Belvidere, SD - Elevation 1420, Population: 49
Change of plans. The drive to Mt. Rushmore was going to take 6 hours so we decided to split it and spend one night in between the stops.
The only thing we missed by not staying in Mitchell is that we did not go to the Corn Palace. Maybe next time. Yesterday was just too rainy to go out and sightseeing.
The further we get into South Dakota, the less corn we see. We know see wheat and soy beans. We also see a lot more prairie and it looks like we should see bison roaming, but we haven't.
The tourist attractions are all about the Wild West. A place called1880 Town. It seems to be a replica old west town. The billboards say it has artifacts from Wounded Knee and from the set of Dances With Wolves. They even have the graves of 2 of the horses from the movie. They really push the Dances With Wolves stuff and not the General Custer stuff. Weirdly, they have a giant, metal T-Rex skeleton on a leash that is held by a human skeleton.
The other big attraction, if you go by billboards, is something called Wall Drugs. It is a drug store that was started in 1931 and offered free ice water to travelers. For some reason, it became famous to travelers during the Great Depression. It's still there and has expanded to full fledged tourist attraction. It also has a dinosaur, this one roars. People are weird.
Next stop, Mt Rushmore.
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