Having lived in Oakland for most of her life, Maira ponders the state of current affairs in the city that she still loves and works in.

Dead Presidents on a Mountain

Our goal for the day was to get to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.  We were still traveling on small Highway 212 to get there.  Eventually, it would meet up with Highway 90 which is a larger road.  That would dump us into Rapid City.  To get to Mount Rushmore, we needed to take another small highway, 16, as well.

There continued to be a lot of three horse towns along the way on the small highways.  But, we were thrilled to pass by Devil’s Tower.  I bet you don’t remember what Devil’s Tower is.  Think Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  Yes, this.  That’s the butte that Richard Dreyfuss was obsessed about in the movie.  The aliens come down in the mother ship and whisk away humans.  If you haven’t seen the movie, you need to see it.  It was quite a phenomenon in 1977 when it first came out.  The aliens are nice--I like that.

Devil’s Slide is one of many monuments surrounding Rapid City.  It is the gateway to The Badlands, and Mount Rushmore.  More importantly, it is the most patriotic city in the United States.  Why do I say that?  I say it because right in downtown Rapid City, every corner has a bronze statue of a president.  President Obama isn’t there yet, though.  I’m not sure where they will put him.  Maybe, he will get his own corner all by himself.

Passing through a medium-sized town called Bellefourche, we saw an outrageous sign.  It proclaimed the following, “Shut up liver!  You are fine!”  This was in front of a bar in town.  I could only shake my head in dismay as we drove away from it.

Before we stopped in Rapid City, we had to check out the city of Sturgis.  Sturgis is known for an annual motorcycle rally.  The entire town fills up with mostly Harley motorcycles.  They usually have the event in mid-August.  Apparently, over 700,000 people on motorcycles visited for the 75th anniversary in 2015.  I can’t imagine the amount of noise that generated.  And, what about the leathers everyone is wearing?  That must be a fashion show!

After visiting Sturgis, we had to get something to eat.  Amazingly, we found the best Mexican restaurant with the most comprehensive tequila bar list that I have ever seen.  What’s more is that they had a $600 bottle of tequila.  The server told us that a shot of that would cost you $100.  That’s expensive.  That tequila better send you somewhere and back!  The restaurant will be having a tequila tasting night on October 5th--I;ll be missing that.  For $35, you can taste an infinite number of tequilas.  I’m pretty sure that the $600 bottle is off limits.

The Mexican food was surprisingly good and filling considering where we were.  That set us up nicely to visit Mt. Rushmore.  It wasn’t too far from Rapid City.  Thankfully, the parking lot was very accommodating.  The monument itself seemed smaller than I had imagined it.  However, we were quite far away from it.  When I saw a photo of a worker scaling the monument, you could see that one of the eyes of presidents equaled the size of a human being.  That put everything in perspective.

The story of how Mt. Rushmore was created and how long it took is fascinating. You can check it out here.  They picked those particular four presidents for specific reasons.  I sat there and gazed upon the monument and thought about the alternate history of these presidents.  And, because I believe in awareness, I'll share my perspective about them.

George Washington was a slave owner.  Thomas Jefferson had out of wedlock children with his house slave, Sally Hemings.  The family is only now recognizing that branch of their history.  Theodore Roosevelt was a cowboy running all over the country hunting down game.  And, Abraham Lincoln only took on slavery because of economics.  All presidents have their controversies, of course.  Humans are not perfect.

Wait a minute. Theodore Roosevelt has never been on any currency for the U.S.  It doesn’t seem right for him to be carved out on a mountain and not be on a bill.  Maybe, we should correct that?  Nah.

The bottle of tequila at the top in a case that opens up is $600!

The bottle of tequila at the top in a case that opens up is $600!

The rubble below the presidents is from all of the blasting that they had to do to form the faces on the mountainside. 

The rubble below the presidents is from all of the blasting that they had to do to form the faces on the mountainside. 

Deep Dish

Three Horse Towns