We rolled through Wyoming and made it to South Dakota to our campground, which happened to be within sight of the Crazy Horse mountain. We didn’t go to the monument since we could see it from our campsite, I am sure it would have been interesting for the adults, but the kids weren’t excited about going.
We drove Boober from our campsite to Mt Rushmore to spend a few hours checking it out. Our first glimpse of the mountain was made a little more exciting due to the presence of some mountain goats that were chilling just above the road.
The museum had lots of interactive exhibits, so we all took our time checking out the place. It was neat watching the girls soak in all of the information that was very well presented to them. I am amazed that more lives weren’t lost in the making of this monument, it was truly an amazing undertaking. Our visit to Mt Rushmore only lasted a couple hours, we were tired from all the traveling and I was ready to get to our spot in North Dakota for the beet harvest. We did enjoy some vanilla ice cream that was supposedly Thomas Jefferson’s original recipe before we left though.
Badlands National Park was our next brief stop on this leg of our trip. I wish we had more time to explore this area, it is amazing how stunningly beautiful weathered piles of dirt could be. As we were leaving the park, the storms that were rolling across the countryside were dropping visible bands of rain. You can see these in the last picture of the Badlands section below. I don’t think I remember seeing this before.
Wall Drug has got to be on your list of things to do as you are driving across South Dakota. Don’t worry, the crazy road signs tell you how far you are away from there so you don’t have a chance of missing it. It is touristy for sure, but it was a nice stop on a hot day of traveling. They have excellent root beer floats and ice cream (the ice cream seems to be a trend on this post).
Our last stop in South Dakota was the World’s Only Corn Palace. This is another stop I recommend, it is unique and full of great information on one of the most valuable commodities in the world. All of the art work outside the building, and around the inside, is made from different colors of corn. They were finishing up this years designs the day we arrived so you can see one of the masterpieces coming together. The girls loved being able to run around on the gym style floor, so we let them burn some energy before we got back on the road.
We were only in South Dakota for 3 days, so we took a lot in in a short time. I knew sugar beets were in my future, so we headed to our campground for the next month. This year would be my first year as Night Shift foreman at the Hillsboro Sugar Beet Yard, and only my 2nd year at the harvest. Beet posts will be coming soon, stay tuned…
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