MAX "BUNNY" SPARBER, OUR FRIEND ALIE, AND I took a whirl-wind road trip to South Dakota. About 1,279 miles round trip between July 24 - 26, 2009.My goals on this trip:
• Visit Badlands National Park
• Find cowboy boots at Wall Drug, get free ice water
• Visit Mt Rushmore National Memorial
Everything else we'd end up doing I'd consider it a bonus. Turns out we were going to have plenty of bonus rounds.
We arrived in Sioux Falls, SD in the late afternoon and, since this is Alie's old stomping ground, she showed us a nice area downtown to window shop and eat. Then, we saw the Big Sioux river and had some "old fashion" [sic] ice cream.
My excitement grew exponentially when we started heading west from Alie's parents' house in Sioux Falls at around 9 or 10 in the morning on July 25th (after a quick stop at Queen City Bakery where I bought a homemade, lemon-flavored marshmallow). That's when the terrain began to change and the adventure of going west really hit.
The land turned from rows of corn and soy beans to fields of soft, grassy hills cut with bluffs and sprinkled with cattle. I was hoping to see Bison, but the only ones I would end up seeing were fiberglass or cement.
Alie spotted a billboard advertising a garage in an upcoming town. I don't remember the name of the garage, but their billboard touted excellent "toe service." These roadside signs along the way are great. I didn't do any research beforehand and they really made me realize how many fun activities South Dakota has to offer -- and all with the feeling of good old-fashioned fun, too. I hadn't eaten my lemon marshmallow yet, so I know my ever-increasing excitement was not a result of too much sugar.
We stopped at a wayside rest and I grabbed a localized map and a couple of free magazines so I could read the short histories of where we'd be visiting. I walked as far back behind the building as I could so I could no longer hear the traffic, just the wind blowing through the field. It really got to me and I decided that, at some point, I want to spend some time on a ranch riding horse and being a cowboy.
We continued on, taking a quick detour to Mitchell, South Dakota to see the infamous Corn Palace, where, according to their website, each year they use over 275,000 ears of corn to redecorate the façade. There are tours and shops here, but we just had time to hop out of the car for a quick photo before we continued westward.
We had a pleasant surprise in Mitchell -- we found a F.A.S.T. Corp. bison!
And then, after 200 miles of being silly in the car and eating from our bag of goodies (so we wouldn't have to stop when we got peckish), we reached Badlands National Park. We paid $10 for a pass, which is good for a week, and stopped at the first and second lookout points.
I was awestruck! I could have stared out over the alien terrain for hours. Trails where water from the last rainfall still remained on the hills, cutting into the dusty, layered mounds like veins. The wind was hot and the sparse greenery was of the tough, bristly sort that stays close to the ground. There were license plates from all over the country, and accents from all over the world. It would be this way at Mount Rushmore as well!
Our second and final stop in the Badlands, in addition to being spectacular, was also amusing. It was like the Badlands and the children at this stop were engaged in the Battle of Skinned Knee. Since the land is so sandy here, there isn't much traction -- especially when climbing. Children were especially ill-equipped to dealing with this fact. So when they'd go to climb a hill, their feet would slip out from under them, their knees would meet the tiny granules of rock on the ground, they'd slide slightly down the hill they were attempting to climb, and then start to cry. I heard one mom say to her little child as they walked toward the hills: "Better be careful, every other kid here is crying." It was surreal to experience this small pocket of brightly dressed people in the desert, especially with the din of at least a dozen crying children from all different families. Surreal and highly amusing.
We continued climbing and turning and turning and climbing the narrow road through the Badlands. I'd like to spend more time here at some point, as there are activities here throughout the day, such as nature talks, as well as into the night. They have a night-sky talk; I bet it's stunning to see the stars from here.
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