08/14/2009
Today we left Sioux Falls, SD and wanted to make our way to our hotel in Keystone, SD. We didn’t really have an itinerary which was fine by Nick for sure and I loved it as well. I grew up with my Mom having a timeline of when and where we had to be places, not a bad trait by any means, and we always arrived 5 minutes before the ETA. My brother Sean inherited that gene and I, well let’s just say I’m trying my best to get better. So we were off on a 365 mile trip. It ended up taking us all day. We are tourists so we were caught by the very popular tourist traps along highway 90. The first trap that we stopped at was the Antique mall/ old west town. This place had so many historical items for sale. If I had all the money in the world I could have easily walked out of there spending well over $1000.00. I would have bought a wedding ring quilt that was made in 1930 and passed down through a family and then bought by this establishment. There were wedding dresses from the 20’s, cast iron pans, early WW1 items, outfits from the 20’s that I would never wear but it would still be fun to just have. I am a history lover and major.
Our second “trap” was at the 1880 town. It is a little town that has had original homesteads, artifacts and buildings dated back to the battle of Little Bighorn. It was amazing how people out in the middle of nowhere lived. There was a one room house that two sisters lived in while attending high school in SD. It was probably 300 sq. ft. if even that. It was one room with an out house in the back. Nicolas rented an outfit from the Emporium and he got to walk around town dressed as a cowboy with a gun. The also had memorabilia from the movie “Dances with Wolves” as well. It was very interesting to see all that went into making that movie. Seeing this town reinforced the relief I have of knowing I will never have to smell what those people smelled like, how hard they had to work for what little they had and the climate those people endured with little heat and no air conditioning. WOW! Nick and I both agree it would be interesting to go back in time and visit that time but to be able to come back to the present and have hot water to take a shower.
Our last stop was at the famous Wall Drug in Wall, SD. This pharmacy was started by a family in the 30’s. They drew people in to Wall, SD to the Wall Pharmacy by posting signs along the dusty highway 90 that read, “Free ice water.” It was a genius marketing tool and they have been a must stop for tourists making their way across the plains of SD ever since. Nicolas and Bella took an old time photo in costume, we ate at the Wall drug store and walked around the huge pharmacy that the family has now turned it into.
We finally made it to our motel called Push Ridge Lodge two miles outside of Keystone, SD. This lodge was built in 1948 and housed bootlegged alcohol and dynamite. They have since bought more land and added cabins. We were very happy to finally step into our room and Bella was even happier to get to bed. Nicolas wanted to go swimming despite the temperature being in the mid 50’s. After doing that for an hour we ran back to our room because he was freezing. We had cheese and crackers in our room and finally fell asleep getting ready for our big day tomorrow at Mt. Rushmore.