Getting to Mitchell, SD
The main attraction for today was "EXTREMELY IMPORTANT" landmark #2 - the Corn Palace, located in Mitchell, SD. Mitchell is on I-90, about 71 miles from Sioux Falls. The area is mostly flat and devoid of trees along I-90. But there are cornfields and hayfields. There were also other things: lots of road signs promoting Wall Drug and of course, the Corn Palace. The speed limit is 75.
Because the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in western SD was just beginning, there was a continuous stream of motorcycles. Sometimes there would be large groups and other times there would just be two or three.
Finally, I arrived in Mitchell. Unlike the case with the Spam Museum (EXTREMELY IMPORTANT landmark #1), there were not signs every 1/4 mile pointing to the Corn Palace. But, there was tiny a tourism available shortly after the I-90 exit for Mitchell. I was given a map with an outline to the Corn Palace. Of course, I could have just pulled this up in the "Points of Interest" option on the GPS.
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It was extremely hot and humid in Mitchell. It was almost miserable to walk around outside.
The Corn Palace
The area surrounding the Corn Palace is a big tourist area with several gift shops and food vendors. There are casinos (of course) and wild west themed restaurants/casinos. Across from the Corn Palace is an outside patio area to eat or just rest for a moment (when it's not so hot). People can even pose in front of Indian mannequins for pictures.
The public parking areas near the Corn Palace were occupied by numerous motorcycles. Motorcyclists on the way to Sturgis also wanted to see the Corn Palace. I saw many of them inside. Despite its corniness (pun intended), it is quite popular.
The first Corn Palace was built in 1892. It is now in its third location, which was built in 1921. There is no admission fee and it is open seven days a week. It gets over 500,000 visitors annually from all over the world. Inside, they have a national and even a world map where you can put a pin to identify where you are from.
The facade of the building is changed annually. It takes thousands of bushels of corn. Pictures are made out of whole ears of corn, typically Indian corn. There are also grasses and other grains on the facade. See the Corn Palace photos. (I again had the wrong lens filter, so the outside photos are not as good as they could have been.)
The Corn Palace is also considered the "world's largest bird feeder." I witnessed a feathered thief doing his or her work in broad daylight. See Exhibit A, Exhibit B (where the bird is trying to hide its face!), and Exhibit C. This should be an open and shut case.
At first I was a bit underwhelmed. It seemed like a lot of hype for just the facade of a building. When I went inside, I saw a "Corn-cession" stand and photos of previous years' facades. I was really unimpressed. A short time later, I noticed a hallway leading to the arena. Since it was presently not hosting a game, a huge gift shop was set up. There were lots of items related to corn. One example was an ear of corn with popped kernals on it. They also sold the unpopped version. The buyer only needed to put it in the microwave. There were t-shirts advertising the fact that the wearer had been to the Corn Palace (I didn't see too many of those being sold). There were of course lots of South Dakota related gifts, primarily focused on Mount Rushmore.
The arena has murals made of corn. They also play a video about the history of South Dakota. On the hallways leading back to the entrance are photographs of almost every previous year's facade, going back to 1892.
Free tours of the inside of the building are provided. However, I think this is a bit corny because the inside is primarily an arena with a gift shop.
After leaving the Corn Palace, I purchased "Corn Tostedos." This is basically like halfway-popped popcorn. It was discovered by accident. Flavors are added and it's not half bad.
Prehistoric Indian Museum
From road signs, I learned that Mitchell also has a prehistoric Indian museum. I still had some time so I decided to see it. When I arrived there, the parking area is along a beautiful lake (see photos). I later learned that this is a man-made lake.
The heat was getting worse. As soon as I entered the museum, I felt so much better. The air conditioning was turned on and it was perfect. A tour was available but since I had a long drive to North Dakota ahead of me, I could not take advantage of the tour. I took a short tour on my own through the museum (see photos).
I then visited the Archeodome, which is locatd on the same property. I had to venture out into the extreme heat again, which did not thrill me. The inside of the Archeodome of course felt better because it too was air conditioning. The Archeodome is where the dig is actually taking place. It's the first time I've ever seen an ongoing archeological dig in real life. Only a little bit is done each year because it is done by archeology students. One of the staff members of the museum said that when the area is completely done, the Archeodome would have to be moved and a new dig would have to begin. He said that at the pace in which they are going, it's not going to happen in his lifetime.
Drive to North Dakota
After the Prehistoric Indian Museum, my next destination was Jamestown, North Dakota. I had to drive a few miles west on I-90. Then I had to take US-281 north until I reached Jamestown. This was over four hours of driving.
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Mostly, the land is completely flat and treeless. There are cornfields, hayfields, or other types of crops on either side. Occasionally there would be a crossroad which was either paved or gravel (usually gravel). In some cases, the road sign would be on both sides, but an actual crossroad would only be on one side of US-281. In some cases, on the side where the road did not exist, there would be just enough pavement for a vehicle to park. See the photos. Again I had the wrong lens filter. These could have come out much better had I used the right filter and a higher shutter speed.
The speed limit on this stretch of US-281 was generally 65, though it went up to 70 in some places. It was usually just a two lane (one lane on either side) road. Occasionally, there would be a small but substantial city here and there. At that point the speed would go down to as low as 25 mph. More often, however, there would be a great deal of farmland and an occasional "blink and you missed it" town. In such cases the speed limit would briefly go down to 45 or 55. Then it would jump right up again as soon as the last building was passed.
As I got into North Dakota, I still had a long drive ahead of me. Jamestown is on the eastern side of ND but along I-94, which cuts across the middle of the state. Basically, the landscape seemed very similar to the eastern side of SD. However, there seemed to be just a few more trees in ND.
This was my first visit to North Dakota. It's the 40th state I've visited.
The sunset on this very flat land was beautiful. There was still sunlight up until 9:45PM. It was beautiful. It's just so different from what happens to be familiar to us.
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