Wall Drug and Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

 Wall Drug in Wall SD is another place to see. I was not as impressed as I should be. It's a few stores in a big store, selling mostly souvenirs. We were there for a short while, very crowded. The town street had more similar smaller stores. Fuel prices in Wall and Rapid City are about 40 cents higher than other parts of SD.

Zoltar must be selling Liberty Mutual insurance?

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is close to the Badlands. There is the visitor center then two underground missile sites nearby. The Delta Control Site Delta 01 is in one location along I-90. It was in occupied 24x7 and in control of ten missile silos in the area. Tours are available at the control site but it is still closed due to Covid so I could not see it up close and underground. The Delta 09 silo is at another location along I-90 but of course empty. You can walk up to it. These missiles were put in place in the 1960's when we were children. Remember the Duck and Cover at school? 

Visitor Center, not the missile sites.

Delta 01 and Control Building (underground)

Delta 09 missile silo launch site with clear cover to see in the silo.
The original had a heavy steel cover that opened on a track to
expose the missile for launch.

Disarmed missile looking into the silo.

The heavy steel cover would slide back on these tracks.

Badlands

 The Badlands National Park are said to be "like walking on the moon" or something like that. It is quite a sight when you approach the National Park Service entry gate. The hug piles look like rock but they are more like sand. They are continuously eroding from rain and wind. I wonder how they looked fifty or more years ago? We drove around the entire park and then some, going far beyond the park. The park starts south of I-90 at Interior SD and extends west beyond Wall SD. The park has 242,756 acres. 

South of the park is the Buffalo Gap National Grassland with 597,431 acres. The Lakota Indiana people, members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe have lived in the Badlands region forever. Oglala Sioux Tribe included Crazy Horse and Red Cloud. Now the southern unit of Badlands National Park, which includes the White River Visitor Center on th pine Ridge Reservation. We drove through that area and stopped at the Wounded Knee Massacre also known at the Battle of Wounded Knee. Here are a few photos.

We are at the Interior Campground

The Grasslands are in the valley below.

Erosion about one inch per year takes away the land and this is what is left.

No idea why these cattle are climbing up there?

Interior Campground with a good view all around.

Little House on the Prairie

 De Smet South Dakota was the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was a sixty mile drive to De Smet. Everywhere you go is always a long, straight drive. The TV series from 1974 was based upon her book, Little House on the Prairie, among many other books. The family lived in a few surrounding states but De Smet was their main home. We toured the existing buildings in town and heard their story from the tour guide. They had a hard life. The TV series was not filmed here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Ingalls_Wilder

The Ingalls lived in this house when first arriving at De Smet.
The surveyors work for the railroad but had left town.

Our tour guide in the Surveyors House.

Our guide explaining the first town school building.

1886 Prairie Schooner

Laura Ingalls at age 15 taught school for a short time in the Webster School
(replica of original).

Pa Ingalls built this house where family lived until death.

Original photo of Ma Ingalls sitting in this corner of the parlor.

Many items in the house are not original but this was built by Pa Ingalls.

Mary Ingalls, Laura's sister, went blind from meningitis.
This was part of the TV series.

Bible in brail.

Not the Ingall's property but an old abandoned house along the highway.
There are others still standing as you drive through the country.

Farmers, we assume, bail hay along the highways.
A good deal for farmers and SD does not need to mow the grass.
The roads in South Dakota are great.

The Corn Palace

 The Corn Palace is in Mitchell South Dakota. They see about 500,000 visitors annually. We were their yesterday followed by a visit to guess where, Walmart. The building is actually a basketball court and stage, looking much like any large high school. The building is decorated every year with corn. This is the third structure, two previous smaller buildings were constructed in the 1800's. The current building was constructed in 1919. To see the history, use the following link.

https://cornpalace.com/149/Corn-Palace-History

The first Corn Palace in 1892.

The seating has a capacity of 3200.

The basketball court is occupied by souvenir venders in the summer.

Murals are on the front of the building and around the walls inside.

Each mural tells a story of early South Dakota

Looking closely you can see the individual corn (on the cob) that
create the murals.