I took a car trip out west when I was about twelve years old. The beauty of the badlands is breathtaking. The fossils and the natural formations fired my young imagination. It's austere majesty at sunset is unforgettable. Devils Tower is so fucking improbable. I mean really how can it be? Mt. Rushmore... We stayed about five minutes. If we had been honest with each other we would have stayed half that long. It was totally underwhelming. Banal things during that trip that I enjoyed more than Mt. Rushmore. 1. Seeing a deer really close up at Devils Tower. 2. Getting a chipmunk to eat from my hand. 3. Seeing and hearing a rattle snake. 4. Reading my first "edgy" comic book (not Archie but Conan). 5. The night sky almost everywhere we stayed. 6. Almost every meal. Your right about the beauty of South Dakota and while the authors work is mostly worthless, Mount Rushmore is one of the least interesting famous things I've ever seen.