South Dakota

We spent the last day or so in South Dakota.  We started by driving into Sioux Falls.  We went to Church and stopped by Falls City Park.  These are the Falls that the town is named after.  The park was revitalized about 10 years ago.  It was really nice.  It didn't however hide the broken down neighborhoods of this once thriving community.  From there we wen on to drive to Badlands National Park.  We stopped t the Corn Palace in Mitchell SD.   I guess  they thought of themselves as the Manhattan of SD.  It was a tourist trap and really not worth the 1/2 hour it took to tour the place.  We also stopped by an Indian settlement.  I dreaded this from the second Tayor asked to go......I had forgotten how my kids loved this stuff.  They are such little tourists.  So we went...we read about the settlement, looked at how they lived, washed fossils and threw spears....that was actually cool.

South Dakota is amazingly FLAT....not much different from Iowa.  Many people had told us that the first two days would be really tough.  It may of been hours of small farms and flat lands...but it was a nice drive.  The sky was bright blue with tons of white fluffy clouds.

The Badlands.....was one the top destinations for me.....and it didn't disappoint!  We took the day to drive and hike the park today.  It's a crazy place.....right in the middle of this flat farm land ....the Badlands pops up.  Taylor said it best.... It looks like a giant little boy made sandcastles.  Saw a few animals...a rattlesnake....The day took a turn for the worst...it got cold and started to rain.  I am looking forward to going to bed tonight.  I had forgotten how nice it is to hear the rain on the roof of a trailer.

We are on to see the rest of SD tomorrow.  We will see Wall Drug, Mount Rushmore and then stay at Slyvan Lake in Custer State Park.  I hope we see some Bison tomorrow......they tasted good for lunch!