The Corn Palace (July 14) - On the drive we were seeing signs for "Worlds ONLY Corn Palace!" ... they got us, we had to go! The Corn Palace is located in Mitchell and the building is decorated with crop art; the murals and designs covering the building are made from corn and other grains, and a new design is constructed each year. It was very fascinating! Oacoma (July 14-16) - We wanted to break up the drive from Minneapolis to the Badlands National Park so naturally we chose an area next to a river :) Oacoma is right outside Chamberlain and thanks to freecampsites.net, we found out that there were 5 free spots along the Missouri River. We got in around 9:30 pm and luckily snatched the last available site. Nelly ran around and explored, happy to get out of the car. It was HOT! Even at night. We woke up and I made an egg scramble with corned beef hash. Being our first morning, I set up the chairs to eat outside. That lasted all of 2 minutes due to the flies and other bugs. This free site had no electric so our camper became a sauna pretty quickly. "Well, lets go down to the river to cool off" ... great idea right? No! The flies are everywhere!! To escape the heat and bugs, we jumped in the truck and blasted the AC. We drove into town and went to Al's Oasis and some antique stores and also over the bridge to Chamberlain to grab some items from the Dollar Store. When we returned to camp we thought we'd try the river again - this time in the canoe. We got in and were a good 5 ft from the shore when the motor mount broke.... The current was strong and we weren't up for a paddle ride so back to shore we went. We booked it out of there by 8:30 the next morning. Badlands National Park (June 16) - We entered in the Northeast Entrance and stopped at the Big Badlands Overlook right away. Pictures and words do not do justice for this great place, you just have to see it. It was so hot that it was almost unbearable for us, yet alone Nelly. We did the overlooks but didn`t explore any trails. We drove the Badlands Loop Road and exited out the Pinnacles Entrance. Just north of there is Wall. Of course we had to stop at the tourist trap...Wall Drug. That was quick, grabbed a bite to eat and our free bumper sticker, and we were on our way. Custer State Park (June 16-17) - We got in and loved the area right away, unfortunately there were no sites available to camp (in our price range). Driving down the Wildlife Loop, we weren't seeing a thing and we were more than half way through. Right after saying "this will be such a waste of money if we don't see anything" we turned a corner and were stopped in the road due to a HUGE bison herd crossing. They were taking their sweet time! Custer State Park is home to a famous herd of 1,300+ free roaming bison. We also spotted mule deer and the burros along the side of the road. The next day we returned without the camper to drive Needles Hwy and boy oh boy are we glad we came back! It was such a beautiful drive with narrow tunnels and we even saw mountain goats looking down on us! Prairie Berry Winery & Miner Brewing Company (June 16) - Who doesn't like free wine tastings? The current winemakers great-great-grandmother immigrated to the Dakota Territory in 1876 from Czechoslovakia and had to adapt her winemaking traditions to match the landscape (using only prairie berries). They are the only winery in Hill City that produces all wine on site. We enjoyed each of the wines we tasted, especially their award winning Red Ass Rhubarb (90% rhubarb and 10% raspberry wine). We grabbed a drink at the brewery as well which had great patio seating. Echo Valley Park (June 16-18) - We wanted to stay in the area to hit Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse the following day and we couldn't have found a more perfect spot! This park was located right outside Crazy Horse and was fairly priced. With a total of 58.5 acres, the spot offered a great half mile walk down into the valley which had 3 ponds and 1 "lake". Nelly loved exploring the area and swimming. The area used to be a homestead with an old building from 1903, which the owner keeps up. We met a sweet couple in their 70's who were traveling the states from Baja California with their 20lb cat, Thor. We had great conversations and they even made us dinner one night. We ended up eating in the camper due to a storm...it was great to have our first guests! A couple days leading up to this we realized the black tank (a.k.a potty tank) was clogged....grrrrrreat. Sam stepped up and after shoving his hand down the pipe with a wire hanger, it was all good! That`s something we will never let happen ever again. Mt.Rushmore & Crazy Horse (June 17) - If you're playing the license plate game, this is the place to be...you'll cross quite a few, if not all, off your list. Both monuments get lit up late at night however we decided to hit them both during the day. Crazy to think that the all the heads on Mt. Rushmore fit into the face of Crazy Horse! We'll definitely return later on in our lives to see the progress that's made on Crazy Horse. Deadwood (June 18) - We were driving through so figured we had to stop. We walked a ways to the historic Main Street and found Wild Bill's Bar - the location where "Wild Bill" (James Butler Hickock) ate his last meal and was shot at point blank. Wild Bill was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his work across the frontier as a drover, wagon master, soldier, spy, scout, lawman, gunfighter, gambler, showman, and actor. The bar that we were actually sitting in was not in fact where he was sitting back in the day, the street level has risen a substantial amount due to two fires and two floods, but hey, it was close! Get this though ... they didn't even have their full liquor license! So the cocktail Abby got had probably 1/4 shot of rum...better than nothing? From there we wanted to get a bite to eat and we took our "bartender"s advice for where to go, but we think we fell into a tourist trap, their cheese curds were $8! Being from Wisconsin, maybe we're snobs about our cheese but Culver's has better curds for under $4!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
September 2017
Categories |