The hotel where we'd stayed the night of the snowstorm was one of only a few of our accommodations on this trip that wasn't the best, not quite the kind where you feel you can't take your shoes off, but close.  But I'd had two bottles of beer and played a few games of Angry Birds and those were enough to send me off to dreamland.

The next day dawned rainy and it was just one more sleep until we were back in our own beds.  We still had a lot of driving to do but wanted to take in a few more wineries and as many of the little towns as we could.  Our first stop was Hill City, South Dakota and the sun peeked out.

A western town, it was bigger than some, (one we drove through actually posted, and boasted, a population of 10!), with around a thousand residents and in close proximity to some major tourist attractions.  We took a stroll down the main drag, which looked like a western movie set.  Nestled in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Beatles' song, Rocky Raccoon, rolled through my head like a CD on a loop.  "Now somewhere in the black mountain hills of Dakota there lives a young boy named, Rocky Raccoon...."  We didn't run into anyone who remembered Rocky but we did have a chat with a few locals.  And then we rolled on. 

In the back of our minds we'd been wondering whether to pop into Mt. Rushmore to see the presidents' faces carved in the mountainside but when we came upon the turn it was one way to Mt Rushmore, another to Crazy Horse.  We chose the latter.

When we stopped to pay at the gate, a Native American man greeted us, inquiring as to our dog's name.  Steve smiled and told him, "Hopi".  The man laughed and said to Hopi, "I sure hope you aren't embarrassed by your name!"  (Hopi is named after the Indian tribe in Arizona).

I have been interested in the Native American culture for as long as I can remember; I love their connection with nature and their fervent respect for the land.  Crazy Horse was a Lakota Indian who, in the late 1800s stood up against land occupation by the government, though eventually he surrendered. While giving himself up, he was fatally wounded by a military guard.   A memorial, a mountain monument in the likeness of Crazy Horse, was begun in 1948 as the collaboration between a white man and a Lakota Chief.  When completed it will be the world's largest sculpture.  To date the face of Crazy Horse is complete and work has begun on carving the rest of him sitting on his horse.  A private foundation is funding the project, accepting no government aid.   It is far from completion and has been the subject of controversy from many groups, including some Native Americans who believe the carving is desecrating sacred lands. 

The history of the memorial was very interesting as were the native crafts displayed and for sale and also I enjoyed learning a bit more about the Lakota way of life.  We headed on.

Our destination was Sioux Falls, SD and we'd reserved a Homewood Suites room for our last night on the road.  We'd research a couple of SD wineries and dropped in at Prairie Berry Winery, a family run business who seemed to have a lot of fun with the wines they made, both fruit ones and grape wines.

Our hotel suite proved to be a great one and we were even able to order wonderful steaks and veggies for delivery to our room, which we washed down with a bottle of Montana wine! 

Saturday, the 22nd will be our last day on the road.  The whole trip has gone by so very fast!