On Wednesday morning, after a good night's rest after a long Yellowstone-filled day, our alarms went off around 6 am. It was the second straight day we'd had to set an alarm, but this was important.
The trip from Yellowstone National Park to Mount Rushmore was roughly seven hours. If you factor in stops, it could creep to eight hours. By getting up early, packed up, and on the move by 6:30, we were giving ourselves a chance to get to Mount Rushmore by about 2:30.
This was necessary because we'd scheduled an appointment to replace the windshield there with Safelite. Without service, though, we had no confirmation or exact time other than "in the afternoon" to meet with the repairman. We assumed if we got in by 3, we'd be OK.
Credit is given when credit is due, and Lauren surprised all, including herself, by getting up and helping pack up without coffee in less than 30 minutes.
The trip out of Yellowstone was quite peaceful and calming at 6:30 am (but maybe that had to do with the fact that every one of us was silent and coffee-deprived). Lewis Lake Campground was on the southern end of Yellowstone, so it took us nearly an hour to head north and then east to leave the park on the east entrance.
As we left, you could see the remnants of the 1988 Yellowstone fires, which burned nearly 800,000 acres and roughly 36% of the park. Anyways, the trip out, especially toward the east entrance, ran up, down, and along the mountains. It was extremely beautiful with the morning sunlight.
Eventually we got service and a phone call from Safelite, and our plan was working out. The repairman planned to meet us at Mount Rushmore around 3 or 4 pm.
Once out of the park, we didn't go far before wanting to stop again and take in the scenery. This time, we were in the Bighorn National Forest. The contrast of rock, green, and blue sky, made us all appreciate the beauty.
The drive through Bighorn National Forest, toward the end, takes you along mountains and views of the vast valley below.
And just as planned, we arrived at the Mount Rushmore National Monument right around 3 pm. We had been in contact with the Safelite repairman, and he said he'd meet us at the park around 4. That gave us an hour or so to explore the park.
We also got to take a look at how the carving and sculpting took place.
By about 4, we called to get an update about the repair, and he had to push us back a little. That meant we could say goodbye to Mount Rushmore and venture into the nearby town, Keystone, for some dinner.
We ended up going to Grizzly Creek Restaurant, where the Safelite repairman met us, and got some delicious food. We'd been eating camping food for a while, so all four of us decided to get some steak or chicken salads. And nobody had leftovers.
After the window was repaired, we spent a little bit of time walking around Keystone before taking off for the Badlands National Park. That was about an hour and a half drive from where we were.
We stayed at the Sage Creek Campground, which is along the northwestern entrance to the park. The whole drive in, we could see an intense thunder and lightening storm to our west. Fortunately, it never reached us, but it made for quite the view.
Sage Creek Campground is group campsite, which means you basically drive to this loop, find a parking spot, and set up your tent in this field. It was a completely different experience on our trip of different experiences. Setting up as the sun set only added to that.
I originally thought our Idaho campsite in the Sawtooth National Forest made for the best stars, but nothing beat this place in the Badlands of South Dakota. The Milky Way was so dense and well-defined that I spent a lot of time sitting outside and taking it all in.
It was another long day of driving, sightseeing, and taking care of some car problems, so sleep came easy yet again.
Thursday would be all about checking out the Badlands National Park and getting ourselves to Minnesota. That, however, will be for another post.
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