Sometimes the best trips are the ones in your own backyard. Mount Rushmore is about 375 miles from Denver — a mere 6 hour drive. Combine that with an abundance of spare Hilton points and you’ve got the makings of a spontaneous weekend getaway. Little did I know it would be a personal lesson in going with the flow. Not one of those annoying “growth opportunities”, but rather a further awakening to the joy of the journey.
My wife called me on Friday afternoon before the Memorial Day 3-day weekend. Work has been stressful for both of us, and she needed an escape. “Hey honey. Want to drive to South Dakota this weekend?” “Sure!”, I replied. “Really? Who are you, and what have you done with my husband?"
So early Saturday morning, we we packed the truck and set out for Rapid City, SD — our base of operations for the long weekend. About 30 minutes into the drive I realized I had left my sunglasses at home — a casualty of packing in the morning instead of the night before (something I *never* do). But the weather cooperated by giving us cloudy skies, rain and fog most of the way. No sunglasses, no sun, no problem.
As we neared Rapid City, it was still early in the day, so we decided to hit the first of our Rushmore-adjacent attractions, Bear Country, USA. Bear Country is a drive-thru wildlife park. With windows securely up, we slowly drove past wolves, buffalo, elk, and more. Animal areas were wide open, separated by fences and cattle grates. As one might guess, the big attraction was a HUGE bear section, started off by 2 bears pacing across the road at the entry gate. This was clearly normal, as a sign nearby read, “Drive forward slowly. Bears will move.” Awesome! After the drive-thru area was “Babyland”, a walking area with a number of baby animals, including cute bear cubs. We certainly welcomed a bit of leg-stretching after the long car ride. I was relieved to purchase sunglasses in the gift shop, which I would not use for the remainder of the trip.
Having given the bears and other animals a good looksie, we proceeded to our hotel in Rapid City — the Hampton Inn. We found the sights of the town quite interesting and noted that this appeared to be where America’s middle class had disappeared to (meant in a most positive way). I contrasted it to my recent trips to Houston, where the divide between the “haves” and “have nots” struck me as quite extreme. But back to the trip. We arrived at our hotel around 3pm. I had already checked in online and selected a room nearest the pool for the kids. I noted that their official check-in time was 4pm, but was hoping we could check in a little early and unload our gear. I walked in and gave the front desk attendant a friendly greeting. I was informed that our room was not yet ready, as Housekeeping was running behind. Should be ready by normal check-in time. “No worries”, I replied, “we’ll just go hit the mall for a bit” (across the highway). So we trotted over to the nearby Rushmore Mall. I swear it had a time bubble over it. Having 80’s flashbacks, I half expected to see teens in parachute pants in the food court. It was nice. Noting that I really didn’t like the sunglasses we found at the Bear Country gift shop, I bought a pair of Wayfarers at a kiosk in the mall. These would also go unused over the weekend. We returned to the hotel a little after 5pm, having given ample buffer to ensure our room would be done. Nope. Housekeeping was, in fact, working on it at that very moment but it would be another 30 minutes or so. Really? “Okay”, I said politely, determined to go with the flow, “we’ll go grab an early dinner”. Despite my pleasant demeanor, the front desk attendant seemed worried. Perhaps he had looked up my profile on the computer and somehow thought my Diamond status made me important (I’ll take a second to wallow in the self-importance granted by my employer-paid business travel. Okay, done. Back to reasonable humility). The front attendant went to the back and grabbed a key, with which he opened a lock box in a bank of about a dozen to the side of the front desk. From it he withdrew and important looking envelope. He emptied its contents onto the counter in front of us — a $25 Darden Restaurants gift card and 2 $10 Starbucks cards. “Please accept our apologies”, he said. “Very well, I accept”, I said with a chuckle. As my wife and I headed back to the car, she turned to me and noted, “Since we’re staying on points this weekend, they essentially are now paying us to stay here”. It’s good work if you can get it.
Dinner. Room ready. Unpacking, etc. Fast forward to Sunday morning.
We got up early, enjoyed our complementary hotel breakfast, and headed out for the main attraction of our weekend getaway — Mount Rushmore. The heavy rain and fog were foreboding, but we pressed on. We got to the monument, paid our fee, and parked in the garage. As we walked up toward the viewing platform, we passed others already on their way back to the parking area grumbling, “Dammit, can’t see a thing!”. Undeterred, we continued. Arriving at the viewing platform, we indeed could not see a thing. I laughed loudly, and remarked, “This is my second trip to South Dakota and I *still* haven’t seen Mount Rushmore!”. I talked the girls into standing in a typical spot to pose in front of the monument. Frankly, I think the picture came out cooler than if we had been able to see it. We all had a laugh and proceeded down the Presidents Trail to get closer to the monument. It was a bit of a hike with 250 steps. Arriving at the end of the trail, we looked up from the base of the monument and could see the fuzzy outline of 4 heads above. We snapped a couple more touristy photos and headed back. This was one of those moments where it really struck me that it was all about the journey. The destination just provided a goal to keep us moving forward.
Cold and wet, we left the monument and proceeded to the nearby town of Keystone, SD to get some lunch. We found a little country cafe, which turned out to be warm and friendly, but the food was pretty lousy (I would later sadly pen a 2-star Yelp review). As we finished our lunch, everyone’s phones started going off with an emergency alert of flooding in the town. Kind of eerie, actually. We hastily paid the check and hopped in the truck to head back to Rapid City — apparently just in time, as we saw the creek rising and water beginning to spill onto town bridges as we drove by. Our trip continued to be an adventure.
We headed back to the hotel, quite tired from the rain and cold. While Bonnie and Aily napped, Emmi and I grabbed our laptops and headed to the hotel lobby to work on our homework (hers for Broomfield High School, mine for IBM). After finishing our work, we woke the others for an afternoon excursion — the Reptile Gardens, 2014 Guinness record holder for largest reptile zoo in the world. Aily grumbled that she wasn’t interested and wanted to sleep more. Pity, since she is the big snake fan in the family. So we left her snoozing and headed out to see the snakes, turtles, and other assorted interesting reptiles. The rain continued to come down hard, but most of the park was indoors. We also caught a bird show, which thrilled Emmi, our budding ornithologist.
Dinner. Pool too cold for the girls and dad too tired for the gym. Went to bed early. Fast forward to Monday morning.
Mother Nature having a sense of humor, the weather broke for our drive home. Gleefully donning my new wayfarers, i dialed up "home" on the GPS and steered toward Denver. We stopped at the Mammoth Site along the way -- a huge archaeology dig. Definitely a must-see near Hot Springs, SD. One teen was enthralled, while the other experimented to see how far her eyes could physically roll back into her skull. The rest of the drive was mellow. Rain and sunshine alternated as the miles ticked by. 80s songs on satellite radio filled the silence and reminded the girls of just how square their parents are.
Arriving home, we half unpacked the truck and settled back in. Maybe we'll see amount Rushmore next time.
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