We were on the road by 8am this morning as we had about 6.5hrs of driving time. We hadn't been on the freeway long when we started to see signs for Wall Drug. The signs started over 40 miles before the turnoff but they were funny. One of the first ones we saw said Wall Drug - Pretty Near. The signs kept the drive a bit interesting. The road was straight and flat with pretty uninteresting plains to look at. Rob had read about Wall Drug so we had planned to visit anyway. Wall is a town in the middle of nowhere. The drug store was bought by Ted and Dorothy Hustead in 1931. They decided to give it 5yrs to start making money. The population of Wall at the time was 327 - now it is 821. In the summer of the 5th year of making no money, Dorothy had the idea of giving free iced water to the people passing on the highways. Ted made some signs advertising the free water and put them up along the highway. People haven't stopped visiting since. The free water is still a big drawcard as is the ice cream and 5c coffee. Wall Drug now has up to 20 000 visitors on a good summer day. The store has expanded considerably but still has a pharmacy. The store takes up almost one whole block and sells western wear, jewellery, souvenirs, paintings, food, toys, books and much more. There are play areas for kids too. We ended up staying for 2hrs. The western wear area was full of cowboy hats, boots and clothing. Robyn and I are now the proud owners of cowgirl boots!! Long ones for me and short ones for Rob. Trying on the boots took most of the time we had there but it was lots of fun. Before we left we had a milkshake. They were delicious but so thick they were served with a spoon.
We got back on the freeway and travelled through more straight, flat and boring plains. After a while we encountered a sculpture by the side of the road - a skeleton walking a dinosaur. When you fly into big cities you don't get to see funky things like that. We have seen a few bizarre things - a cowboy skinning an animal in a paddock, a farmer driving his quad bike through town with his dog on the back, a giant vase with flowers sculpture on the side of the freeway.
After a few more hours we stopped at a town called Mitchell. Mitchell is home to the world's only Corn Palace. It is a middle eastern/Indian type looking building but the front is covered in murals made out of corn. The first Corn Palace was built in 1892 so the early farmers could display their crop proving the soil's fertility and attract immigrant farmers to the area. Every summer a new decorating theme is chosen, the old corn is stripped and new pattern is created by local artists. It is quite bizarre.
We arrived at the Corn Palace after 2.30pm and were starving. Because if the corn theme, we expected to be able to buy corn cobs on a stick like at the Easter Show. But there was no corn to be seen. They sold corn dogs and popcorn. The inside of the Corn Palace was a basketball court. The local team are the Kernels. We didn't stay long.
We still had just under an hour to go until we arrived at Sioux Falls. We were checked in by 5pm and left soon after to go to Falls Park which was close by to the hotel.
The falls in the park were created thousands of years ago when a glacier melted and redirected part of the Big Sioux River. It now runs through the centre of the city.
We went up the viewing tower to get a different perspective. We could see the water became still and calm after the last fall and the river flowed away.
The falls are quite lovely to see but we were left wondering where the water comes from. It must be underground somewhere. An average of 7400 gallons of water drop 100 feet over the course of the falls every second. I have never seen anything like this in a city before.
The park and a couple of streets near the hotel are dotted with sculptures. They are lovely to see. There is an annual competition where the public can vote for their favourite. They can also be bought. It is a fantastic way to show the work of the local artists.
We had dinner at a place called Minerva's. It is a Sioux Falls institution and we had to wait 45mins for a table. But, the meal was delicious!
We don't need to have an early start tomorrow so a bit of a sleep in will be most welcome.