Photo of the Week: Bandlands

From Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Photo of the Week: Badlands National Park

Badlands National Park, South Dakota

Deadwood, South Dakota

In the final installment of our day out while in Keystone, SD we went to Deadwood the place here Wild Bill Hickok was killed.  We had 3 hours here, but would have been happy with one hour. 

The Saloon where Wild Bill was killed

The city is about 3 blocks long and consists of shops, casinos, restaurants, bars and hotels.  I was surprised by the number of casinos in the town, though if I had thought about it in the frame that Wild Bill was killed here gambling it might have been a little more obvious.  Most of the casinos were just slots, only a couple places had table games.  The shops consisted of cheesy western merchandise and some expensive high end stuff too. 

There appeared to be a few other activities outside of the town, but you needed a car to get to them.  Otherwise there didn't seem to be much else to do.  We did attend the western shootout, twice.  It's a cheesy little show they do on the street simulating a shoot out.  It was entertaining the first time, less so the second time.  Deadwood seemed like a nice place to stop for dinner or maybe a night while traveling through the area, but I'm not sure there is much else in the area to really entertain you if you've already been to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse Memorial is the Indian response to Mount Rushmore.  For the past 64 years the Korczak family, Ziolkowski family and the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation have worked at building this monument to Crazy Horse.  It's been a slow process, to say the least, but they want to do this with private funds, they have even refused offers from the Federal Government for money for the project. 

The memorial set up is very nice.  When you enter you see a video about the project and then there is a museum and shops selling authentic Indian products, as in made by Indians, not made in China.  A nice option if you want to purchase authentic products vs the cheap fake stuff that is sold in many of the gift shops in the region. 

What it will look like when it's done

Although I think the Indians have bitten off more then they can chew with this memorial I do appreciate the effort; but, I don't think my children will ever see this completed.  If you're in the area, it's certainly worth the visit.  I would budget 1-2 hours, not including lunch.  If you are eating lunch here then avoid the pre-made food, it looked and tasted gross.  The food in the restaurant was ok. 

Mount Rushmore And All The Presidents Heads

After Badlands, Wall Drug and the Corn Palace we finally moved on to one to one of the more anticipated stops of our trip, Mount Rushmore and 2 whole nights in the same hotel.

We headed out early in the morning for Mount Rushmore, only a 10 minute drive from our hotel in Keystone.  The setting is absolutely gorgeous, and we had a great day.  Sadly, we only had about an hour and a half at Mt. Rushmore, which wasn't quite enough time.

We started out in the visitors center, which gives nice views of the mountain from the inside (handy if you're visiting in bad weather).  Inside the visitors center they show a short film about the making of Mount Rushmore, it's a great little movie and will make you appreciate the lengths they went to in creating this. it was all done with dynamite!  There is also a series of displays about the making of Rushmore and a small shop.  There is a much larger shop at the entrance to the park. 

There is a lovely trail at the site that goes around the amphitheatre and gives some different views of the Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson and Roosevelt.  It also has some museum like stops where you can see some of the models used in the design of Mount Rushmore.  The trail takes about a half an hour and if you start on the left the end of the trail involves walking up a lot of stairs.  Not fun when you have to meet the bus!  But the walk is worth it on a nice day to get a little closer and see the presidents heads from a different angle. 

Amphitheater

Mount Rushmore was a great stop, one I was quite excited about on this trip.  It has a beautiful setting, and was where my tour did our group photo.  I also got the opportunity to kill someone in our assasins game on the tour.  Of course I was assasinated shortly after, but it was fun while it lasted.

Badlands National Park

After my trip through the National Parks I had dinner with one of my Aunts, she told me how one of her nieces had gone to Badlands National Park and didn't really like it.  It turns out she had done the National Parks in the opposite order I did them.  It made me wonder what my impression would have been if I had not done Badlands as my first park.

I really liked Badlands National Park, my first impression was that it was a smaller, less dramatic and more muted (color wise) version of the Grand Canyon.  I don't mean that to put it down, it's hard to live up to the reputation of the Grand Canyon and this wasn't quite as great, but it was still spectacular.  It was also HOT!  But there were some beautiful landscapes here too.

After talking to my Aunt I thought about it in the context of having seen the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Bryce and Zion.  And of those 5 parks, Badlands was the least exciting of them all.  The colors were not as exciting as Bryce and Zion, the landscape wasn't as varied as Yellowstone and it simply wasn't as grand or majestic as the Grand Canyon.  It's still a great park, but a little lower on the list of the great parks. 

What does this mean, should you skip it?  No, I wouldn't skip it.  But I would suggest doing it before some of the other big named parks, or at least not on the same trip where the comparison is so easy.

Corn Palace and Wall Drug

In the state of South Dakota we managed stop and soak in some cheesy america at the Corn Palace and Wall Drug in one day, the excitement of Contiki. I know you're jealous.

I had never heard of the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD of course since going there I have heard it mentioned a few times on TV.  I have to say I'm still not 100% sure how to describe the Corn Palace.  There is a museum, which we didn't visit and then there was a market inside, that's where I bought popcorn flavored lollie pops.  I don't suggest them, even my popcorn loving newphews didn't like them.  But the cool thing here was the designs they made with corn:  fantastic, artistic, inspirational!  They really were cool, but I'm not sure they're worth going out of your way to see.  But if you need a break from driving, it's better then just stopping at a Walmart, McDonalds, etc. 

Wall Drug started out as a simple drug store, when business was slow they posted a sign on the highway offering "free ice water".  It is now a cheesey american tourist trap, but a fun one.  Wall Drug actually takes up an entire block and has a restaurant, shops, and childrens play areas.  It's actually a fun place where you can spend a few hours, excercise your cranky kids and do some shopping.  We made this our lunch stop and we all had bison burgers, they were actually very tasty considering they were made in a fast food type environment.  I would say it was a step up from a McDonalds as they were each cooked to order.  I think there was also a regular restaurant, but we didn't have time for that. As a bunch of adults who had been stuck on a bus we wanted to eat, shop and explore.  The shopping varied from touristy T-shirts, and magnets to full cowboy/cowgirls outfits to fudge and everything in between.  And of course they still have free ice water.

Fun With Spam

Many years ago in college one of my guy friends tried to convince me of the virtues of Spam, it didn't work.  Fast forward to last June when  I was informed my tour would be stopping at the Spam Musuem in South Dakota, I had a chuckle to myself.  Lets just say, no one expected much from this museum and we were all pleasantly surprised.

Thank you for the sign!

The museum was highly interactive and fun.  I didn't learn a lot about spam that I didn't already know.  Incase you are unaware, it's very popular in Hawaii, an after effect of WWII.  They had displays of Spam from around the world, and games.  The museum was also pretty photogenic, giving some interesting opportunities for photos.  The store was surprisingly expansive, you could buy anything from an air freshener (no, it didn't smell like Spam) to a costume or a christmas village house.

England

Hawaii

If you're in the area then you already know it's not a hot bed of activity in this area, but the museum is worth a stop either way.  It's fun for kids and adults and it is free.  Plus, you might find you like some of the recipes they offer.