No lightning or ticks this morning. We won this round, Nature. Go back to your corner!
There may be nothing as gratifying to a mother than free hotel breakfast. How much better can life get? Roll out of bed, bra optional, jammies a must, bed hair, kids disheveled, walk down a hallway, dish food onto plates, drink a bunch of coffee, throw away dishes, walk out. It’s basically having a chef and butler. And a maid, because you trash the room you sleep in and then leave the mess for someone else. 
Swimming, of course, to feed the addiction.
Today we had planned to visit Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands. That was the plan for about 7 minutes. Then St. George accidentally slammed Miss Magpie’s fingers in the door, and one appears to be broken. Nice. 4th road trip in a row when a kid got a broken finger. We don’t even go to the doctor for this any more. But we needed to find a drug store to pick up a splint. Oh, nice, no drug stores for hours. Oh, well. Hotel ice would tide her over.
So we moved the badlands to tomorrow, and that takes up our last spare day. Always plan in spare days.
So, Wall Drugs advertises on I 90 all the way back at the eastern border. Like there are signs for it for HOURS of driving. Great. We will go to that drug store. Bet they have a splint, and more mosquito bite ointment. And more Chlorox wipes. Basic drug store stuff. Oh, looks like they have 5-cent coffee. And ice cream. And a rodeo? And a gift shop. And free ice water. Great. For sure they’ll have a splint. And mosquito ointment. And wipes.
Except maybe they don’t. Because it’s not a drug store. Just in case you are in South Dakota and need anything from the drug store, just stop at a gas station. You’ll find a more expansive drug store selection. The ice cream was ok, but expensive. I couldn’t find the 5-cent coffee. The water wasn’t that great (#watersnobs), and none of the employees knew where the first-aid department was! One employee even said, “It’s not a drug store, its a tourist trap.” I mean, that’s obvious, sweetheart. So put that on the billboards. “Wall Drugs: It’s not actually a drug store!” 
We found one splint. The place had one splint. They had no mosquito bite ointment in stock, and no Chlorox wipes. So, yeah. Don’t break a finger in South Dakota.
But we found great metal cowboy cap guns! I’m pretty taken with South Dakota. This state tops our list of places to move to. 
We finally made it to Mt. Rushmore. Oh my goodness, I love all five of these crazies!
This is the kid’s second visit to these big faces. Doesn’t it look like Lincoln and Roosevelt are smooching in the corner? This time we took the hiking trail to the museum and learned some interesting facts. This monument was never finished. It was riddled with a lack of funding, and then at the point when it looked like the sculptor could finish it, he died. His son tried to finish, but didn’t. So there it is, heads without chests. Still magnificent. 
The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, used simple tools like a protractor and compass, to maintain the ratios in the enormous project. This is what it was supposed to look like. 
The kids have become dissatisfied with hotel pools, so I found a remote swimming hole outside of Hot Springs, South Dakota. The drive was a less dramatic repeat if the storm we encountered the night before, and tonight the kids were unworried about the whole ordeal. After all, we didn’t die last night, we likely wont die tonight.
Little towns don’t have a need to keep eating options available until all hours, so we resorted to this. 
I think the kids found this to be a feast after so many dinners consisting of camp soup and summer sausages and baby carrots.
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