Day 4

We went to Mount Rushmore today, which was surprisingly unimpressive. It looks a lot larger on TV shows. Unlike yesterday, the pictures are probably overstating its significance. We walked the presidential trail and watched a nursing school graduation for the University of South Dakota in the park ampitheatre from an overlook. The whole experience lasted about a half an hour before we headed back to Rapid City where we're spending the night.

We took a nice break from driving today, as it is only about an hour and a half from Wall, SD to Rapid City. After regrouping from Rushmore, we found a little town called Deadwood with a line of casinos on Main Street. It reminded Jacob of what old Vegas was probably like. Unfortunately, none of them had any poker games he wanted to play. It was all old guys playing limit. We found a good blackjack game with a $1 minimum and sat down with $20 each. We played for about an hour and left up $9 (we cashed out for a total of $49). That brings the total casino take so far up to $194.40. The coolest part of the trip to Deadwood was walking into Saloon #10 where Wild Bill Hickok was killed in 1876 while presumably playing 5 card draw. Legend has it that he was holding two pair, aces and eights when he was shot. That hand has subsequently become known as the "dead man's hand."

Tomorrow it's on to Montana, where we'll end up about two-thirds of the way to Glacier National Park's northeast entrance.

Later,
Matt