Blind leading the blind

So, a friend of mine moved to Minneapolis last year. I've been meaning to visit her ever since, it just hasn't happened. Well, I'm finally taking a week off to see the fair city of Minneapolis and take another road trip from there. We're going to drive from Minneapolis to Mt. Rushmore and back. Like the famed Diners & Disasters trip, we've already established the "no chain restaurants" rule. Some rules are golden.

My friend and I had a ridiculous phone conversation, last night, highlighting our ignorance of US geography. For instance, did you know that Deadwood is in South Dakota? Well I didn't. I thought it was in the corner of Wyoming. I was close, but close won't win in "Jeopardy!".

Here's a sampling of the conversation:

Friend: We can drive to Mt Rushmore in one day right?
Me: Um, it's sort of a long way. I think we could get there in two days. There's some pretty big city on the way. We could stop around there and stay the night.
Friend: Hold on, let me get a map.
Friend: ...
Friend: Lucy! Mt. Rushmore is all the way across South Dakota!!!
Me: I know! (... but only because I received a killer US map with my last issue of National Geographic. A publication I should, apparently, be paying more attention to.)
Friend: Sioux Falls is on the way. Is that where you want to stop? Really? Sioux Falls?!
Me: I don't know, I just know some place I've heard of is on the way.
Friend: You know South Dakota is a crazy red state right? We have to spend as little money as possible there. We can't support them.
Me: Bummer! What's North Dakota?
friend: I think they might be blue. (We later learned they are red.)
Me: We could drive around South Dakota and check out North Dakota on our way.
Friend: Yeah, we could go to Fargo!!
Me: ...
Friend: ...
Me: What's in Fargo?
Friend: ...
Friend: That Paul Bunyun statue!! Don't you want a picture with him?!
Me: YEAH!!!!!

It should be an interesting trip.

P.S. While searching for a Paul Bunyan statue photo to include in this blog, I tripped on a whole new goal in life: to see the county by visiting Paul Bunyan statues. Just look at how many there are!!