Blogs from Badlands, South Dakota, United States, North America - page 4

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 ... read more

On our way to Yellowstone, after leaving a long weekend of chilly and rainy weather in Minneapolis, we voted to drive through Badlands National Park and to Mount Rushmore. The pictures will give some semblance of the story, but the Badlands are a very beautiful drive and worth your time if you are ever out this way. It is a short one-hour loop in the car with several stops for pictures (great panoramic photo op...we will figure this out with our two cameras very soon I hope) and some hikes. Many signs warn of what must be a continual presence of rattlesnakes. Other wildlife in the area include the most endangered mammal in the US..the black footed ferret, bison, big-horned sheep, fox, and prairie dogs! We arrived at Badlands in late afternoon and had some great ... read more

South Dakota, and over into Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan Saturday August 9 to Monday August 11, 2008 Mt. Rushmore With many bikers sharing the road, we drove southwest a bit to circle Mt. Rushmore. Declining the fairly steep entrance fee, we snapped photos from the highway at 2 different vantage points, and made our way east again; we would have liked to take Rte 44 to reach Badlands National Park, rather than the Interstate, but being short on time, opted for speed, and entered the park via the town of Wall. There we stopped at a gas station to use the rest room, and get snacks and coffee. Outside there was a coin-operated horse ride - and Rollie clowned around for the camera (Miles and I got in on the action too). They also had a ... read more

Wall, South Dakota: gateway to the Badlands. More importantly, home of Wall Drug. To steal a saying from the 1000 Places to See book, "Like ZsaZsa Gabour, Wall Drug is famous for being famous." It all started way back in the Great Depression, when this small town drug store was struggling along with the rest of the country. In order to bring in more people, the owners got the bright idea to advertise along the nearby interstate that they had free ice water. Soon customers were flocking in, more than they could handle. So they expanded. They soon decided that more signs would bring in more customers. American GIs in Europe took signs with them, advertising the distance from wherever they were to Wall Drug. The tradition has continued to grow, leading them to give signs ... read more

What's hot: Jackalope. Travel lesson of the day: Build it and they will come. from Kathy: This day, August 4, deserves another entry for our return visit to Wall Drug in Wall, SD, and to Interior, SD, the birthplace of Clark Griswold, our little Prairie Dog mascot. Whether you’re going east or west on Rt. 90. you’ll begin to encounter signs—lots of them—for Wall Drug at least 125 miles before you get there. Any Pittsburghers here old enough to remember the Burma Shave signs that lined the pre-Rt. 79 roads to Erie, Pennsylvania? Or does anyone remember the Mail Pouch Tobacco signs on the sides of barns? Wall Drug is perhaps one of the clearest cases of build-it-and-they-will-come I’ve ever seen. According to its Web site, it started at the worst of the Depression and they ... read more