South Dakota

Yeah!  Now we’re talking!  Bring on the tourist traps – Mitchell Corn Palace.  I decided to drive by the planned stop at yet another Lewis and Clark Visitor Center and stop in Mitchell, South Dakota instead.

They started the Mitchell Corn Palace back in 1892 and change it every year. What’s interesting is they grow 12 different colors of corn, sort it by color and cut the cobs to consistent lengths.  They also use other grains for different colors and textures.  When I visited today, they were delivering a truck load of what looked like dock plant.  Some kids were sorting it and cutting it to length and starting to decorate for next year’s murals.

There was an interesting rest stop near our next campground.  It had a giant teepee (tipi).

And a giant Sacajawea statue.  There is no one in the photo to give you perspective, but if there were, they would only be as high as the hem of her dress

I’m deep in the prairie right now, and look what I found – a prairie dog hole!  Darn, no prairie dog though.

And I guess there are other animals here as well…

Final stop was the Akta Lakota Museum.  It was a small museum on the grounds of the St. Joseph Indian School.  There was a lot of bead work and porcupine quill work and demonstrations about how all parts of the buffalo were used

St. Joseph’s Indian School sounded just like an Indian version of Boys Town with the same setup of a married couple providing a dozen disadvantaged, wayward Indian youth a stable home environment with food, clothing, boarding and school.  The Catholics started the school, but don’t fund it today.  There was an interesting Catholic school on the grounds.  The stained glass windows looked like quilt blocks.