sioux falls, south dakota

South Dakota rocks! Wow--we had no idea. I thought it would be scrubby farms, super flat, kind of depressing and definitely ugly. BUT NO! It was lush and green with tall grasses and gentle rolling hills. It was different than Montana's geography--but very very beautiful. And how were we to know that SO MUCH has happened here?

First, and most well known was the sculpture of Mount Rushmore. What a huge undertaking. It was 14 years, about $1,000,000 at the turn of the century, and a lot of dynamite! The mountain range was granite after all!

And then there's a similar sculpture of Crazy Horse--which they were actually blasting with dynamite YESTERDAY to take steps toward finishing. (We skipped that showing in favor of some other sights)

And for those of you who've seen Deadwood on HBO or Netflix--all that is based on the actual town called Deadwood--in the Black Hills which was a major Gold Rush town, complete with Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane.

And of course, Laura Ingalls Wilder's childhood home is here. They filmed Dances with Wolves here. And, how could anyone forget Wall Drug?!!
(incidentally, I'm one week shy of 8 months pregnant here)

However, by far, the biggest site to see in South Dakota is The Badlands National Park. Having been to the Grand Canyon, this is just as impressive. Smaller--maybe but oh, my goodness. It's awe-inspiring. You rarely hear about this place--and I'm not sure why. It's huge and other-worldly.

We saw prarie dogs, jackrabbits, and this unknown type of animal that is neither an antelope nor a big-horn sheep. But it was like 4' away from our car and we were afraid the dogs would start a fight with it and we would have a situation on our hands. So we snapped this picture really really fast and kept driving.

Speaking of animals, early on our trip in Montana, Dave said he saw a porcupine. I didn't believe him, so I said I saw an anteater. We had a little back and forth about who was telling the truth...or not. Normally he doesn't make up stories like I do, but I didn't believe him because I didn't think there were porcupines in Montana. I'm not sure where I thought they did live, just not Montana. Well, I was proven wrong, because we saw a porcupine yesterday near the border of South Dakota and Montana.


We also stopped at the legendary Corn Palace--but it was like 8:00 at night, and I guess things shut down early in Mitchell, South Dakota. So all we could really do is snap this picture.

We weren't really sure why the Corn Palace is in South Dakota--like why is it not in Iowa which is much better known for it's corn production. However, a quick trip to Google and you'll see that South Dakota is the national corn leader, particularly in biotech corn---(eek! what the h#@$ is biotech corn!?!!). So--there you have it.

We saw so many things, and South Dakota is a truly beautiful, lush and green, and historically and culturally significant place. We would return in a heartbeat.

Tomorrow it's off to Madison, Wisconsin...

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