Mrs Ohtobe: A quickie...

We have finished up our first leg of our trip and completed Mount Rushmore and are staying on the South Dakota/Minnesota border tonight before heading to Duluth tomorrow. We didn't have an internet connection while in the hills and cell phone coverage has been sporadic.

If you are counting we have travelled 2635 miles since Saturday morning! We left the house at 3:30 a.m. and arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota at 10:30 p.m their time.

Anywho - on to a few pics so far...

Sunset on the way to Rapid City - love the painted sky! I took so many sunset pics people prolly thought I had never seen one before.

Tobey and our rental at the first rest stop in Mankato, Minnesota. Yeah, it is a Ford Focus, don't ask.

Farm house across from the rest stop in Mankato.

On the trail at Sylvan Lake, Custer State Park, South Dakota.

Sylvan Lake, Custer State Park, South Dakota. Does this look familiar? It is where they filmed the scene in National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets where they pour the water on the rock to find the secret entrance to the City of Gold - yep filmed right here.

Crazy Horse Monument, 1/34 scale.

Crazy Horse Monument in progress. When complete the opening under the arm will be ten stories tall! This place was beyond phenominal. I hate to sound unAmerican but I liked it so much better than Rushmore.

Tobey looking out to Crazy Horse from the viewing area.

~~Nat Geo~~ Tobey running the camcorder at Rushmore - look for his gripping Badlands documentary to follow where his narration consisted of him repeating the word 'awesome' about 50 times in a row.

Mount Rushmore and state flags.

Where's Waldo, er, I mean Tobey!?

Me at Sylvan, just another reason the Canon is off-limits to Tobey.

Tobey on the hike around Sylvan Lake. This picture reminds me of that famous Bigfoot picture...

As we were heading back from Rushmore to Sioux Falls, SD, I asked Tobey if he wanted to take the scenic bypass and view the Badlands. He said not really. Since I was driving....I won and we are both glad we took the bypass. Awesome!

Us in the Badlands.

Tobey in the Bad.

Pictures do not do the Badlands justice. It is indescribable. Just go.

Tobey must love me, he had the chance to push me off the edge!

Me and Rosie doing our Simba and Chels pose!

Me and Rosie again. It was so good to see her and we didn't miss a beat even after 24 years.

There are so many things to do in South Dakota but if the state is ever looking for a State Motto how about this: South Dakota, home of the hay roll. There are bajillions of them everywhere. No Starbucks or Panera, but hay rolls? We got 'em. An interesting Mrs. Oh fact that I just made up: while in South Dakota for every person you see (which aren't many) there are 500 rolls on the side of the road.

Bridge at Chamberlain, SD.

GPS? Gotta love it. Tonight we are off the beaten path. We planned on being in Minnesota but the GPS didn't take into account that the road wasn't just closed but it was GONE! So we will get there tomorrow sometime, but I plan on sleeping in a bit.