Day 43 Summer Vacation 2009

I just realized that we have been in the State of South Dakota for a few days now and I have not updated our Visited States Map… so here it is.

Here is the route that we will follow today as we drive from Deadwood SD to Wall SD with a little side trip into the Badlands of South Dakota.

We left Deadwood SD this morning and headed for Sturgis South Dakota. Sturgis is well known to motorcycle enthusiasts. Each year Sturgis hosts the largest motorcycle event in the country. Our timing was a little off though, I think we are about a week late. Sturgis was quiet when we drove through town.

After leaving Sturgis SD, we will drive on I 90 and visit the Badlands National Park, South of Wall SD.

This area was set aside as a National Park in 1929. There are several overlooks where you can park the car and enjoy the scenery.

The Pinnacles Overlook

The Ancient Hunters Overlook

Yellow Mounds Overlook

Conta Basin Overlook

Homestead Overlook

Burns Basin Overlook

Prairie Wind Overlook

Panorama Point Overlook

Bigfoot Pass Overlook

White River Valley Overlook

The Big Badlands Overlook

After driving through the Badlands we headed back North on I-90 to the town of Wall South Dakota.

Wall became famous when the proprietor of a drug store in Wall put signs out on the highway advertising free ice water and 5 cent coffee… That was way back in 1931 and it is still true today. Wall Drug has put the town of Wall SD on the map. Wall Drug is a must stop if you are passing nearby, you will not find another place quite like it. It has become a tourist destination, and we noticed several bus loads of tourists being dropped off for a visit.

I have been very lax in taking photos of the desserts that we have been eating as we travel. Just because I have not been taking photos though, does not mean that we quit eating desserts. Tonight Karen sampled a piece of Kuchen Pie. I had a dish of ice cream instead, I wasn’t sure if I might be allergic to something in the Kuchen pie. Kuchen Pie is the official pie for the State of South Dakota. I was not aware that each State had an official pie… that could be a good reason to re-visit all the States we have been in, so that we can have a piece of each States “official” pie.

I took lots of photos today, so if you would like to view all of the photos, click on the link to my FLICKR site.