This is my travel blog!
Documenting my trip across the USA and Canada in June/June 2011.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

DAY 22 - Grand Northern, Day 16 - Mt. Rushmore (My 21st Birthday)

* Got to sleep in until about 8:30 this morning - a nice treat for my birthday. I went down to the restaurant for breakfast and had pancakes, bacon and fruit, which wasn’t bad for a diner in a town with a population of 311. As I went in, people wished me happy birthday which was quite nice.

* After breakfast we got on the bus to go up to Mount Rushmore which was only about 10 minutes from the hotel. We got to look around for a while, then we had our second group photo, then got to look around for another few hours while some other people did horse riding. The carving was pretty cool - very detailed and pretty interesting to find out some information behind it.

* We then got back on the bus and went up to Crazy Horse which is basically just a tourist centre and a semi-done statue. It was pretty cool except there seemed to be a lot of people there for something that was barely even a quarter finished. Apparently there is some controversy behind it being built on the native American land and they are struggling with funding, so it probably won’t be done for at least another 70 years!

* The group came back together and we headed to Deadwood. It was pretty disappointing. It was basically just one main street full of casinos and saloons. It was alright for the first hour but it got really boring and I felt a bit sick so I was kinda bummed. I just walked up and down the street by myself for most of the time (bought a cowboy hat and had dinner) until we got back on the bus.

* The bus ride back was pretty good. The scenery is so beautiful around this area. There are heaps of pine trees, hilly landscapes and lakes, plus the sun was setting and it was pretty amazing. I turned up my music and took in the sights. The bus also sang happy birthday to me which was pretty cool, even though I had been trying to avoid the attention all day, it was cool that they did that.

Today wasn’t the best day of the tour, which is disappointing considering it was my birthday. Mount Rushmore was really good, although we were there for a bit too long, but I didn’t really enjoy the rest of the day (the first day of the tour which I haven’t really enjoyed). It was great to get birthday messages on facebook and from the family and the Contiki group. Looking forward to tomorrow and the rodeo.

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