Day 5

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Luverne, MN to Rapid City, SD via Badlands

😱 Day 5 of our trip: Good dogs visit the Badlands!
We crossed the border to South Dakota, and left the Midwest. A sign said "Welcome to South Dakota, watch out for jackrabbits." South Dakota is full of rolling hills, lots of cows, fields of bales of hay and a western aura--cowboy country. We stopped in Sioux Falls SD. They have a nice downtown sculpture display; otherwise, SF SD is pretty quiet--the Visitor's Center was closed on Saturday! We found a leash free dog park for Cleo and Bandit, and they ran along a path with a view of bluffs inhabited by swallows, and cooled off in a river.
We visited the Badlands National Park. They were having a free weekend, so we did not have to pay the $15 entry fee. It looks like the surface of another planet--huge jagged pyramids of stone and sand, striped with red and yellow. In between is prairie land--we saw a bison, quite a few prairie dogs (which Lewis and Clark called "barking squirrels"). The air in the park smells faintly sweet--like honey--from the fields of blooming yellow sweet clover, and the strong breezes.
We stopped in Wall, S.D. the site of Wall Drug, a little pharmacy started in the Depression by a young couple. The pharmacy struggled until they started putting up highway signs giving away free ice water! That brought in the visitors, and the place has grown and grown since then, now it takes up most of a block, sells everything from western wear, books, western art, souvenirs, to donuts, food, has a T Rex, giant rabbit, and still gives away ice water and sells coffee for 5 cents. It is now run by the third generation of the family.
We had an excellent spinach salad with red onion, cranberries and feta cheese, good pizza and beer for dinner here at a restaurant called Boston's.

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Photos

South Dakota Border
Small sign in Background

Sioux Falls, SD
Sculpture walk dowtown

Longhorn, SD
Iron sculpture on road