Surprisingly Touristy South Dakota (But Not Too Much So)

In an (unsuccessful) attempt to let the storms get past us, but also because these places were on our agenda anyway, we spent Monday exploring Mount Rushmore and The Badlands National Park in South Dakota. We also happened upon a landmark apparently known all around the world but new to us: Wall Drug. More on that later. There was more for tourists in this state than we realized!

In the morning, we headed to Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills. It was raining off and on, but we got lucky and had a few hours without much precipitation. Even with the bad weather and a Monday morning visit, the monument was still bustling with visitors. We parked and walked up to the viewing terrace to take it all in. Everything was wet, and the presidents looked like they had runny noses or were crying because of the way the rain cascaded down. We'd been wondering if physically going to Mount Rushmore would actually be that cool - we've seen the monument in pictures and movies so many times, and it seemed like all you do is just stand and look at exactly what you were expecting for a few minutes, and that's it. Luckily, there was more to it than that, and we're glad we went.

Notice Washington's crying eyes & Jefferson's runny nose... we got a better pic once things dried up!

From the viewing terrace, you get an all-encompassing view of the monument and its surroundings. There is also a long row of all the U.S. state flags with engravings of the year each became a state (did you know NY was the 11th state and NC was the 12th?). Then, you can walk on a half-mile loop through a wooded area to get much closer to the monument, and along this loop, there are various signs providing more information about each president and the construction of the monument itself.

We also happened upon a tour group as we were walking this loop, and we learned that in addition to Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt (Teddy), there was some discussion of adding Susan B. Anthony as well. We also learned that South Dakotan historians originally invited the sculptor Gutzon Borglum to sculpt western heroes and cowboys into the mountain. Borglum convinced them that presidents would have more mass appeal. The monument is unfinished because federal funding ran out in 1941 when the U.S. entered World War II. It is expected that they will remain in this unfinished state permanently.

A drier version of the presidents

It was pretty darn cool to see these in person - we're glad we stopped, and we're glad the weather cooperated!

From Mount Rushmore, we headed toward The Badlands, but on the way we started seeing signs for Wall Drug. We'd never heard of this before, but as the signs kept coming and coming, promising 5 cent coffee, free donuts for honeymooners and veterans, sightings of 10-foot rabbits and a T-Rex, we had to stop. It went from "I wonder what that is..." to "We HAVE to stop at Wall Drug!" in a matter of 20 miles. If you've ever seen South of the Border between NC and SC on I-95, it's quite similar. We got suckered in to this one, though, because of the novelty.

Wall Drug was pretty much what we expected it to be - a gigantic tourist attraction with every kind of knickknack and gimmicky attraction you can imagine. It started out as just a tiny drug store and has grown into a gigantic empire with 20,000 visitors a day that also includes opportunities to pan for gold, go mining, and sit on a gigantic jackalope. There are also multiple restaurants and gift shops.

It was fun seeing all of this, but the best thing was reading how the drug store became famous. The Hustead family bought the land in 1931 and opened a drug store that initially struggled for business because it was, as they put it, "in the middle of nowhere." Mount Rushmore had recently opened to tourists, so Mrs. Hustead had the idea to offer free ice water to parched travelers on their way to the monument. Before Mr. Hustead and his son had finished putting the first advertisements along the highway, Wall Drug was completely full of travelers. Business was booming because people would usually buy something when they came in for the free water. Wall Drug still offers free ice water and 5 cent coffee today, and it's still run by the Husteads' kids and grandkids. There is such a following that you can see advertisements for Wall Drug all over the world - people have taken and posted them overseas on military deployment, to the far corners of the U.S., on the Great Wall of China, and more. I got a Wall Drug bumper sticker to put somewhere in North Carolina. We were glad we stopped.

After this entertaining stop, we headed a few more miles east to The Badlands. Somehow, the clouds had parted, and we had a few hours of actual sunshine! It was the first time in days that we'd seen blue sky. We drove through the park, stopping at various scenic overlooks.

The coolest thing about The Badlands is that they go from prairie to tall, jagged cliff in no time. Natives used to scare Buffalo into stampeding, and they'd run across the prairie and fall over the edge of a cliff, not realizing the prairie was ending so abruptly. You can look to one side and think you're in the middle of a lush green grassland, and when you look to the other side, it looks like the most rugged, barren desert cliffs you've ever seen.

We had hoped to do some hiking here, too, but with the excursion to Wall Drug, we were cutting it close. We still had a three-hour drive to Sioux Falls, and we were losing an hour by crossing into Central Time, too.

From The Badlands, we headed to Sioux Falls and back into the stormy weather... if you remember from the previous post about driving days, this is the night we hit the gigantic band of the heaviest rain we've ever seen.

Up next: Minneapolis, Minnesota - land of the nicest people on earth!