Day Five - Sioux Falls, South Dakota

We were a little bit late getting out of the cabin this morning, but we were on the road back-tracking to Boondocks - a 1950's themed "center" (for lack of a better word) in Deadwood, South Dakota by 6:45. It didn't open until 8:00, so we spent fifteen minutes wandering around the complex (found a better word :) ).

Unsurprisingly, and as we discovered through most of the day, the majority of the attractions close down at the end of September. Boondocks had a carnival, complete with two ferris wheels, a kids' roller coaster, what looked like an old, broken down Tilt a Whirl, and a few other rides, along with a boardwalk with carnival games and prizes.

There only seemed to be one person manning the shop during the offseason, so we followed him inside the store and picked out a few postcards. Upon hearing we were from Washington, he informed us that it was an awful state (Seattle in particular) and that it rained constantly. This was especially ironic considering that a torrential downpour commenced five minutes after we left his shop, and did not cease for the next six hours. He had visited Olympia at the end of summer to welcome his son home from Iraq.

Back outside, we found some statues to play with. Jess found Carlos the cow's mother CJ and a dinosaur found me.

After spending another hour driving back to where we started the morning off at, we headed down the freeway (I-90...still) to Wall, South Dakota. Countless billboards herald Wall Drug, citing 5 cent coffee, free ice water, a backyard full of photo ops, homemade donuts and countless other treasures. We stopped for breakfast at the Cactus Cafe in Wall before we went to the Drug Store. The waiter attempted to give us directions to a highway through the Badlands, our next stop after Wall. I use the phrase attempted, because said directions were promptly forgotten. Instead of taking the highway off of I-90 that would allow us to continue east while driving through Badlands National Park, we continued east on I-90. Forty miles or so later, we took the exit for said highway, and started heading the wrong way...back towards Wall. We drove a little ways into the park to find an overlook point, before turning around and getting back on I-90.

We were glad we made it too.

Back to Wall Drug store, it lives up to the billboards that are posted along the freeway. Most of the "backyard" is covered (fortunately, since the previously mentioned downpour was in full swing). Though some of the statues are uncovered and I did finally find my covered wagon.

We waited around, and this guy wanted to feed right on schedule.

Particularly interesting to me, one of the interior walls of the "backyard" is covered with pictures of soldiers serving overseas. It seems that Wall Drug is famous in more than just the US. The soldiers were holding bumper stickers ("Have You Dug Wall Drug?") or standing next to signs announcing the mileage to the store.

Our next stop was the Badlands. We were almost blown off of the outlook point and the wind was driving rain. It felt like we had never left Washington.

We managed to dry off a bit before we reached Murdo, South Dakota. I had heard about an authentic 1880's town that allowed you to rent costumes and run around the town taking pictures. I was hugely excited about this, until we walked through the door and the woman told us that while the tours were still open, the costume shop had closed about two weeks prior (see and repeat previous complaint about attractions closing early). This is definitely a place that I will be trying to return to during the summertime.

The town was the site for the filming of Dances With Wolves, and one of the buildings contains many of the props used in the movie. Not having seen it (yet), I was still impressed by the extent of the props that they had.


The town was also quite a bit bigger than I had expected. There were at least twenty-five buildings, most, if not all were original (looking at some of the ceilings, it made sense why we were only allowed upstairs in a few of them).

While we were suitably impressed with the authenticity of the buildings, they came with spiders the size of nickles. I don't have an issue with most spiders, but I am terrified of the super-sized ones. And this was definitely a super-sized one. PS: the torrential rain was still continuing as we ran from building to building. By the time we got back to the car, we were soaked and ended up having to change into dry clothes.

Our next stop was Mitchell, South Dakota, home of the world's only corn palace. We stopped to ask for directions and were informed that locals refer to the Corn Palace as the world's largest bird feeder. :) He also warned us to watch out for South Dakota boys, and then told us where to find them if we were looking. Unfortunately for Jess, our final stop for the evening was another hour down the road.


The Corn Palace is redecorated with corn and natural grasses every year to reflect that year's theme. This year's theme was "American Destinations." The inside of the Palace is currently set up to host a basketball game or tournament, but it can also accommodate graduations, dances, concerts and other town events. Murals made from corn also adorn the inside of the Palace.

Our final stop of the day was Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We upgraded to a cabin again, after hearing talk on the radio that warned that the storm that we passed earlier today would be hitting eastern South Dakota tonight. We did all of our laundry, rearranged the car (again...for the fifth time in as many nights), and took long, hot, showers. The more nights we stay at KOA Campgrounds (I don't care if it is spelt with a K, I refuse to spell like that), the more impressed I am with them. We have had a decent wireless connection, clean bathrooms and hot water in all three so far. I hope that luck keeps up.


Jessica's camera died today (after bragging about it's long life span, I might add), so we made a run to a few WalMarts to find a replacement. Another early day tomorrow; we're heading to Dewitt, Iowa, so I'll sign off for now. :)