Discovering South Dakota

Travel America, Sept, 2000 by Mike Michaelson

Rapid City also is a prime shopping destination. Shop for Western clothing, Black Hills gold, and a range of local food products. Visit Prairie Edge Trading Co. for Native American-made goods showcasing the culture of the Great Plains Indians. The city was named for Rapid Creek, a gentle stream that winds through the heart of the city and offers some of the best trout fishing in the Black Hills.

East of Rapid City along 1-90 is the town of Wall, home of Wall Drug Store, another of the state's highly visited attractions. This emporium is more of a theme park and shopping mall than it is a drugstore. It has 26 retail shops, a world-class collection of Western art, and a large restaurant specializing in buffalo burgers, homemade pastries, and ice cream. There is a massive play area and a life-size T-Rex. The business survived the Depression by offering free glasses of ice water to travelers and became known internationally. Signs from Wall Drug Store pop up around the globe, from Paris to Peru.

Also in the southwest corner of the state is sprawling Badlands National Park, where the buffalo roam and furry little prairie dogs play. Its rugged landscape of buttes, gorges, and spires covers 244,000 acres. Created by 37 million years of wind and water erosion, the Badlands' formations feature ribbons of colored stone embedded with the remains of prehistoric creatures. These shimmering strata of rock range in color from purple and yellow shale and red and orange iron oxide to tan and gray sand and gravel and white volcanic ash.

Human history in the Badlands dates back 11,000 years. The earliest people were ancient mammoth hunters. Much later came the tribes whose lives centered on hunting bison. Since 1994, the black-footed ferret, the most endangered mammal in North America, has made a comeback in Badlands National Park. The Badlands Loop Road is a 30-mile drive that cuts through startling rock formations and provides many scenic overlooks.

It is worth traveling to eastern South Dakota to visit De Smet, "The Little Town on the Prairie" that was the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder. The town was the setting for five of her books and today her stories come alive on a nearby outdoor stage. Local residents enact Half Pint's adventures at the actual location of the Ingalls' homestead site. Five cottonwood trees that Pa planted--one for Ma and each of the girls--still stand at the site. Horsedrawn wagon rides are offered before performances. Visitors also can take tours of the town and of the two homes where the Ingalls lived, both of which are filled with the family's treasures.

Contact: South Dakota Department of Tourism, (800) 732-5682; www.state.sd.us.

RELATED ARTICLE: A Chief Named Crazy Horse

Take your kids to see the monumental mountain carving of Lakota chief Crazy Horse in South Dakota's Black Hills and tell them it may be finished in time for them to take their kids. On the other hand, it may not be. They've been blasting, drilling, and chiseling away at this mountain for more than a half century.