Through a complete lack of planning on our part our itinerary was going to put us in South Dakota during the Sturgis Bike Rally. Luckily we realized it before we got anywhere near Sturgis, so we figured our best bet was to just inch our way slowly across the state and get to the Black Hills area a week later.

We took advantage of some beautiful Harvest Hosts camping in Eastern South Dakota.

Our neighbors for the night.

Of course Cora found the farm kitties and made them hers for a day.

After dinner walk. South Dakota is way more beautiful than I realized.

Children of the Corn. Couldn’t resist.

Ada woke up early while I was still working so she played a round of Go Fish with her best friend, Lemonade Cream.

I originally planned on stopping at the Corn Palace just because that’s what you do, I really wasn’t all that excited about it. Turns out it’s way more interesting than I thought! There is so much history and art and culture and community pride represented by this curious roadside attraction. I wish I would have know more about it before.

They have lot of educational exhibits for the kids. Here is Cora grinding her own corn. She brought some of it home with us. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with it though, so it’s just sitting in the freezer.

What else are you gonna have for lunch at the Corn Palace?

The corn motif is everywhere. Sometimes kitchy, and sometimes quite beautifully done, like these columns.

The tour guides like to make a joke that the Corn Palace is the world’s biggest bird feeder. If you look really close you can see a little birdie enjoying his lunch on Willie’s portrait.

My dad visited South Dakota when he was 16, in 1955. We found a picture from the year he was there.

Next up on the things you have to see while in South Dakota – Wall Drug.  Now this was about as exciting as I thought it was going to be.  First off, it was insanely busy with all the bikers leaving Sturgis. There are few things more unpleasant to me than crowded tourist shopping, and that’s pretty much all this is.  I’m glad we saw it, but once might be enough.

I love religious architecture

We did find a jackalope, so there’s that.