August 12
We woke up to the alarm clock going off saying get up, get up, get up! Jumping out of bed we quickly got dressed to start our day. This morning we were trying to pack in as much as possible before our next 6 hour drive. So off to the Crazy Horse monument we went. Crazy Horse is a mountain monument to celebrate Native American culture. "It will depict the OglalaLakota warrior, Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing into the distance." The site itself will have a Native American cultural center and a museum.
The mountain is currently being carved, even as you read this there are workers high on the mountain carving away. 
There was a visitors center that we walked through to learn all about the history of crazy horse and his tribe. In the sculptures studios there were different models of what the statue was going to be and the layout of the land. Crossing through the studio we noticed a container of rocks. To some people they are just rocks but the cool part is that they are from the mountain carving. What else would they do with the rocks they have to carve out? So of course we took two, and now we have a piece of history.
We collected our selves and said goodbye to the monument, watching it disappear through the rear view mirror. Goodbye South Dakota, see you next time, now off to Colorado!
To get to Colorado we had to drive through Wyoming. 
Cool idea right? Hitting another state to add to our list. Well it would have been cool if we weren't afraid of hitting a tornado! Christina and I were driving along where we hit a dead zone, so there was no cell service. Which was fine at the moment, we had the navigation set on my car and were following the route when one of those emergency sounds comes on the radio. It's the same sound that sometimes appears on your tv with the voice "this is only a test"…but this time it was not a test. The host comes on "Serious weather alert: on the west side of Nebraska/eastern Wyoming there are two serous thunderstorms heading towards Morrill and Cheyanne Counties. There have also been reports of golf ball sized hail and a tornado at 25 mph." Christina and I looked at each other with shock, fear, and confusion on our faces. First thought: maybe it's not near us and we're fine. Second thought: we are in the middle of no where, where would we stop? With no service we couldn't look anything up online, where were we? Where do we go? Wait. We have something that will help us!
Remember when I thanked my
grandparents in the last post for two things? The first telling us to drive through the Badlands, the second for giving us an atlas! I was driving and Christina, the co-pilot, grabbed the atlas and turned to Wyoming. The host on the radio was talking constantly now giving more information on the storm and where it was heading. "Hail will cause damage to cars. Any animals or people outside will be harmed. Get underground, don't wait to see the tornado. When you see it, it will be too late." Christina then turned to me and said "we are in eastern Wyoming" great so we are heading the same direction where the storm is. "The tornado watch is until 4:00, we will update you as it changes." It was 3:00. 
Christina figured out where we were on the atlas and where the storm was, we were about a County a way but was heading in a similar direction so we decided to turn around and head back the other way towards a town just incase. Once 4:00 hit a voice came on the radio again saying the tornado warning was officially over, music to our ears. We turned around once again and continued on our way. Lesson learned: Always have an atlas when you are driving across the country.
Eventually, we pulled into Boulder Colorado just in time for dinner. Many people recommended that we go to the Pearl Street Mall, an out door shopping area. 
It was very nice, lots of statues and of course the beautiful mountains in the background. We did a little shopping, some walking, and eating before heading back to the hotel to crash for the night.
August 13
The next morning we woke up and put on some work out clothes, this was a big hiking day. First stop, we head out to flagship mountain. What we didn't know was that we would be driving up right on the edge of its side. Even though that was a bit terrifying it was worth it at the top. The view was incredible! You could see for miles one way and the other way was the whole side of the mountain filled with trees and animals. It's incredible to see how the land changes when you drive across the country. After the mountain we got back in the car once again and began our drive to Utah! 
To come: beautiful national parks.
Here To There 