Fourth Night -- Rapid City, SD

It was a beautiful day--lots of sun, blue skies and warm temps. We started by visiting the Sioux Falls, which give the city its name. The city has created an inviting park along the falls with lots of walk ways and overlooks. We then headed down the road stopping at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. 100 acres are dedicated to growing 12 varieties of corn to use in the redecorating each year. Artists submit designs based on a given theme. In May, a design is selected, all the corn and architectural from the current year is removed and the new design is created. Then corn is nailed on to complete the new design. All the corn is natural and none is painted or varnished. Some refer to the Palace as the largest bird feeder in the world. We then continued on down I-90 with a side trip to Pierre. The Capitol building is beautiful, but the town is pretty depressing. It's one of two state capitols without an Interstate running through it. The other is Jefferson City, MO. Our next stop was Wall, SD, to see the well advertised Wall Drug store. Their signs were reminiscent of the "South of the Border" signs on I-95 or "The Thing" signs on I-10 in Arizona. It turned out that "Wall Drug" was virtually all the stores in the town of Wall. We then ended our day in Rapid City relaxing in the jacuzzi and taking a swim. We have dubbed South Dakota the Angus State or the Billboard State. Lots of both. To make the time seem to go quicker, we have listened to half of the audio book "The Memory Keeper's Daughter." Not as many laughs as "Marley and Me," but very engrossing.