Day 8 involved a lot of car sight seeing of northern South Dakota! There were some not-so-flat events though! We woke up in Sioux Falls and visited downtown and the falls! The downtown is very spacious and has sculptures everywhere. We posed with a lot of the sculptures and visited many small independent stores. We decided to forgo food so Maryanne could buy Obama magnets and Helen bought beads. (Really.)
We walked down to the falls, which were beautiful, but smelled a little. They were really rocky and jagged, unlike Niagara:
We then drove for a few hours and went to the CORN PALACE! YES! This is a building (or palace) that EVERY SINGLE YEAR, is redecorated entirely using corn to match the new theme. They were transitioning from 2008 to 2009, so we got to see how the process works. It’s like a giant paint by number, but with colored corn. Over 500,000 people visit this extreme tourist trap EVERY YEAR in Mitchell, SD! We had $1.50 left for food, so we bought popcorn! And we endorse visiting this!
It was really flat and beautiful. We saw some wind turbines moving and thought about how much land and opportunity there was out here for wind energy...and how this would cause a redistribution of population. Maryanne got really excited about all the possibilities this could have....and Helen endured Maryanne's thoughts on this.
Eventually we crossed the Missouri River! We starting to see signs, literally, over 300 signs for this tourist trap called, “Wall Drug.” They were each ridiculous and we were sucked in! (Wall Drug spends an estimated $400,000 on bill board signs every year.) After 200 miles, we stopped and the place was beyond lame. Unless you like a place built on paraphernalia celebrating itself....like, there was nothing there except t-shirts, mugs and magnets celebrating that you had been there! LAME.
Maryanne was almost as ridiculous as the signs. Almost, but not quite.
Finally, we arrived in Rapid City! You could spot the city 40 miles out because it was so flat and the city so bright. We met our couch surfing host, Eric and his housemate Al. We were greeted with delicious margaritas and chili! (This is why despite wasting our food allowance, we didn’t starve!)
Another great day! Even if most of it was spent in a car!
1 comment:
Does the corn palace have a princess? Helen, maybe a future job for you, should we reach 25% unemployment as the world markets crash. What is the new theme for the 09 year?
Yes to wind power! Between the Dakotas and Texas, we could Just Say No to nuCUElar!
Guess Wall Drug has marketed itself into staying afloat. See if you say it enough times, people start to believe that whatever it is must be true...I'll stop so I don't get kicked off the blog.
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