July 15 - South Dakota: Corn Palace & The Badlands

If Iowa was a blur of corn, then South Dakota is a blur of grass. The rolling prairie stretches as far as the eye can see.

The fields are dotted with cows -- which have got to be hot. They are in open pastures with no shelter or shade.

Hot Cows

At first, you want to say that the landscape is pretty, but then you may decide otherwise. Despite it's green color, it's not lush. I think that due to it's lack of trees, its rolling green hills leave you with an impression of "imposing" rather than "tranquil".

We are here during a heat wave -- much to Josh's chagrin. It is supposed to spike tomorrow at 104F.

We started off our day by pulling out of our campsite at Camp America Campgrounds in Salem, South Dakota.

Our first stop was the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. The Corn Palace is a basketball arena used by the local high school team, The Kernels, in the winters. During the summer it is host to 500,000 visitors who stop to admire it's exterior decorated with elaborate murals of corn. The facade is newly designed each year and costs $130,000 to complete. Inside, are photos of the various facades it has had over the years (built in the late 1800's). It is cute, albeit a bit corny (Sorry.), but is still a must-see.

Corn Mural on the Building's Side

The Original Corn Palace

Next, we stopped at Al's Oasis for lunch and their famous homemade pie. Their pies certainly lived up to their fame!

We pulled off at a roadside tourist trap to feed prairie dogs.  I later learn from a handy Park Ranger that area prairie dogs are now carriers of the bubonic plague.  SUPER FANTASTIC!!!!  UGH!

Adorable Plague Carriers

Said Tourist Trap

Said Tourist Trap's Trappings

Josh shows the boys "how it's done".

And the prairie dog runs...

Then it was on to our drive through The Badlands National Park. The rocks of The Badlands seem to rise out of the prairie from nowhere. We began our drive around 5 p.m. so the fading sunlight played an incredible light show off of the sides of the stratified rocks. of course, the photos don't come close to capturing the extent of their majesty.

As you travel through the park, you also trek through sections of The Buffalo Gap National Grasslands and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Our wildlife sightings in the park included: Bighorn sheep, Pronghorn, an Owl, Thousands of Prairie Dogs, and a jackrabbit. The elusive buffalo remained unseen.

Owl on Praire Dog Mound

Owl vs. Prairie Dog

Owl: 0        Prairie Dog: 1

Pronghorn

Breathtaking.

On our trips, Josh typically drives and I navigate and create the itinerary. For the most part, we fulfill our respective duties well. Sometimes, Josh gets a little Evel Knievil. I have been known to pack a bit more than humanly possible into a day. A lapse on either of our parts usually results in a spat where one of us really doesn't enjoy the other's company for a brief period of time.

Well, yesterday's fiasco really wasn't the my direct fault, but did fall under my job duties. I had planned for us to drive through The Badlands from north to south. At the south end, we were going to drive over to Hot Springs. I had made hard-to-get reservations to camp inside The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary. The map showed a road that got us there within about 30 miles once we were out of the park. Well, our drive ended up being epic. The road was a dirt washboard. We traveled it for a distance, but then had to take the LONG way.

Long story short -- I had slated for us to arrive around 7. We pulled in at midnight, having eaten a dinner of Sun Chips. The stars were incredible and the full moon was giant. But the beauty was lost on us. We were wiped out.

Tomorrow, we go see the horses....