Wall Drug- You Can't Miss It

Anyone who has driven I-90, whether traveling east or west, has seen the signs.  Ya gotta stop!

No chance of missing the exit - especially when there is an 80 foot dinosaur there.

Wall Drug was a small drug store in the 1930's trying to stay alive during the Depression.  The owners came up with the idea of offering free ice water to customers, and put signs up along the highway advertising it. The rest is history!

Wall Drug is two square blocks of shops and cafes and little nooks with oddities like scenes of an old time card game and a travelers chapel.

Across the street are more shops and eateries. But the true star is Wall Drug. There are unexpected things like beautiful stained glass,

original artwork,

bears & carved figures

and out in Wall Drug's back yard is fun stuff for kids (big kids too!) There is a 12 foot tall Jackalope, arcade, "Mining Company" where you can pan for gold & a water park.

Since we were in Wall for a week, we also took the opportunity to see the country side on our bikes. We saw fields of wheat that were surely the inspiration for "amber fields of grain", lots of ranch land and cattle, and more of the color striped mesas we saw in the Badlands.

 

 Had to snap a photo of this street sign for Brooke & Johnny!   Notice that it is right by the Wall School's football field.

 

Wall is also home of the Wounded Knee Museum.  As we have been traveling the Dakotas, we have been to many sites that are still holy to the Lakota people.  Touring the Crazy Horse monument, Bear Butte and the Badlands made me more curious about the history of the Native American tribes in this area.  I picked up the book, Crazy Horse-The Strange Man of the Oglalas by Mari Sandoz (who, for our Arabian horse friends, is Eleanor Hamilton's aunt).  It was a fascinating, emotional read that I think gave me a better feel for what happened to the Lakotas in that time.  The Wounded Knee Museum was a sobering reminder of an event so horrible it is hard to believe it really happened.  I was transported back to Pathways Spiritual Sanctuary and its message of love for all humankind.

 

We leave Wall today, heading slowly toward Minnesota.  Until next time - happy trails!

 

 

 

 

Heading East

Before leaving Hot Spring, we drove down to the Agnostura Recreation Area, only 4 miles from where we were camping. 

It turned out to be a gorgeous, huge lake with miles of beautiful beach.  It is in the South Dakota State Park system and has three or four nice campgrounds with electric hookups.  It was a hot weekend (90s), and there were a number of people boating and enjoying the lake, but it was so large it didn't seem crowded at all.  We walked the bike path a ways, and definitely made a note to come back when we head west.
We left our KOA Tuesday morning and started toward our next stop in Wall, SD, home of Wall Drug and the gateway to the Badlands.  Along the road, we saw a Class A motorhome pulled over with lots of flashing lights.  As we got closer, we saw that their "toad", the small SUV they pull behind for side trips, was on fire!  Fortunately, they had been able to unhook it and pull away from it, but WOW - that would be scary.
Got settled in our campground in Wall, and headed to the Badlands for a look. 

It is an unbelievable place, hard to explain, hard to capture in photos.  The loop road winds for 22 miles through landscape that seems otherworldly. In the bottom photo, you can see the Black Hills in the distance (they are 60+ miles away).

I always wonder, when I look at the Badlands, what the heck the first settlers in their wagons thought when they got here.  How did they even consider continuing on?

Ron had never seen the Badlands - he was amazed!

The colors were beautiful - yellows, reds and subtle greens and oranges.  Formations that are always changing, spires and mounds and canyons.

Despite the barren looking conditions, there is a lot of wildlife.  We saw birds nesting on the cliffs, baby bunnies chasing each other from shade patch to shade patch, and this mountain goat browsing along side the road.

 

Fortunately, we didn't see any reptiles!

 

Of course, I would love to post all of my pictures, but you know what they say about boring travel photos - but I will share just one more.

 

 

 

 

An Unexpected Find

After our busy week in Yellowstone, we were looking forward to a few quiet days in the horse camp we had stayed before our trip.  We were surprised, due to a misunderstanding, with the need to find a campsite that night.  Since it was the last weekend of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, I figured we would be best heading south, so off we went.  First place we pulled into looked like it had spots open, but we couldn't find an office and they didn't answer their phone.  Neither did the second place I called - then, I called the Hot Springs KOA and they had one spot open.  We pulled in, and it was a lovely campground - most sites were shaded with Ponderosa Pines- nice people, pool and breakfast on the patio! So, we decided to stay the week and explore the area. 
First stop:

The Mammoth Site is an indoor, archeological dig.  It was discovered when the area was going to be developed into housing and one of the construction workers recognized a large piece of a fossil.  As they began to explore further, they determined that the area had been a large sinkhole, filled with water from a spring below ground that stayed open year round.  Mammoths (and other animals) would come to drink from it and would slip into it and couldn't get out.  They have excavated 22 feet of it, and through a drilling have determined that there are fossils at least 65 feet further down.  So far they have discovered 61 mammoths!

They came up with the idea of putting a building over the site so they can work year round and give tours to the public.  There is also an exhibit hall showing how they go about digging out fossils and the different types of fossils they have found. 

Next day, we thought we would drive down to the Wild Horse Sanctuary.

IRAM is the Institute of Range and American Mustangs which was founded by Dayton "Hawk"

O. Hyde - who was a cowboy, WWII veteran, Naturalist, rodeo photographer, bull fighter/rodeo clown, rancher, author, conservationist - and still lives his passion with the wild horses on the sanctuary - at 89 years old.   It consists of 11,000 acres of land and over 500 horses.  Parts of the movies "Hidalgo" and "Crazy Horse" were filmed on the sanctuary.  They give tours, have a gift shop and let you wander the ranch area to see the horses that are in the paddocks - and sometimes you see herds of the horses roaming the prairie.

This is a Choctaw Indian Pony.  They were developed by the Choctaw Nation back in the 1700's from the Spanish horses that came over with the conquistadors in the 16th century.  They are very rare  - there are only about 300 alive today.  Also on the sanctuary are Spanish Mustangs - derived from horses brought in 1518 by Cortez, Curly Mustangs - with curly manes & coats that they think came either with the Russian settlers in the 1700's or crossed the land bridge between North America and Asia around the 13th-14th centuries, and there are American Mustangs, which are a result of crossbreeding of many breeds.  They have a great place to live!

On our way back, we discovered the swimming hole at Cascade Falls!

To the left of this rapids was a beautiful swimming hole!  The water was cool, but not cold - it was just like in the movies!
A couple of days later, we decided to take a drive up to Wind Cave National Park.  It was established in 1903 to protect the cave, but was expanded to become a 28,295 acre wildlife preserve.  When we reached the visitor center, we thought we would go on the tour - but, wisely, Ron decided that he would sit it out above ground.

I went on the Natural Entrance Tour, which took about 1 1/2 hours.  There were 300 stairs - most of them down- until we were 209 feet under the ground.  At first, I was a little claustrophobic, but the amazing rock formations, crystals, and "boxwork" distracted me and I wasn't at all uncomfortable (except it was cold - 53 degrees).

This is an example of boxwork, which is a formation that is common in Wind Cave, but very rare in any other cave.  I was also surprised at the different colors in the cave.

It was quite an experience! 

On the way out, we saw pronghorns grazing

And, we stopped in Hot Springs, which is very pretty with its red limestone buildings and waterfall in the center of town.

And, for Alycia, we always heed the signs!!!

 

 

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

We woke up to a sunny day on Thursday - whoopee!  Time for a trip down to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  There are great hiking trails on both sides of the canyon giving you great views of the beautiful exposed rock and breathtaking waterfalls.

The hiking trail along the south rim was challenging at times, and had us all gasping for air, but the views were worth the walk.  When we got to the end of the trail at Artist Point, it was hard to decide whether to go back on the hilly trail, or take the road.  Half of us did one, the other half the other - not sure which was easiest!

It was a long way down!

From the trail on the South Rim, we could see a viewing platform over the waterfall on the other side, so we drove over to see if we could get close.  The trail was a switchback that dropped over 600 feet.

Made it - now we just had to hike back up!

We were surprised at the number of people who ignore the barriers and signs and climb out on the rocks overlooking the canyon.  Many of them are gravelly, and very slippery - if you started sliding, it would be pretty hard to stop.  There were even quite a few people who took their little kids out there with them. 

 You can see where Yellowstone got its name!

Climbed back up the trail and celebrated...

and made a new friend!

On the way back to our campground, we stopped at one more of the hot springs stops to see the Mud Volcano.  It was this pool of bubbling, sloshing  blue, gray mud that at one time had blown 20 feet into the air.

There was another one called Dragon's Mouth that looked like a cave with steam coming out of it and the water shooting out, making sounds that did sound like a dragon!  Some of the little kids were pretty afraid.

As we were finishing our hike around the hot springs area, we looked up on the ridge and saw this beautiful elk.

It was a whirlwind trip, but we saw a lot.  It is truly awe inspiring to see Yellowstone National Park and I hope everyone makes it a point to see at some time in their lives. 

Later!