Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Our plans for today didn't go quite the way we expected. So, we adjusted and ended up having a very pleasant adventure. Our original agenda had us attending church at a small LDS branch in Phillips, SD. However, once we got to the address shown on the web site, we found a funeral home. Who know where the chapel is! The town is super small; a population of 779 people. (That's less than the student body at Skipcha!) We drove around a bit; found the school, a small hospital, the post office and another denominational church. But, not the LDS chapel.  Anyway, there was a local grocery store in the town and we were running low on fruit, veggies, bread, and milk. We decided to make a quick stop, only to discover that food in a small, South Dakota town in OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive. We bought the minimum; in hopes of finding a Wal-Mart somewhere down the road.

On our way back to the campground, we were almost taken out by a massive piece of farm equipment! We were enjoying the drive through the grasslands and had just driven into a curve when a truck pulling a HUGE harvesting attachment came driving toward us... in the middle of the road. Luckily, the shoulder was (barely) wide enough for me to pull quickly to the side. CrAzY!!!

After we ate lunch, we had intended to go to the Minutemen Missile Silos for the afternoon; but, found out they are closed on Sunday. We opted to take a drive through Badlands National Park and then make a trip over to Wall Drug. On our way into the park, we found another roadside oddity; a giant prairie dog!

This big guy is right outside the east entrance to Badlands.

We were pleasantly surprised to discover that today is the 103rd Birthday of the National Parks System! The ranger working the front gate informed us that it was a no fee day because of that. Of course, we would have gotten in free with our Lifetime Pass. The rangers were serving birthday cake and ice water at one of the visitor's centers. Fun!!

The park wasn't too horribly crowded. We only stopped at trail heads where the parking lot wasn't crowded. We did a tiny bit of walking on trails because Ron isn't quite up to it; but, we enjoyed what we managed to do. 

Ron and I on the Window Trail.

Walking out Window trail.

LOVE the boarded walkway. It made it so much
easier for Ron to walk out there.

The view from the window is breathtaking.

There was very little traffic through the park and we were able to stop on several pull outs and get some great pictures.  Even though the landscape is super harsh; I really love this park. The stark contrast between the park and the land surrounding it simply amazes me. There was a wild flower blooming that filled the entire park with the most amazing smell; earthy with a hint of sage.

This picture doesn't quite do the massive size of
the park justice. But, looking at the car in distance
helps give you an idea of what the drive through the
park is like. 

One of the last pictures I took on the way out of the park.

Just past this area, the land turns back into grasslands.

Here, the peaks are much more rounded.

Sort of a gentle goodbye; come again soon!

On our way out of the park, we saw several prairie dog towns and managed to get a few pictures at one of them. They are such cute little animals; always busy and curious.

We ended the day with a stop at Wall's Drug. It's one of those places you have to visit at least once in a lifetime. I've been twice now; don't plan on making a special trips to see it again. I did find a little chapel in the complex that I hadn't seen on my last trip there. I made Ron come inside with me and said, "There. Now at least we can say we've been in church today."

                                   

Ron really wanted to see the Jackalope and we managed to find it. Then, we bought a few post cards some T-shirts then were ready to leave. It really is a huge tourist trap; but, a must see if you are driving through South Dakota. Oh, and I did get a pound of yummy fudge!

Look. It's Ron... talking to a complete stranger.
Surprised? Nope.

A unique place with an interesting history. Worth the stop...
especially if you are into shopping.

Tomorrow, I think we are heading out to Spearfish and Deadwood with a possible side trip to Sturgis. But who knows! Our plans might change again. That's the nice thing about being retired. We can do whatever we want!

Belvidere and Murdo, South Dakota

Ron and I drove the 5th wheel from Yankton to Belvidere today so we could set up our home base while we visit the sites on the west side of South Dakota.  The drive along I-90 is beautiful; but, the speed limit freaks me out. Driving along in a truck pulling a massive 5th wheel is okay between 60 - 68 mph. But, the speed limit here is 80 mph! We get passed like we are two old people driving down the road in an RV... wait a minute... we are! At least we can actually see the scenery as we drive by.
Among the vast fields of sun flowers, corn, soy beans, and cattle, we saw another roadside oddity... a crazy metal sculpture of a skeletal man and dinosaur! I had to look it up so I could actually write something about it. There is a roadside attraction at our exit called 1880's Town. The town is filled with restored buildings filled with movie memorabilia and artifacts from the 1880's. Evidently, a member of the family that owns the 1880's town build the skeletal man, holding an ax, walking a dinosaur on a leash, so it would look like they are walking down the hill toward the settlement. We are planning on going to the attraction later this week some time. Maybe I can find some post cards of it to mail to the grandkids.

We expected to see fields of sunflowers in Kansas.
It wasn't until we got to central South Dakota that
we started seeing fields of them. HUGE fields!!

The vastness of the landscape makes you feel
so small and insignificant.

The crazy skeletal man walking his dino.  Weird!

Once we got set up, we drove to a town called Murdo. There is a huge car museum right along the side of the interstate.  It has over 250 cars, a large tractor/farm equipment collection, a building filled with bikes and motorcycles, several old fire trucks, an old school building and church, and an assortment of antiques. There is also a nice little gift shop and a small cafe. We didn't eat there; but, we did get some delicious ice cream cones. Not quite as tasty as Bluebell; but, pretty good. Ron really loved the car museum and was able to walk through most of it.  We skipped the farm equipment and antiques because we really weren't interested in those.  There were some really cool cars that people had donated to the museum. We also found out that the guys from American Pickers have been there a few times and bought things from the owner. None of the buildings are air conditioned; but, it was only about 80 degrees while we were there and they had huge fans circulating the air. 

This car is made of mahogany! It has 2 engines because it is so heavy!! 

This building had a lot of cars that either belonged
to famous people; or were used in movies to
depict cars used by James Dean, Elvis Presley, and
a few other people I didn't recognize.

That's actually Ron driving the General Lee.

A lot of the cars were donated by local people; but, there were quite a few that
the owner bought from people just passing through to see the museum.
He bought an East German Traubant that way!

Lots and lots of really old cars! I think the oldest
one I saw was from 1909.

There was hardly anyone there when we were so
none of the buildings had people in them. It was almost
like having a private tour.

I only saw 2 VWs... this Thing

and a really nice blue bug.

One of several old fire trucks with lots of memorabilia
on the walls behind them.

I read about these pump carts; but can't remember what I read!

This one kinda reminds me of the one that Temple has.
It just isn't in nearly as good shape!

Tomorrow we are planning on going to church at a small branch somewhere in the area. It is over 40 miles away; but, it's the closest one! After that, we are going to the Minute Man Missile Silo Historical Site. The lady at the tourist info site where we picked up a bunch of fliers said that you can go down into the silo where the missiles were stored; but, you need reservations. We were told that we can check at the desk when we get there to see if there are any cancelations and might get lucky enough to go down. We are both looking forward to this stop; probably because we grew up in a generation of kids that practiced atomic bomb drills by huddling under our desks at school! It is crazy how things have changed; but, stayed the same.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

What a beautiful time of the year to visit South Dakota! We left triple digit temperatures in Texas and have been not been disappointed with the weather here. We have had temperatures ranging from 56 degrees at night to a high of 80 today. The little town we are staying in is Yankton, South Dakota. It is on the banks of the Missouri River, separating Nebraska from South Dakota.  It's one of those cute little towns with a lovely historic downtown area. Our campground is just outside the city limits.

looking down main street

a few of the cute store fronts

memorial park near the court house

Our first actual day of sight seeing was spent in the eastern portion of South Dakota.  We traveled through some beautiful, rural areas before getting to Sioux Falls. The only thing we really wanted to see there was the area called Falls Park. It is a beautiful park established around the waterfalls on the Big Sioux River that give the city its name. At the park, there is a welcome center with a 5 story observations tower, several remains of old mills and a quarry that originally used the power of the falls to polish stone, and a series of walking paths that have several unique sculptures along them.  

The top, and widest, level of the falls and several large chunks of
Sioux Quartzite sticking out of the ground.

The beginning of the second level of the falls.

The second level of the falls.

One of many cute little critters playing in the rocks
along the falls.

The lowest level of the falls. Evidently, there were originally
3 levels; but, the lowest level was mined for stone to make
street pavers and many buildings
when the city was first settled.

This building was beside the falls. This one was originally
a prison quarry that is now
converted to a restaurant or pub.

One of the sculptures spread throughout the park.

The 5 story observation tower. Ron actually made it
up all 5 flight of stairs! But, he opted to ride the elevator
down.

Another sculpture just outside the visitor's center.

One view of the width of the falls from the tower. 

And a second view of the parks from the tower. This pic shows Queen Bee Mills, which
originally ground wheat. It eventually closed because of low
water supply in the falls and a shortage of wheat.

After leaving Sioux Falls, we drove west along I-90 in search of a few roadside oddities I had read about. We saw stone tee pee structures at the road side rest areas. 

We saw Porter's Sculpture Park from the road. It was really strange; just random metal sculptures in the middle of an overgrown field along the interstate. The metal bull kind of freaks you out because when you first see it, you feel like it is a giant bull, walking up over the hill to greet you.

Totally weird place. I felt like the bull was saying, "Peek a boo!"

 

We stopped and visited the one and only original Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Every year $130,000 worth of corn is used to decorate the exterior of the building. This year a group of students from Dakota Wesleyan University are working on it. Their theme honors our military history and veterans. Evidently, the ears of corn are cut in half and then nailed to the exterior of the building. It is hard to believe the entire exterior is covered with parts of corn!

It was so cute seeing little birds, sitting all along the walls, nibbling at the corn!

The palace is still a functioning entertainment center. There is a concert scheduled for this weekend with Clint Black. The city was actually starting their annual Corn Fest today. We were lucky we got there early, before the midway actually fully opened. Thankfully, they didn't set up food trucks or rides right in front of the palace. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to get any pictures.

This side of the palace is still being worked on. If you look closely, you can see
the pencil lines on the plywood, waiting to be filled in with corn. 

The last place we visited this day was the city of Chamberlain, South Dakota.  Along the interstate, there is a magnificent stature called Dignity of Earth and Sky. It is made entirely of stainless steel and made so that the diamond shapes in the quilt flutter in the wind.  It is supposed to be breath taking at night when it is all lit up.  I doubt we will ever get to see it at that time of day; but, the day time view was amazing. It sits high on a hill, overlooking the Missouri River valley.

This area is also part of the Lewis and Clark Trail.  There was a small, museum inside the information building that had a replica of the keel boat they traveled in, their living quarters (tents), examples of the animals they saw in the area, and replicas of the barrels and crates they carried supplies in.

 We had a pretty full day and ended it by eating at a place along the interstate called, Al's Oasis. It's a chain of little gift shops, a supermarket, saloon, and restaurant that serves home made pie, 5 cent coffee, and buffalo burgers.

 All in all; a busy day. But, we saw everything on our list before we headed back to our little home on wheels.