We’re anxious to get out and explore the town, and also to hit Starbucks.  We pack the van quickly because it’s 43 degrees.   We drive downtown, and decide to have breakfast at Kuhl’s Family Restaurant, a very friendly spot, with nice waitresses, Greek food, and interesting clientele. Mary orders scrambled eggs, while Caryn goes for eggs and gyro meat, served with toasted pita bread.  As we’re enjoying our breakfast, we notice a fellow in red pants and a cowboy hat with flowers and a pink plastic pony taped to it heading for the door.  With encouragement from Mary and two waitresses, Caryn heads out the door with her camera, to catch up to him for a photo.  She finds him half a block later, sitting on a bench, rolling a cigarette. During a brief chat, Caryn learns his name is Newt Snoopy, and he’s more than happy to pose for her.  He tells her that he wears a different hat everyday; he has some big Mexican hats with Christmas balls hanging off them.  Caryn is sorry that she won’t be at Kuhl’s the next morning, to see what hat he’s wearing.

After breakfast, we walk around the town.  We love it!  It’s a great size with lots happening downtown, (it’s a college town) and many old buildings converted to apartments and condos.   We head over to Starbucks for coffee, and to plan our route.  We decide to head north to South Dakota, where we can visit Mount Rushmore, as well as Wall Drug, and The Corn Palace.  Before we leave Lincoln, we head over to the local Vietnamese restaurant for some pho and bun.  The spicy soup heated us up, so much so that Caryn began to peel off layers, so quickly that she almost loses her “never-nude” status right there in Nha Trang.  After lunch we took turns driving and napping, and arrived in Mitchell, South Dakota around 5 pm.  We checked into the Thunderbird Lodge, "lodging for tourists, pheasant hunters and fishermen", and head right over to The Corn Palace, while the light is nice.  We know that it is closed, but at least we can see it in nice afternoon light.  It’s pretty all right, but it is windy and very cold as we stand outside and wait for the sky to clear.  We’re surprised to learn that The Corn Palace is a performance theater, and not a giant souvenir stand, and we had imagined it to be.  Oh well, too bad we didn't buy those giant corn hats while in Lincoln, NE, home of the Corn Huskers!

When we’ve had enough photos of The Palace, we walk down the street, and discover the greatest collection of concrete statuary we’ve ever seen in one place at Kim’s Creation.  The proprietor told Mary that he was headed across the street for dinner, and if we needed any help, we could come over and get him.  About 15 minutes later, the proprietor’s daughter (about 8 years old) came back to the statuary yard, to ask if we wanted a business card.  She went inside and came out with a brochure and business card. Folks sure are friendly here.

By the time we finished at the statue place, the local coffee house, Mad Cow Coffee was closed, so we decided we’d return in the morning, to see if they sold t-shirts.

It was getting quite cold and windy, so we decided it was time to find some dinner.  We stopped at the truck stop adjacent to the Thunderbird Lodge, to see what was on the menu.  Wishing for some soup, we inquired as to what types they had.  We were told the soup of the day was “California Medley” which was described as vegetables (the California component) and cheese.  This wasn't what we were looking for, so we headed over to Country Kitchen, for some soup without cheese.  After dinner we return to the hotel to blast the heat, watch TV and relax.

Thursday, April 28

We’re up at 8:15 am, since the alarm didn’t go off.  After checking out the hotel sauna, we head out front so Mary can take a spin on the Jackalope, and call Amy for her birthday. Unfortunately, the Jackalope antlers conflict with the "Rabbit Ears", and the cell signal is not good. (This is why I am not a big fan of the cell phone.) We head downtown to the Mad Cow Coffee Shop, and are disappointed to discover that they don’t sell t-shirts.  They’re really missing the boat on this one!  We have a nice breakfast, and then decide to hit the road, before the local CVB woman (whom we met on the street yesterday) forces us to visit the Doll Museum ( I refuse to put a link to this.)

Caryn naps while Mary drives to Badlands National Park.  We purchase a National Parks park passport, and enter.  We’re glad we did; it is quite interesting, and the topography changes every few minutes.  We see antelope, and prairie dogs.  After driving the loop road, it’s off to Wall, South Dakota, and a visit to Wall Drug.  This is one giant crap store, and not nearly as good as Caryn recalls from the Teen Tour of her youth.  We’re famished, so we hit the cafe for a late lunch.  Mary has a Gardenburger, which is fab, and Caryn has a chicken sandwich, which is equally good.  We wash it down with the highly advertised “Free Ice-Water”.

It’s off to the Microtel in Rapid City, SD, where Caryn has secured a nightly rate of $31 including Wi-Fi, and free long distance calls.  After checking in, we brave the snow flurries to have dinner at Outback Steakhouse.  After dinner Mary takes a hot bath, to get the chill out of her bones.

Friday, April 29

We’re off to downtown Rapid City to Tally’s Restaurant, armed with a photo of our beloved Tally, so we can photograph her there.  The lunch special is Chicken and Dumplings.  We each order it, and are able to secure the last two white meat specials.  As one of the patrons says, this is a “monster” dumpling.  Another man enters the restaurant. 

Waitress :“we’re all out of the Chicken and Dumplings.

Man: “That’s terrible!!!”

Waitress: “Not for the people who got it”

Different man (at another table): “Ouch, that’s harsh!”

Just a note on the weather here - we’re freezing, there are on and off flurries, yet there are lots of people in short sleeves, and some even in shorts.  It must be REALLY cold in the winter!

After lunch we’re off to Dinosaur Park, a collection of five dinosaur statues built as a WPA project in 1936.  After photographing for a while, we head to Mount Rushmore.  At the first sight of the Rushmore Heads, we pull over to the overlook.  As we’re pulling out, a young Japanese man stops us with a camera, who has been waiting for someone to come along, and snap a photo for him.  Caryn obliges, while Mary photographs them from the van. As Caryn hands his camera back, he says, “One with my son please” and proceeds to open the car door, and pull out a two foot tall Mickey Mouse.  Keeping a straight face, Caryn obliges again.

We are disappointed to be faced with a grey, overcast sky that doesn’t blow over at Mount Rushmore.  We make the best of it by taking some photos, then escaping the cold by visiting the indoor exhibits.  Mary is inspired to learn that that the sculptor, Gutzon Borglum did not begin work on this project until he was 58 years old, although he had produced numerous other works.

On the way back to the van, we met a family of three mountain goats, of which the youngest was most interested in Caryn.

We’re frozen to the core, so we head to Saigon Cafe in downtown Rapid City, for some hot Vietnamese soup (Pho).  The restaurant is crowded on this Friday night, so we quite a long wait, but it’s worth it, when the food finally arrives.  After dinner we go back to Dinosaur Park for some dusktime photos.  After a few minutes we're enveloped in a short lived blizard.  Then it’s back to the hotel, where we set the alarm for an early trip back to Mount Rushmore, when we here there is more likely to be a blue sky.

Saturday, April 30

We awaken at 6:15 am, before the alarm sounds.  We are delighted to see a blue, cloudless sky.  We bundle up and drive the 25 miles back to Mount Rushmore.  We see lots of mule deer on the quiet drive up.  Caryn is delighted to have a blue sky, and braves the frigid cold to secure some great photos of the giant heads.  She feels vindicated, since her previous trip to Mount Rushmore (during the aforementioned Teen Tour) yielded no useable photos. Thinking back on it, she thinks that the flash on her 110 instamatic went off, was unable to reach all the way to the mountain, and subsequently she ended up with severely under exposed (blank) photos.  (Hey, she was only 13, and had other things on her mind, like what she would purchase from the gift shop).

After Caryn is completely frozen, we head back downtown to Tally’s Restaurant for some famed pancakes.  Very good.  Then it’s back to the hotel, where Mary naps, and Caryn attempts to do laundry.  There is a problem with the guest laundry dryer not drying, so Caryn befriends the girls at the front desk, and they allow her to use the housekeeping dryer.  Their kindness is repaid with an espresso, from the machine we have set up in our room.

For dinner Caryn heads out and picks up a couple of salads, a nice treat.  After dinner, we decide to roll up the sleeping mats, which we have in the back of the van, since it doesn’t seem like we’ll be camping anytime soon, and we could use a bit more space back there.