Badlands, 1889 Town, the Corn Palace, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Okay, so off I go on Saturday morning, although it doesn’t feel like Saturday. Then again, why should it? Everyday is Saturday to me. The weather was warmer today, in the 50’s when I left Wall, but reaching the early 70’s as the morning warmed up and into the afternoon. Lovely day, clear and fresh.
I headed out, but travelled back through Badlands National Park first, on my way to Sioux Falls, which added maybe 90 minutes to the total journey of about 5½ hours.I just had to go back, especially as I have a better sense of the park now, or at least that part of it I drove through yesterday. It is an amazing drive.
This time, I took route 240 which first heads south from from the Pinnacles entrance of the park, about 10 miles south of Wall, and then east as it passes through about 40 miles of the park, emerging at the NE entrance, and then up to Cactus Flat, at which point route 240 intersects with interstate 90. This time the road took me to different parts of the park than I had travelled yesterday, taking no BAI roads and staying on the paved main road. Of course, I was in the same general area, but much easier to travel and more tourist traffic, although not a lot.
It’s not that I was seeing scenery and landscape totally different than what I’ve seen elsewhere, but in this case the entire park is made up of the incredible rock formations, gullies, and canyons spread across vast plains of sandy flats, for as far as you can see. It’s a desert of incredible shapes rising from the earth and deep chasms cut deep into it. It’s very desolate, and a complete wilderness. There is camping in this park, but not the kind accompanied by shaded groves, lovely streams, and beautiful trails to walk and mountains to climb. Although there are grasslands, for the most part this is desert. Similarly, there are trails, but these are dusty and sandy, and often not too long, and in many cases probably unshaded. These trails, and I don’t think there are actually too many of them in the park, are of a very different nature than a hike in, say, Glacier National Parks. It’s like hiking on the moon (not that I’ve ever taken any lunar hikes, but I plan to some day).
There are so many fabulous photos to take, and I again took a lot, but really far too many to include here. Still, despite the similar look of the terrain throughout the park, the rock formations and chasms do change, in shape, color, and appearance. Some are sharp and jagged, where others are rounded and bulbous, and some cut into the earth and others rise from the ground. Some sit across vast plains of desert, and others are interspersed among high grasses. Just amazing.
There’s life out here, of course, such as Bison, one of which I saw last night grazing right at the side of the highway, as well as all those prairie dogs I saw hurriedly heading across the road yesterday. Today, I passed a small flock of big horn sheep grazing in the grasslands.
The road runs through these amazing rock formations and canyons, which lie on either side of the road, and in some cases they loom directly ahead, as though the road is going to run right into them.
And then I reached Cactus Flat, and it was time for the 300 mile drive east along interstate 90 to Sioux Falls. These interstates are fantastic ways to get from point A to B quickly and in the most efficient fashion, and some, like interstate 70 in Colorado (and plenty of others), pass through wonderful landscapes, and are interesting and a pleasure to drive, but others – like interstate 90 – are flat and pass through mile after mile of flat and unchanging landscape, and can be brain deadening. Drives like today get boring very quickly, with little to look at, other than the occasionally interesting something or other off the side of the road or the billboards, which aren’t at all interesting (such as the many Wall Drug billboards I spotted going the other way on the highway).
Actually, before getting too far on 90, I spotted one of those interesting looking roadside attractions, about 40 miles from Cactus Flat, which I first passed right by but then decided to turn around and go back and visit, and I’m glad I did. Located in Midland, South Dakota, 1880 Town is a replica western town, I think initially built as a movie set elsewhere in the area, but now with original or reconstructed buildings from other locations moved to this site, providing an honest and authentic view of what a small town like this probably really did look like in the 1880’s. The interior of each building gives a sense of how things were in those days, and contains thousands of relics and items from that era. It’s worth a visit. This, of course, is off season, but in season there are activities and in costume actors walking the streets, and visitors can rent costumes and wander around the street and buildings looking as though they fit right in.
I found everything about the town interesting, actually, but was particularly taken by the interior of the saloon, which was ornate and included a performance stage, a second floor, and upstairs bedrooms.
The town also had old railroad stock, and an a restaurant inside a more modern diesel locomotive and passenger cars, although closed for the season. I had to take a photo for Ken.
Then, it was back on interstate 90, which hadn’t yet become mundane and boring. But it had by the time I took my next stop, and was happy to take a break in Mitchell, South Dakota, about 225 miles from Wall and 73 miles west of Sioux Falls, and, importantly, home to the World’s Only Corn Palace.
I was glad to take this stop, but really only took it to see and photograph the Corn Palace, as a tribute to Kaye who visited the Corn Palace when she drove across country way back when she moved to California. It is quite a sight, and apparently gets about 500,000 visits each year.
The original was built in 1892, and was one of a number of buildings like this intended to showcase and promote grain products and the rich farming soil, but the current building, which was closing as I arrived (it was about 5 pm, as I’d crossed into the mountain time zone, so lost an hour), so I didn’t go in, but the current building is now a multi-purpose building. The outside of the building is covered in designs and murals made from corn and other grains. Whew!
The Corn Palace is described by the town of Mitchell as its “greatest attraction,” which is no surprise, given that Mitchell doesn’t really have that much else to offer tourists. Actually, it’s a very nice town, and the sixth most populated in South Dakota (about 16,000), is nice looking, and does have some very nice features. For the most part, main street actually looks like it’s right out of the 1950’s.
And then back onto interstate 90 for the last hour of the drive, arriving in Sioux Falls around 6:00. After checking in, I headed downtown for a night view of the city, which looks really nice. With a population of around 200,000, Sioux Falls is the largest city in South Dakota.
It’s difficult to tell from a night drive, but it looks like a nice city, and the downtown area, covering several busy blocks is not only good looking, but was jumping, with many well frequented bars and restaurants, and with many people walking around dressed in Halloween costumes. This joint was definitely jumping.
I drove around for a while, and wound up with a brief visit to Falls Park, which features the falls of the Big Sioux River, and looked great lit up at night, as did the city and its bridges in general. I’ll come back and visit tomorrow before heading out.
After returning to my hotel, dead tired, I spent a while figuring out how to get back to Amherst from here, and toyed with several different ideas. But, tomorrow I head for St. Cloud, Minnesota, and from there I’ll head to northern and northeast Michigan, and take it from there once I arrive. I considered heading up to Thunder Bay in Ontario, Canada, which sounds exciting, but for now have decided against that. Of course, I could change my mind.
Okay, tomorrow is another day.