Sioux Falls to Rapid City. So Dakota

So this post is being written in real time now, so I am all caught up with the past posts. Today we drove from Soiux Falls to Rapid City to spend the night in the foothills by Mt. Rushmore. The weather was pretty wet and windy all day getting here.

We took a great detour through Bad Lands National Park. Wow, what a beautiful drive. Absolutely amazing. I have never seen anything so awe inspiring. The park route is 35 miles right through the badlands. Take a look at the photos but know that no photos could really capture the full picture. The geology was amazing and the wildlife too.

We also passed a few other places that required photos. You all have probably heard of Wall Drug. Well, they parted us from some of our money. We just had to have the photo opportunity at Wall Drug. We had a little bite to eat and just laughed at all of the kitsch, and how smart those wall drug people were.

We also stopped at an old 1880 town recreation, but would not pay the fee to see the old buildings, so sorry no photo op. We passed De Smet (the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder of Little House fame) and for Christene, we just had to take that Exit. You will see a photo of a little house in the side of the hill that was prairie-home standard. We saw the Corn Palace, Hoever. A huge middle eastern inspired building entirely covered with Corn products. ( Husk, seeds, kernals, etc) and made into murals on the whole outside and inside. Oh, and they change them every year. Truly one of the great enigmas. We crossed the Missouri River too. Cool!

The hotel for the night is here in Rapid City, So Dakota. We drove up to see Mt. Rushmore tonight but there was snow blowing and too much fog to see it, so back to the hotel we went. The plan was to go first thing in the morning before we head out of town- headed for Sturgis, but when we got back to the room everyone was all in a flutter due to the Winter storm Advisory for the area tonight. 4-6 inches of snow expected. HOLY CRAP!!!! Ron and I started considering if we would just charge out tonight ahead of the storm, but thought it might be better to be stuck here than to be stuck in a worse place in the middle of the night. We are counting on I-90 being drivable.