2014 Family Heritage Vacation - Because Getting There's Half the Fun

Following up from Yesterday's Post, we made great time, flying across the Mid-western prairie.  If I had a dollar for every round bale of hay we saw stacked up in fields, I'd be a very wealthy guy. Immense fields of harvested corn with center pivot irrigation systems lay barren and dormant until next Spring.  We passed beautiful old farmhouses with picturesque barns with the northern side of the property lines planted with evergreen trees serving as a windbreak from the harsh northern winds that batter the occupants of the farmhouses.  Mom told us stories about how these folks have storm cellars and preserve food and store it away.  Strong people. Survivors.  Out on the prairie it is a long way away from Wal Mart.  One must be rugged and self sufficient to live like this.

As we trekked further north, it got colder and colder.  We crossed bridges over rivers that were packed with ice and traveled through quaint little agricultural communities.  We had fun in the van, laughing and pointing out things we saw like deer and pheasant and more license plates to scratch off the list of our license plate game.

Happy Travelers

The road warriors forged ahead and vowed not to rest until we made it to South Dakota.  It wasn't long after dark before we crossed over a frozen Missouri River and into South Dakota.  We made it to our destination state, but the adventure was just beginning.

In the morning we woke up and journeyed to Mitchell, SD, home of the Corn Palace.  The Corn Palace is a community arena that has a mural on it completely made of corn.  A new decoration is put up every year.  It was first done in 1892 to encourage settlers to come to South Dakota and farm the rich soil.  South Dakota is an interesting state, still very true to its agricultural heritage.  There are some tough folk in this state.  People who tamed the prairie and still stand strong against harsh winters and weather conditions that aren't for the faint of heart.

The Nine Young 'Uns with Cornelius, the Corn Palace Mascot

Like the Griswalds in "Family Vacation" pulling up to a closed Wally World, we sort of groaned to see the building boarded up with signs saying - Closed for the Season, but then the kids picked up snow and had a good snowball fight.

The Mitchell Corn Palace

We stopped at a lunch spot on the Missouri River called Al's Oasis and had lunch. Most of the crew had real Buffalo Burgers and others had Indian tacos with buffalo meat.  Afterward, the boys talked the waitress into giving them some bread to go feed the hundreds of Canada Geese that were out on a pond in back of the restaurant.  They had a lot of fun feeding those big honking birds.

Canada Geese

We pressed on to Wall Drug Store.  Wall Drug is a neat drug store in a small town that is of international acclaim.  Billboards for miles and miles and miles tell you of its existence and proves that marketing works.  In fact, the Drug Store/Mall/Souvenir emporium was made famous many years ago by offering free ice water for those hot and thirsty tourists en route to the newly opened Mount Rushmore.

Free ice water anyone?

Being that it was cold we opted instead for a cup of coffee for a nickel.  We also had an apple scone and some freshly made cake donuts.  The boys bought themselves knives and other stuff with their souvenir money.

Coffee for a Nickel

We were admiring icicles hanging on the eaves that were literally two feet long. Benjamin stood up on top of a planter and broke one off.

It looked like a tomahawk.

We drove from there on into Rapid City where the snow began falling in big, fluffy snowflakes, much to the kids' delight.

They found a shopping cart behind a restaurant and began pushing one another down an embankment.

Mom and Dad enjoyed the snowfall as well.  It was five degrees with much colder weather on the way...

The boys found the hot tub and were relaxing and enjoying themselves in the hot water...

When my brother and his wife drove up after flying in to Rapid City and renting a car, they hopped out of the hot tub and ran across the parking lot all barefooted and one with no shirt on to greet them.

Isn't that a cool thing?  Family members will run barefooted and bare-chested across a snow covered parking lot in five degree weather just to tell you hello.