I am uploading and captioning our photos as I write this post, so by the time you read this, the photos will be in the Klein Photo Album.

Day 1: The first leg of our trip (Wednesday, June 24) brought us to Mitchell, S.D., home of the Corn Palace. It was a must-see for me as my alma mater’s mascot is the Cobber! 🙂 The building is covered in corncobs, and the different colors of corn make the designs, which are changed yearly. Inside, there are photos of all the past years’ corn art, plus lots of murals constructed from corn. From the Corn Palace, we went to the campus of Dakota Wesleyan to see the Dakota Discovery museum. Did you know the border between ND and SD was the last state border to be mapped out? That is one tidbit we learned at the museum. Outside are a church, school, depot, and the Beckwith house. Mr. Beckwith was a co-founder of the Corn Palace and his home (now a historical site) was moved from downtown to the museum grounds. It has beautiful woodwork and curved walls inside. They are still working to restore all of the rooms. Across from the museum is the McGovern Library. It is a gorgeous brick building with arches (see the photo). Inside is the McGovern Center and lots of displays about the life, political career, and humanitarian pursuits of George McGovern.  The rest of the afternoon/evening we just checked out some stores and enjoyed the waterslide at our hotel.

Day 2: Thursday started with a long drive west from Mitchell to Rapid City. We stopped at the famous Wall Drug in Wall, S.D. Wow – what a tourist trap! We arrived mid-afternoon in Rapid City and decided to make our way to the monuments (Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse) that day rather than waiting until Friday. That turned out to be a good decision weatherwise as there was a nice breeze despite the warm temperature. A scenic drive through the hills brought us to Mt. Rushmore. It’s one of those places that you always see in pictures but seeing it in person is just more meaningful. We walked the Presidential Trail which provided great views of the monument. The trail led to the Sculptor’s Studio which had some interesting displays. We weren’t done with huge faces carved in stone. The Crazy Horse Memorial is a short drive from Mt. Rushmore and has an interesting story all its own. When it is finished, it will be the largest sculpture in the world. Besides the great view of the monument, we took in the museum, interpretive center, and sculptor’s studio, plus an informative film about the history of the monument.

Day 3: Happy Birthday Dave! We started the day with 18 holes of golf…mini golf. A short walk from our hotel brought us to the Pirate’s Cove Adventure Golf. It was warm and sticky outside, but it was a fun time. After a bite to eat, we went to Memorial Park near the civic center in Rapid City. The park has a section of the Berlin Wall (I think the largest section in the U.S.) along with some interpretive panels describing the history of the Wall from construction to dismantling. The park also has a beautiful rose garden situated around a fountain. This is a memorial to those who died in the flood of ’72. From there, we went to Reptile Gardens. Very fun and educational. We got to touch a giant tortoise named Methuselah. He is 128 years old! We also saw (but didn’t touch) snakes, frogs, a Komodo dragon, alligators, crocodiles, prairie dogs, birds, and exotic plants. Once we were back in town, it started raining so we went to the mall for a while. Later we had Dave’s birthday dinner at a Sonic drive-in, then went downtown to see some of the Presidential statues on the street corners. We stopped at the City of Presidents Information Center and then went to Storybook Island, a fairytale-themed park.

Day 4: Saturday was going-home day. We continued on I-90 to Spearfish and then headed north to ND, then east. We stopped in Bismarck to chat with Curt for a little while, and we were home by suppertime. It was a great trip!