Driving Across the US Prairies --A List of places to Take a Break.

     My last post was about our recent trip to Yellowstone National Park. My two sons and their families flew in and met us there. But because my husband needed an electronic scooter to be able to see some of the sites, we drove with my sister, toting the scooter on a hitch on the back of our car.
     I have often thought that it should be a requirement or a bucket list must to make the drive across the prairie from the Midwest where we live to at least the front range of the Rocky Mountains. Flying over this stretch is certainly more convenient and quicker but the image and vast impression of the middle of our country is missed and I feel therefore the view of our country as a whole is skewed.
     I recall the first time I made this trip in an unairconditioned car and seeing this country for the first time. It is amazing and a necessity to see.
     On the other hand, making such a trip can be exceedingly tedious without things to stop and see, things to do, and things to look forward to seeing on the way. This post is going to list some of those stopping points. Each such stop by itself seems either corny, or certainly less majestic that the destination, but taken individually as wonderful breaks in that tedious action of driving across the country, each of these suggested stops offers something memorable and special.
     The first stop would be at the Mississippi River. We took I 90 so this was at Lacrosse, WI. If one had some extra time, there is even the possibility of driving along what are called the Palisades, the rocky promontories along especially the Minnesota side of the River. If there is no time, there is still a rest area (Wisdot Area 31) that has a pretty good view of the river and some of its bridges. Unlike many rest areas that are built on high ground with a vista of the scenery , this one is built down low and intimately close to the waters of the Mississippi, or actually a side water that is called French Lake. However, the viewer looks out across a narrow island to the open waters of the river itself. There is actually a bench on a walkway down close to French Lake that has the view I just described. Perhaps I recall in my mind my first trek across the Mississippi when starting out on a new journey in my life, ie. entering college at State University of Iowa. For me the Mississippi was a symbolic border which I crossed to proceed in my life journey. Perhaps that is why I enjoy the intimacy of a stop to sit on a bench and gaze for a short time at that body of water.

     The next stop I would recommend would be at a little known National Monument called Pipestone. The small Pipestone National Monument is located about 30 miles north of I 90 near the western border of Minnesota. Yes, it is a little out of the way but if a family is looking for a break, it is worth the short drive out of the way. Basically this site is a stone quarry, but a very historic one. The stone is one of the most malleable of stones and our indigenous peoples came from throughout the prairies to this quarry to obtain the malleable stone from which smoking pipes and indeed peace pipes were carved. hence the name Pipestone. At the Monument visitors can walk through the quarry and see the stone in place. The Visitor's center does a very nice job of presenting this history. The  Upper Midwest Center for Indian Culture sponsors demonstrations of pipe carving also at the visitor Center. Local Native Americans have been involved in the Monument's administration since the property's beginning in 1937. The National Park Service and the Pipestone Indian Shrine Association share in the Monument's activities, and decisions about its use and presentations.. Currently only Native Americans are allowed to quarry the pipestone and all tribes are welcome though there have been various movements by the Yankton Sioux to take over the Monument's use. The gift shop has replica Indian pipes for sale as well as historical coloring books and other historical items that develop the knowledge of our Native American residents. A visit doesn't take much time but is very educational, and it would let the kids run around a little and dissipate the stored up energy of a car trip.

Above is a trail through the quarry. The stone seen here is the quartzite that must be removed before the shallow grain of pipestone can be found.

Examples of ceremonial and sacred pipes made by Native Americans from pipestone.

     We spent our first night on the road during this year's trip to Yellowstone at a Days' Inn in Sioux Falls, SD, just across the border from Minnesota. It had been a long day of driving and I would have preferred to just relax in front of the TV of our motel room, but I am glad my younger sister was along. She wanted to drive to downtown Sioux Falls and see what it was like. During our previous 3 trips to Yellowstone, we had never taken tine to do that. As we followed Cliff Ave from the outskirts of town where we wee lodged, it became obvious that Sioux Falls was a spread out city with low buildings and often quite a bit of land occupied by businesses. As we came to the center of the city, however, we found several very interesting buildings: the old County Courthouse that is now a museum, a Catholic Cathedral 3/4 of the way up a rise that had a nice view of the downtown. But striking was the emptiness of the downtown streets which were wide, at least 4 lanes, but without any vehicles moving, sometimes for several city blocks. This was Saturday night. Where was everyone? We spotted maybe two pub and grill establishments but even in that case, there didn't seem to be a lot of cars around these. We kept remarking about this. My sister had read about a Park in the center of the downtown along the Big Sioux River. We began searching on the map for the entrance to the green area on the map. Finally we found an entrance and a line of cars to get into Falls Park. The parking lots were jammed and family groups were strolling the large central green area. So this is where everyone goes on a Saturday night. And what a wonderful Park it is. The Big Sioux River cascades over heaps of rounded stones and boulders here which spreads the River out and beautifies it. In addition there are ruins of an old mill that once worked along the cascades, as well as a reconstructed mill tower, and an observation tower, a café overlooking the cascade built in a later Electric Company building that has been revamped. There are wading pools along the river, and an antique railroad bridge adding to the charm as well as a modern foot bridge. A beautiful site and evening spent in downtown Sioux Falls, SD.

    

     The next possible stop is the famous Corn Palace in Mitchel, SD. Mitchell is a small town just off I 90 so you needn't detour at all. The original Corn Palace was a wooden castle shaped structure on Main street of Mitchell constructed in Mitchel in 1892 to celebrate the fertile soil and successful harvest in the lush eastern half of South Dakota. A building more like the present one was built in 1904-05 by the Mitchel authorities along with an attempt to attain the goal of becoming the capitol of SD. The current Corn Palace building was completed in 1921, and recently the interior has been remodeled with seats along one end, and a basketball court, with stage along the other end. The outside of  the Palace is covered with mostly corn and also with other grasses and grains being redesigned each year, and currently readied for a Corn Palace Festival to be held at the end of August of each year. Workers were placing bundles of grass on some inter spaces between corn murals. And the final mural on the right side of the long wall is completed but the inter spaces and design that surrounds the mural is only some chalk marks on a black background. Work is continuing. Inside the Corn Palace is a multipurpose space with a central scoreboard, basketball court for the local high school and a local college, and when we visited housed a souvenir marketplace on the basketball court. Various music groups and indoor rodeos have performed here in the past. At the bottom of these photos is a framed photo of what the Corn palace looked like when we saw it on our first trip west in 1967. Framed photos of all previous Corn Palaces are displayed along the back wall of the auditorium.

     Above is a photo among many others on the upper back wall inside the Corn Palace showing what the Palace looked like in 1867 when we stopped there on our first trip

     Driving across Minnesota provides unending views of cornfields and soybeans, and as you drive west, sorghum fields come into the mix. Very little pasture land is seen. Dairy cows are not seen along the road unless one of the huge corporational
dairy barns are seen built close to I 90 with hundreds of head of dairy cows in their stalls visible through the open to air sides of the barn. As you enter South Dakota, the fields turn more and more to sorghum which is used to make molasses, and also some sugar beets as well as a shift toward wheat. But in eastern South Dakota, the country remains gently rolling and agricultural harvesting is seen. When you reach the Missouri River everything suddenly changes. Of course along such a river of such a size, there is a valley marked on both sides by steaper small rolling hills almost like bumps in a child's sandbox. And suddenly there are no more planted crops. This is open grazing land and as you continue the beef cattle herds become prominent. The farms are more widely scattered. There are stretches of road where no visible human habitation is seen. And all of this has changed suddenly at the Missouri River. Since we are talking of rest stops, the I 90 Rest Area in located on the East side of the Missouri and on the south side of I 90 but is accessible to travelers in both directions. This stop is part scenic overlook of the River, its Lewis and Clark Bridge and Chanberlain, SD;  part museum celebrating and interpreting the Lewis and Clark Expedition which had a significant stop here at Chamberlain, SD on the Missouri. And of course, the site provides also the typical picnic tables, clean restrooms, vending machines, and tourist info center that most rest stops provide. In addition in the museum there is a hanging 55 foot replica of a keelboat which was used to explore the Missouri. And outside is a wonderful statue entitled Dignity. I am sure this beautiful pewter colored detailed representation of an Indian woman in her best buckskins is meant to represent Sacajawea. It is magnificently formed and placed on the high edge of the bluff so that it is visible to all travelers, indeed, as though she is leading you west or east, whichever direction you are going. Beautiful and definitely worth a stop. I have since learned more about this statue and this blog will shortly have a post dedicated solely to this magnificent statue.

          The next stop is one that you logistically can not miss. Multiple billboards announce its presence and list what it sells, as well as where to exit I 90 to get there. This place is, of course, Wall Drug. This "store" indeed started as a drugstore out in the middle of nowhere almost in a little crossroads called Wall, SD. Over the decades since Ted Hustead decided to open a true drugstore in a little town "in the middle of nowhere" as he himself described his decisions, since 1931, Wall Drug has grown into a huge shopping mall, changing and growing each time we have visited. The original marketing gimmick was to offer free ice water to all the folks that were traveling across this dry section of SD especially to visit the new monument Mount Rushmore. Wall Drug still offers free ice water and also 5 cent coffee. Ted Hustead died in 1999 and was honored by the Governor of SD at the time. Over the years of our traveling there, Wall Drug has done nothing but expand. The original little pharmacy is there but it is surrounded by a huge rustic looking mall with every kind of shop that you conceive. There are souvenir shops, art dealers, book shops, jewelry, leather and local crafts, plus a small museum, a very reasonable and efficient café, and ice cream shop and much more. If you can't find what you want at Wall Drug, you are going to have trouble finding it anywhere in the central US. Yes, it is a tourist trap, but I can't imagine one person feeling cheated by a stop there. Get your free ice water and 5 cent coffee and you will be refreshed to begin again on your journey cross country.

Note the Harley Davidson motorcycles in both photos. We happened to be traveling during the time of the Sturgis, SD yearly Motorcycle Rally. This means that lodging and eating places are a little more crowded and you must watch very closely while driving to make sure your path will not cross that of one of these vehicles. However, the drivers were consistently a source of humor, friendliness, and even whatever aid they could offer, such as helping we two women to get our luggage into the motel.

     Of course, the next stops are likely to be official destinations in a trip to Yellowstone such as this one. They are, of course, the Badlands, the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore, and the dozens of destinations within the Black Hills, and Devil's Tower. We have toured these sites extensively in our various trips to this area. Many people, my sister included, have made these above listed places their destination without going further west. I am only posting a couple pictures here to remind you of these sites, but they do not really fit into this post topic. They are magnificent destinations in their own right.

     The last stopping spot I want to mention could be a mini-destination in itself. We ran into a family touring this site who said it was their third day perusing what was to be seen there. On our last trip to Yellowstone we did not investigate this site at all. We were too much in a hurry to get to the National Park. And I also thought it was in the category of the tourist traps that abound in this area such as Petrified something or other, or  this Rock Museum or some other name.  This trip on the way back home we overnighted in Greybull, WY and we decided this site would be a good place to take a break, have lunch and spend some rest time after crossing the Bighorn Mountains. Located in Cody, WY, this place is called Buffalo Bill Center of the West. It is certainly not just a tourist trap. This Center is a wonderful museum; in fact it is 5 museums each able to stand on its own, all within one large building that occupies 7 acres with many wings, and curates over 50,000 artifacts of the "Old West."  This museum was founded in 1917 when the Buffalo Bill Memorial Association was established after the death of William F. Cody, or Buffalo Bill himself. In the beginning the Association and its museum was interested in preserving the memory of Buffalo Bill and all of his accomplishments. But as time went on, the museum became a magnet for all sorts of memorabilia and artifacts of the "Old West" which now occupy 5 different themed museums: Buffalo Bill Museum, Plains Indians Museum, Whitney Western Art Museum, Draper Natural History Museum, and the Cody Firearms Museum, along with the Harold McKracken Research Library. This museum as a whole is now considered the oldest and most comprehensive of museums of the West. NewYork Times has called it "the most remarkable of present day museums." The Center is a member of the Smithsonian Affiliates program meaning that exhibits are shared back and forth between the Center and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. Dedicated to the purpose of preserving the probably flawed but still cherished idea of the American Western Frontier and everything that idea has meant to people of varied race, origin, time periods, and cultures. This museum is vast, very complete, moving and blessed by magnificent presentations of the Western Spirit. It is even worth taking time away from Yellowstone to see it. Even better, make it part of you return trip and it will be something to look forward to after the let down of leaving Yellowstone National Park.