Day 5: A Change Of Plans

Originally we had planned on visiting Devil's Tower in Wyoming today. After a restless night of sleep and too much riding in the car we told the rest of the family to go on without us and we would find something to keep ourselves entertained. We started off the day by walking to the downtown area of Rapid City. It was a nice walk and once there took pictures of the "City of Presidents". Covering 2 streets and about 6 blocks there are bronze statues of 36 of our 44 Presidents completed and standing guard on the street corners. The rest are set to be completed by next year. We took a lot of pictures and got stared at by passing motorists but it was entertaining. My favorite statues were of JFK and Nixon. The detail on them was amazing. I've posted some pictures below if you're interested.

After finishing the Presidential tour we decided to venture furthur from our hotel and see if there was any good shopping at the Rushmore Mall. We figured there might be some local shops or at least a couple of interesting tourist traps but were surprised to find the Jefferson Mall had grown wings and flown to South Dakota. The only exception were the 3 cowboy hat and boot shops. The Hobby Lobby next door didn't have anything of local flare either so Devin will have to shop EBAY for scrapbooking supplies when we get home.

Needless to say, after about 6 miles of walking and shopping we were ready to head back to the hotel. Joseph spotted a taxi during our walk to the mall and quickly put the number into his phone. A quick phone call when we were ready and we were more than happy to pay the taxi driver as much as he wanted for the drive back to the hotel. That was Joseph's first ride in a taxi and I think he'll always remember it fondly. It's off to relax in the hot tub and get some grub. We'll be starting our drive home in the morning losing 2 hours along the way. So it's going to be an early start. We hope everyone has been enjoying our blogging. It's given us a chance to unwind every night and look through all our pictures. We can't wait to get home and see the dog and everyone else. We'll be home soon.

From South Dakota one last time,

Joseph And Devin