South Dakota - The Big Surprise (part 1)

We initially went into South Dakota to investigate becoming residents of the state in order to save on vehicle registrations and taxes (we ended up not doing that for now).  What we found out is that South Dakota is a very beautiful state with much to offer for the person who enjoys traveling and sight-seeing.  Traveling along I-90 is like a throw back to another era.  There are roadside attractions galore from the kitschy to the sublime. 

Let's start with our initial impression of South Dakota, Sioux Falls.  SF was built around a waterfall on the Big Sioux River.  Early settlers quickly realized the potential the falls had for power generation and milling of grains grown in the area.  There is now a city park that surrounds these falls and the original power station and mill which now lay in ruins. 

View of  Falls Park from the observation tower

Sioux Falls

Traveling west along I-90 we stopped in Mitchell, SD to visit the overly advertised Corn Palace.  Due to all of the signs on the freeway for this attraction we decided we couldn't miss it.  Turns out we could have.  Every year the community gets together and decorates a building with corn cobs both inside and out.  The theme varies from year to year and they have been doing this for over a century.  After all of the hype we expected something more than what we realized.  It is a building with corn cob murals and if your into that sort of thing, I guess it would be cool.  We thought it was a bit of a letdown.

Our next stop was Wall, home of the world famous Wall Drug Store.  This store has become a major tourist attraction over the years.  It started out as an idea by the owner to get people off the highway and into his store.  He started by putting signs out in front of his store offering free ice water.  The signs did in fact work and the traffic to his store increased.  He then decided if a few signs helped this much a bunch of signs farther out would bring in even more folks.  Gradually the store grew into what it is today and offers everything a tourist would desire.  Oh yeah, there is still a drugstore and free water as well.

Jackalope

Tom vs Buffalo