I love North Dakota because you have never been there

Technically, we're in South Dakota, but you get my point. We made a stop in Rapid City so we could see the sights -- Mount Rushmore, the Black Hills, the Badlands, Deadwood, the usual. But before we got to the big sites, we hit the small, out-of-the-way ones first -- you know, the Mitchell Corn Palace and Wall Drug. Both well worth the side trip, people. You can't miss them because there are 8,000 signs along I-90 directing you to them. As for the big monuments, well, Mount Rushmore? Pretty cool, but a lot of effort for a little bit of return. I made up for that by taking ridiculous amounts of pictures. The Black Hills? Not black. Also the cause of "Rocky Raccoon" being stuck in my head all day. The Badlands? Bad ass. And they put Mount Rushmore to shame in terms of the sheer magnitude of photos I took. At one point, I was a little concerned that I only had 800 photos left on my camera. And while anything would be a letdown after the beauty and awe-inspiring views of the Badlands, Deadwood? Dead. Unless you like beat casinos and slots. And the steak was pretty good.

Tomorrow, we're going to try to hit Yellowstone. If my camera can take it.