4th of July

Wind Cave National Park

July 4^th is popular as the Independence Day of US. We celebrated it at the perfect place to be-Mt. Rushmore. Started next day of our South Dakota trip from the Wind cave National Park-a windy place where cave breathes literally. It’s a hidden world down our feet. One of the longest and most complex caves in the world. It homes a unique boxwork, rarely found elsewhere. It is also a sacred place for many tribes and gained tourist attraction in 188. People started making money out of it by just giving tours of it, pretty cool right. Later President Theodore Roosevelt declared it a National Park.

Custer State Park

Needle's Eye-Toughest Drive but cool

Our Next spot was Custer Park which homes Bison’s, elk, deer goats and of course lots of prairie dogs. They also home a special animal-Donkey also known as Begging Burros as they approach various passing cars through the park begging for food. Even we stopped for them and took few pics. In short this park is famous for wildlife viewing, scenic drives and fishing. Next we visited Rushmore and to reach there we had lots of routes, but we were running out of gas, so all of us were trying to get the most optimal route. We found that we should complete the wildlife loop road and take the exit, but exit wasn’t clearly written on the map, just the route was there. All of us followed the road, since it wasn’t a properly built road and no cars were passing us, I was skeptical to follow such routes because of bad experiences, so we thought of asking few people on the way and believe me no one, not even a single soul knew perfect answer. We followed our gut and continued the journey, anyways we didn’t had gas to return too.

Mt. Rushmore

Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse

Somehow we got out and reach Rushmore, just remembered-one of my friend says “Rush bahot ho gaya ab to rush less jina hai”. True saying. So we thought that Rushmore should be the best place to celebrate July 4^th, unfortunately it was quite opposite. At least the last night show that we saw was supposed to b way better. That’s fine, next we hopped on to best laser show in town and yes you are correct- we visited Crazy Horse, even with a distance, it was too good.

We were tired now and had no other option but to return to our hotel. 

Night Rider

Night Rider @ 2 A.M.

Yes Night Rider, since I started my professional life, I feel like I have become a Night Rider. I was working in night shift for consecutive 2 years for a Retail client and now I have started making night trips in America, Thanks to my hirer as well as my client. There are many pros as well as cons of being a nighty, but its adventurous fun. Last long weekend (Thanks to 4^th of July) we planned a road trip to South Dakota. As I was the only driver in team of 8, I tried to have sleep for some time before the trip, but my awesome team, they didn’t allowed me. As usual we started overnight @ 2:30 AM, hence the name evolved Night Rider.

Early Morning @ Siouix Falls

Night got over early and we were submerged in Morning Fog, no visibility beyond 10 feet, dangerously cool. At our first stop, we met granddaughter of Niagra Falls-Siouix Falls. It was scenic with awful smell. We took scenic advantage with cool pics and started heading towards another cool looking place-Badlands, well name precedes its reputation. But actual definition is it’s an ancient sea floor which rose and swallowed the rolling plains. Colorful, dramatic and surreal, the sculptured pinnacles and painted gullies preserve the past in layers of colorful sediment. In lay man language, it’s a photogenic place for us and fossil place for geeks. You can spend around 2hrs here and then move on.

Getting Mixed in Nature

Our next spot is a mystery place also known as Cosmos Mystery Area. This is an awesome place which shows the power of cosmos and boggle your mind. At this place, your height can change or water can flow uphill or a boll can be stagnant on a slope. This place amazes and astonishes your mind, you may be standing straight, but your body will be inclined, how crazy it is. Words can’t describe the experience, but pictures may.

Food Food Indian Food

Group Selfie @Badland

Now all of us were hungry and wanted to have Indian Food, so we visited Kathmandu Hotel in Rapid City, but they were running houseful. We were advised to check out their new branch-Everest Cuisine, as expected it was also crowded, but since we were kind of begging they allowed us. One of their manager even asked us to stand outside and not to stand near the tables as they didn’t had any space. Those guyz were so busy that after some time we started taking things in our hands and another manager had to say “it’s your hotel, take whatever you like, and feel at home”. And yes I took it literally. Overall, it was fun to get Indian food at the end of a tiring day.

Cosmos: Believe me, I am standing straight.