Half Way Home - Wall Drug, The Badlands and Corn Palace

I made it to about halfway across the country and am staying where Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota all come together. Today was an easy drive across South Dakota and, as per usual, made a few stops along the way including the Badlands!


My first stop was at Wall Drug, one of those iconic places you have to stop on your way across this part of the world. I was up early and headed east to Wall, SD for breakfast and homemade donuts at the Wall Drug Cafe.
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This place has been in business for over 80 years and attracts over 2 million visitors each year. I was on the hunt for a pair of cowboy boots but, damn, I am not spending that much money on a pair of boots. The cheapest pair was about $200 but they went up to close to $1,000! I'm good.

Not far along down the road is the entrance to the Badlands. This is a huge expanse of both prairie land and incredible canyons with bison, bighorn sheep and thousands of prairie dogs. It reminded me quite a bit of the Painted Canyons (which I thought were more picturesque).




What is amazing is that there are they vast expanses of prairie to one side with the valley and steep hills and canyons on the other!







And then magic.....sunflowers that went on forever!


After the Badlands, the landscape becomes what I think of as Midwest - huge flat land filled with its own beauty.





It is all so different than the mountains, huge canyons, mesas and the Black Hills that I have just driven. As I make my way to Sioux Falls, I made a final stop at the Corn Palace. There is no way I wasn't going to stop here. Places like this are so worth the few minutes off the beaten path.


The World's only Corn Palace is located in Mitchell, SD and isn't too far off the main highway so worth the stop, just for a giggle. It's a multi-purpose arena with murals and designs made from corn and grain covering the building.  A new design is constructed every year. Every year!!



Next stop, Cedar Rapids Iowa so I can visit the site where Field of Dreams was filmed. Really looking forward to that!

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