forgot—that TR survived an assassination attempt that drew blood! The kids were exceptionally well-behaved and attentive. The monument was particularly beautiful at night, especially before they turned the lights up full, when it had a yellow glow to it. All in all, I really enjoyed the night, and I think everybody else did, too.

On the way out, I looked up and saw a bright spot in the sky, with a copperish hue. It only took me a minute to realize it was Mars, which in one more week will be the closest it has been to earth in thousands of years. Very striking, quite a nice bonus. It reminded me of my resolution—to which I need to re-commit—to try to share celestial events as a family experience. I don’t aim to become a family of amateur astronomers, but it seems like there are 3-6 newsworthy events every year—eclipses, meteor showers, comets, etc—that would be worth making the effort to observe.

Something we have all really enjoyed about this vacation—the lack of crowds! I’m not sure if we are slightly past peak (third week in August, some places, such as our former state, Indiana, have gone back to school), or what. It’s not that places are deserted. No, it is just right—there are plenty of people, but in numbers well within the capacity of the facilities. Much more pleasant than, say, fighting the crowds at Disney.

THURSDAY

Woke up around the same time as the last couple of days, 0730 CMT, and proceeded to break camp. Another splendid day. That went fairly slowly, it included a trip to the grocery store. The kids polished off the entire “Sleeping Beauty” video as we prepped. Sad to see a great vacation ending, but it seemed about the right length.

We departed the cabin at 1100, and proceeded toward our remaining scenic drive, Iron Mountain Road. It was as gorgeous as expected, including the famous mountain tunnel which is like a scope centered directly on Rushmore (pity the poor people who drive it in the wrong direction). At one of several stops on that drive, we consumed the sandwiches we had packed for lunch. We also added to our wildlife tally, as we came upon the group of (marginally) wild burros. You are permitted to feed them, and they are quite persistent about getting their food. Fortunately, we had a bag of baby carrots in the car, the perfect thing to feed them. They followed us back to the car, and one particularly stubborn fellow sidled right up to the side of the car and wouldn’t budge. I had to get out and lure them away while Beth pulled the car forward.

After Iron Mountain Drive, we decided to make a partial climb of Harney Peak, at nearly 8000 feet, supposedly the highest peak east of the Rockies before the Swiss Alps. Unfortunately, the drive there was somewhat lengthy, more because it was twisting than because of the actual distance, so it took a while to get there. And the same “while” would have to be traversed in reverse to depart the Black Hills. So we wound up spending a lot of time in the car even before departing on the long-ish drive home.

Anyway, the hike we chose, trail #4, was 3.25 miles one-way, and moderately strenuous. We were pretty sure we wouldn’t make that with the kids even under ideal circumstances, and in this case, we didn’t have enough time or water. As expected, complaints began fairly quickly. Ainslee was a trooper, and enjoying it, but Anna-Claire and Seth were very grumbly. Finally, I stopped with the 2 of them, while Beth and Ainslee forged on, hoping at least to get high enough for a good view.

While I waited with them, the idea struck me that I had some lifesavers in my backpack I could bribe them with. I offered one, and this cheered them up. So much that I was shocked when they cheerfully agreed to pick back up with the hike. We wound up going a few hundred yards higher, meeting Beth and Ainslee, and getting a decent view, before turning around and reversing it. The hike back was pretty much complaint-free, and also free, to my surprise, of pleas for more lifesavers. We soaked up the last hour of beautiful Black Hills on foot, on a warm, slightly mellow late summer afternoon.

After the hike, we drove toward Hill City, and our ultimate exit from the Black Hills, in search of our agreed-upon reward of Dairy Queen. It was easily located. Of the 3 towns we saw in the Black Hills—Hill City, Keystone and Custer—Custer, near where we stayed, was far less tourist-y, which is to our liking, if perhaps not the kids’. Finally, facing the unavoidable, we made our way to I-90, and a highway speed limit of 75 mph.

However, we weren’t on the road for long. We decided to pursue our original plan, making one last stop in the Badlands. The kids really wanted to go, they were very keen on hiking/clambering there again. It was just as beautiful as the first time. We saw some sort of chipmunk-looking desert rodent scampering around. So lightweight, it could walk on top of a few blades of prairie grass. Then, after sunset, as we were driving out, Beth spotted two bighorn rams, lying up on a high plateau overlooking the road. It was quite striking, we could see their heads, including signature backward-curling horns, silhouetted against the darkening sky. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if they had started butting each other!

We had dinner in the very reasonably-priced Cedar Pass Lodge where we dined on the way in. In general, we found prices for all the various things we did and ate in SD pleasantly reasonable. Not that is doesn’t still add up. Now three hours of night driving. Kids asleep half-way through, after an hour of me reading Harry Potter (“Order of the Phoenix”). We’ll overnight in Mitchell, the hometown of my colleague Doug, and roughly half-way home.

Up relatively early tomorrow for the 6 remaining hours home (we live on the very far side of St. Paul). We have an at-home closing appointment on our re-fi at 1700—last day before the rate-lock expires—so we need to have a cushion in case we should encounter traffic, or a flat, or something of that sort.

FRIDAY

Ugh, to bed at 0100, up at 0700. As ends vacation, so ends plentiful sleep. Still didn’t pull out of the hotel till after 0800, and with a brief detour through Mitchell to see the Corn Palace (from the outside) and pick up potable coffee (as opposed to the stuff they served for free at the Hampton), and it was 0840 before we were on the highway.

We are all tired of the car at this point. Well over 30 hours car time and 1750 miles, between the journey, and the incidental drive time, of which there was quite a bit each day. Reading more Harry Potter.

Stopped at the Pipestone National Monument in southwestern MN. Very nice, would have made a very long day trip. Hoping to be home in time for a swim at the neighborhood pool..

We all agreed, it has been a great vacation. Beth and I saw a beautiful part of the country we had never seen before. Our first really extended family vacation to new parts—a major milestone, clearly tied to the kids’ maturing and us entering a new stage parenting. First long trip in our new mini-van. We’re already thinking about our next summer vacation, probably to the Rockies!

Final statistics, courtesy of the trip computer:

1. 1750 miles
2. 38 hours in the car
3. 46 mph (averages deceive, it was usually either 20 mph or 75 mph)
4. 19.3 mpg (the computer and sensors are surprisingly accurate here)

MISC

First time in quite a while I haven’t had Sprint PCS cell phone reception. Nowhere in the state of SD, not even along the highways, to my surprise. It finally returned on the highway somewhere near the MN line.

This was our first vacation with a digital camera. We really enjoyed having it (except yours truly didn’t bring the re-charger, so the battery died on WED; will have to add that to my packing list As I mentioned previously, management of re-chargeable batties has become a significant effort on vacation). However, we already covet an major upgrade, more resolution and a better zoom than 3X. Secondary features desired are AA batteries, and an optical viewfinder.

Many of the gas stations in SD had 85 octane, instead of 87.

The state of Minnesota uses the interstate badge color scheme to identify major state roads. What an abomination against good useability practices, not to mention common sense. You see the opposite, too—interstate badges which don’t use the RWB color-scheme. And, worst of all, non-use of both badge and color scheme.

A dirty little secret of hotel ice machines is that the ice isn’t very cold.