Day 5: A waterfall, a popcorn ball, and the town of Wall

Greetings from the Frontier Cabins in Wall, SD, where Tanya's online hotel hunting skills scored us yet another night of plum accommodations.  I'm currently staring at three sets of antlers spread throughout our cabin.  Yesterday morning started in Sioux City, where upon leaving the AmericInn hotel at about 11am, the 90+ degree heat seemed to accentuate the smell of cow manure in the rural Iowa air.  We piled into the Civic, which at this point is filled with food, trash, and truck stop trinkets, all of which seem to have become indistinguishable from each other.  Sioux Falls, SD was our first destination as we continued north on I-29 toward I-90 West.  Shortly after leaving Sioux City, we crossed into SD where we stopped at a welcome center and met a lovely woman named Ellen who provided us with more information and maps about SD than any two people could ever need.


 


The change in latitude has brought about three noticeable differences for which I am very grateful:  the temperature cools down in the evening, soft drinks are once again called "pop" rather than "soda" and everybody speaks with an upper Midwestern accent.  The latter point served as a point of contention between Tanya and me as we left the welcome center.  She immediately picked up on how Ellen pronounced "about" and "out" (i.e., "aboot" and "oot") while I had to explain to her that that's how normal people talk.  She agreed and we moved on.

Upon arriving in Sioux Falls, we went to the town's central park and found out why the city is named as it is.  Tucked away in a large municipal park is a series of small- to medium-sized waterfalls that have etched an intricate network of smaller streams into the rock.  As we stepped out of the car, the 90+ degree heat seemed to accentuate the smell of goose manure in the rural South Dakota air.  After snapping some pictures and climbing to the top of a two-story observation tower, we headed back to the car to make progress towards one of the main attractions on this entire trip:  the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD.

We arrived in Mitchell in early afternoon and headed for the Corn Palace, the only thing in town that appeared to be worth visiting.  Not surprisingly, the area immediately around the palace is filled with junk shops hawking all manner of corn-related products, Black Hills gold, and leather attire.  The palace itself is attractive from the outside, decorated annually with different varieties and colors of local corn that are cut in half lengthwise and affixed to the siding to create murals based on that year's theme.  The theme for 2013 is "We Celebrate" and the palace is accordingly adorned with pictures of leprechaun hats, American flags, and  Valentine's Day hearts.  Much to my surprise, the murals are the only things on the exterior that are made of corn.  I thought the whole building was going to be made out of corn.

After snapping a few pictures, we headed inside to find a few hands-on activities in the concourse area, including a corn shucker and mill used to create corn meal that you could operate yourself.  We then moved onto the Corncession Stand where I bought what turned out to be the greatest popcorn ball I've ever had.  It wasn't one of those stale, hard things you get at a Christmas tree farm.  This was made from fresh popcorn and fresh marshmallows.  It tasted like a giant Rice Krispie Treat with popcorn in place of the Rice Krispies.  After eating only about a third of it, we headed into the interior of the palace, which, to most people's surprise, houses a basketball court and bleacher seating for a few hundred.  On most days, including today, the court area is filled with all manner of trinkets for sale, including t-shirts, beer koozies, and magnets.  After stocking up on gifts for friends, we got back on the road and made our way toward our next destination, the Badlands.  

It's about a 40-mile trip from I-90 through the Badlands on the way to Wall, SD.  After learning about irrigation systems the previous day, Tanya's next agricultural lesson came in the form of hay.  After I gave her a 30-second explanation of what all those "cylindrical things in the field" were, she seemed satisfied with the answer and trusted my expertise so much so that later in the evening I almost had her convinced that horseradish contains minced horse.

We arrived at the Badlands in early evening, which turned out really well because the evening sun provided some great light for our pictures.  It was impossible to capture the enormity and beauty of the place, but that didn't prevent us from taking as many pictures as possible.

After spending a couple hours driving through the park, it was time to head into Wall to find a bite to eat and a place to stay.  Food came in the form of a buffalo burger and side salad, which strangely featured dill pickles.  The burger was great.  The salad?  Not so much.

Tanya's latest coup was booking us at the Frontier Cabins in Wall, just blocks away from the famous Wall Drug.  The cabin featured a beautiful knotty pine interior and a front porch that provided a view of an incredible South Dakota lightning storm that last much of the evening.  I was much more excited about the accommodations than Tanya, who seemed very skeptical of the notion of sleeping underneath a giant moose skull.

Today's planned activities include a visit to Wall Drug, followed by a trip to Mount Rushmore and a few other attractions in the Rapid City area.  Then it's on to Wyoming where we hope to hit Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons over the next couple days.  The terrain has changed significantly over the last day or two and it's really starting to feel like we're traveling through the west.