Corn Palace, Missouri River and Badlands – oh my!

Thursday 7/24/14 Today we got to really play tourists. We left Sioux Falls behind and continued west. If you do this for any length of time down I90 you will see signs for the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. If you have ever wondered what a Corn Palace looks like (and since you have read this far you certainly have by now) then Mitchell is the place to stop. This is not your average tourist attraction. This is tourist attraction done big and historic. The original Corn Palace was created in 1882. That’s right, this Palace is over 130 years old. Well, the idea is. This current one is the 4th iteration. Since we were at the Corn Palace it seemed fitting to have corn dogs for lunch, so we did. From there we continued west. We stopped at a SD tourist center that was also an educational center teaching about the journey of Lewis and Clark. Just past that we could see the Missouri River. The Missouri is a dividing line between the farms to the east and the lands of the west. As soon as we crossed it we encountered hills. The corn was replaced with hay. The rolling terrain was now replaced with sharp, undulating folds in the earth.

Then, after a 98° stop for gas and snacks, we saw the first hint of the formations known as the Badlands. We pulled into the Badlands National Park driving loop. This is SD state route 240 and it takes you to some amazing formations of rock and prarie. We will post some pictures, but they can’t do justice to what you see with your eyes. We saw lightening flashing behind the buttes as sunshine illuminated the draws between them. It seemed as though God took a paint brush to the rocks as He walked by in many places.

From there we headed towards Mt. Rushmore. We finally found a room in Rapid City and grabbed supper at Perkins. Steph is uploading images for you all to see as I update you all on our journey.