Traveling to South Dakota, Day 5, Day 6

Day 5... We drove from Rapid City in the direction of Sioux Falls SD, which is a total distance of 350 miles, but only 63 miles in, to see the Badlands National Park. The Minuteman Missile National Historic site is along the way. The "Dignity" sculpture is along the way, on the Missouri River, mentioned in our last blog. AND--the Corn Palace in Mitchell, which has murals made entirely of corn and grain. Sparky tried to get Eldo to stop by there, but it was too "corny" for him to see it again. HA! You also pass through Wall, SD on the way to the national park. Wall is the home of THE famous Wall Drug Store, which is now a completely commercialized whopper property of 76,000 square feet of cowboy wonderland. If you like Buc-ee's, you're gonna like Wall Drugs. It's a piece of South Dakota tourism. There's an art gallery, a chapel and 50,000 square feet of shopping. The Art Gallery restaurant seats 520 people. You can get 5 cent coffee, free homemade donuts, and free ice water. It draws more than 200 milllion visitors each year. Too touristy to go back more than one time for us, we did it on a visit years ago. So we kept going until we got to the park. On the way in, we finally saw a bighorn sheep! A lone sheep but hey! Still cool. Right by the side of the rocky hillside and on the Badlands loop through the park.

The scenery is amazing if you like rocky geological features. Some might say--meh! It's just a bunch of rocks. But we loved the hiking trails in visits past, the colors of the rocks....and it's just a totally different landscape to take in.

The wildflowers just starting to bloom in mid June are pretty awesome, too....The prickly pear cacti, the prairie roses as mentioned before....

The loop is a spectacular 35 mile road which takes about 1-3 hours to drive depending on how many times you stop. We stopped at all the viewpoints...Sparky has photos of rocks and more rocks...lol. She was going to attempt a hike at the Door Window Trail, but at 11:00 AM it was jam packed. The parking was completely full. On we went....

We saw one pronghorn and baby!

We ended up in Watertown, SD for the night. It's a great stopping point. We stayed at the Hampton Inn suites and there were beaucoup restaurants nearby within walking distance. Sparky picked Firehouse Subs....for Italian sandwiches for supper. The hotel/motel was wonderful, free hot breakfast again--scrambled eggs and sausage, yogurt, fruit, waffles, pancakes, etc....The next part of the trip was really special for Sparky. We were going to head to Minnesota and drive far out of our way as far as making our way back to Indiana, just so Sparky could see some Dambo trolls in Detroit Lakes, MN.

Day 6...After driving 185 miles from Watertown, we were in Detroit Lakes, a boating community in the northwestern corner of Minnesota. There are more than 400 lakes within 25 miles of this city of about 10,000 residents. In the summer time, here come the boaters and population swells to about 13,000. It is home to five Thomas Dambo trolls. 

Dambo is a Danish recycle artist who builds colossal trolls out of recycled materials. He travels around the US in an RV with his family, picking sites for his wonderful trolls. Some of his installations are permanent, and some are moved from city to city after a time. They are usually in a forest or by a river, and sites are carefully chosen to add a little challenge to the hunt. He wants you to hike a bit, explore lesser known trails, and be in nature more. Sites near local scrap wood are favored since that is his primary building material and local volunteers help him build his works. You might have to hike a short distance, wander around a river's edge a bit, (Benny the Beard Fisher in Germfask, MI) or look carefully into a secluded forest opening, and there might be one! 

He has a dream of having one eventually in every state in the US. His works are treasure/scavenger hunts so to speak. Each troll has a story and a puzzle to solve to find the next one. It's a fantastic journey for kids and grownups to solve the riddles to find each one. You can "cheat" a bit and google to get directions to trolls, if you are in a hurry, but for families on a leisurely trip, it's more fun to work your way through the puzzle clues and solve them together. Each regional exhibit has a unique scavenger hunt where you read poems, match symbols on troll necklaces or decode riddles. How fun! They are so quirky looking and have such cute stories at each location.

Jacob Everear

While at one of the trolls in Detroit Lakes, Jacob Everear, Sparky met a young boy about 10, on the path to the installation. She asked, "Is it much farther?" He was very enthusiastic and encouraging. "It's just up ahead. Be sure you tell him a story in his ear!" and grinned a big grin. That's what you are supposed to do, climb on this guy and whisper stories in his ear. 

Alexia

We saw four out of the five trolls in the lakes region.  One of the trolls (Long Leif) was not accessible due to some kind of construction in the area. They are all within just a few miles of each other. The first one to see and to start your journey troll hunting in Detroit Lakes is Alexa. Here is a quick summary of how it all begins....

There are always colorful purple and yellow wooden birdhouses perched on the trails leading to the sculptures. And the birds actually use them!

Sparky loved Frida, the barefooted troll....

Look at the size of her hands!

Frida was in a newly created sculpture garden with art installations along a hiking trail. It was called Ortenstone Gardens and Sculpture Park. It was 50 acres of AMAZING! Not just because there was a troll there, but also because of the beautiful art displayed in the forest on hiking trails and in the meadows.

There were lots of art installations on the trails....

How about this one? "Ear to the Ground"....It's supposed to make you think deeply and quietly about our planet. It made Sparky feel a little creeped out, but the white river stones covering the sculpture gave it a peaceful countenance.

One of Sparky's favorite pieces of art was the horse sculpture at the beginning of one of the trails.

Next up, Ronny Funny Face in the woods in a park at another location....You can't help but grin when you see these..they are so interesting and quirky, guaranteed to make you smile.

After viewing Ronny, we headed to Marquette, MI, which was on the way east to our destination of Wisconsin for the night. Sparky always wanted to get a photo of one of the ore docks there, there are two-the Lower Harbor Ore Dock and the Upper Ore Dock. The one in the photo is the Lower Harbor Ore Dock, decomissioned in 1973, but still cool to see. Twice a year (November 21 and January 20th) photographers flock to the dock (haha, couldn't resist), to capture the sunrise moving and becoming visible through the opening for a "perfect" shot, around 8:30 AM. The upper ore dock on the north end of Marquette, is still being used. In its heyday, Marquette was one of the largest shipping ports for iron ore in the US.

Marquette Lower Harbor ore dock

Right after visiting the ore dock, we headed east and stayed in Ashland, WI for the night. Once we settled in for the night, Sparky discovered we had missed another possible troll sighting in Elk Horn, IA, the Fjord Ferryman! (It was 84 miles from Des Moines). Elk Horn is the place of a Danish Museum, so an appropriate place for Dambo, the Danish artist, to place him on the prairie. There are also three more trolls in Clinton, IA, 283 miles from Elk Horn. Maybe we need a midwest plains trip, Eldy! (Hmmmmm...is all he will say for now)...or how about Maine's Booth Bay Botanical Gardens where there are FIVE trolls. Now there's a nice trip! They do move around, some of them are not permanent installations, so you have to check ahead of time to make sure they are still there. There are three in Ohio, a few in Kentucky....And there are SEVEN in North Carolina. (Uh-oh....says Eldy.)

from the internet

We could have stopped in Iowa on our way out west, but we didn't know. Oh, well...Sparky was DELIGHTED to have seen as many as we did. Eldo would have probably preferred to visit baseball sites like the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, IA, but he was game to drive to see the trolls and he knows Sparky was really happy to have visited them. Thank you, Eldy! It was so fun!

We find up our spur of the moment trip on our next post, in Sault St. Marie, visiting the Soo Locks and the freighters and our former RVing spot on the St. Mary's River. We are almost back home....See you later!

Traveling to South Dakota, Day 4

 

The Needle

our Bronco coming thru!

Day 4...Time for the Needles Highway...A 14 mile scenic drive totally inside Custer State park in South Dakota. It has sharp switchbacks, granite spires, and narrow single lane rock tunnels. The most famous tunnel, the Needles Eye Tunnel is 8' wide and 9' 9" high. Big truck? Forget it! Glad we weren't traveling in our former Dodge Ram dually. You have to buy a state park pass to enter Custer State Park. It's 30.00 for seven days and we made it worth it, visiting the park three times! It was 48 degrees this morning when we set out--refreshing!

This guy didn't even pull in his mirrors-- brave!

Here you can see the granite spires....

Here you get a little better perspective of the size of the rock formations....

We continued back into the park on the 18 mile wildlife loop once again....We saw 4 pronghorn close to the bison center. And we encountered the "Begging Burros". Sparky almost said "Begging Burritoes", haha. (she always has food on her mind, laughs E.) The first time through the park, the burros were out in a field and couldn't have cared less about the tourist/drivers passing through. They normally come up to your car and stick their noses in your window. This is one of the few exceptions where you are allowed to feed wildlife in the park. Today.....the burros were up close and personal on the southeastern portion of the loop road. 

You can feed them apples or carrots, but not the baby ones, otherwise your fingers will get nipped! There were a lot of people out of their cars and in and amongst the burros, so we kept going. It was more fun years ago, when people stayed in their cars and the burros came right up to you. Today, little kids out of their cars, were getting scared and unsure of how to feed them as the burros can be quite persistent and follow you around!

We saw a sign for bighorn sheep so we went looking for them and drove around Jewel Cave Monument. We didn't stop there as there were no sightings. Phooey! On we go....

We drove on the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway which includes the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road. This is one of America's top ten scenic byways where there are cool bridges and views of Mount Rushmore through tunnels and around bends in addition to the Needles. We did not visit Rushmore, we've done that in previous visits so we kept going. But we did stop for photo ops! More pronghorn...

Here's a view of Mt. Rushmore from the byway...

On the drive, you can see Mt. Rushmore through the tunnel at the other end. We've seen people lay down in the road when there's no traffic coming for a shot of the monument thru the tunnel from a different perspective. Sparky contemplated that for about a few seconds, but cars kept coming behind us so we kept going. (Don't worry, I wouldn't have let her do that, says E.) HA!

Oh! Sparky would be remiss if she didn't share some of the local flora, so here you go....This is called yellow salsify.

A LOT of prairie rose were in bloom all over the park...This is a close up, they are much smaller in the fields.

Sparky was really surprised to see grassland prickly pear blooming everywhere...in South Dakota? Yep. Something you normally see in the southwest desert, but wouldn't think you'd see in a northern state. These were more sparsely scattered, but still everywhere!

There were a lot of thistle poppies blooming as well. Man, do they have sharp, sharp stems! They also have toxic sap, which is poisonous to livestock and humans.

Crazy Horse 2026

On the drive to and from Custer State Park, you pass the ongoing Crazy Horse Monument. We took a shot from the road, again, having visited the monument previously, we had other destinations in mind this time. It's coming along since our last visit. The construction crew has added more modern tech equipment such as robotic track saws which cut through the rock with GIS mapping. This allows them to carve seven times faster than the Mount Rushmore methods. They are now working on the horse's mane and head, Crazy Horse's right shoulder and hairline. No completion date has been set, but the 563 ft. project began in 1948.

Eldy schlepped Sparky around the park and surounding areas for a total of 172 miles today. What a guy! We returned to Rapid City where we were staying, and decided to return to Wild Sage Restaurant next door for a second time, it was that good!

Tomorrow, we head to the Badlands National Park...

Traveling to South Dakota 2026

Sparky had been a little down in the dumps, so Eldo knew the best medicine was to plan another trip! He quietly and patiently researched best points usage for cheaper stays and threw out some ideas...how would Sparky like to go to Custer State Park and South Dakota? Well, that's a no brainer! SURE! Sparky and Eldo both love nature and looking for wildlife so off we went. We decided at the very last minute after thinking about the southwest, (too hot), Bar Harbor, ME-(too crowded), and a few other places. We decided to drive instead of fly, to see the country along the way.

The first day we drove to Des Moines, Iowa, a distance of 422 miles. We stayed at a Drury's Inn, which has not only free breakfasts, but free dinners AND three free drinks at Happy Hour each day. The drive is beautiful farmland, quite flat all the way, but everything was so green and there were a LOT of wind turbines the closer we got to Des Moines. Sparky finds wind turbines interesting and she enjoys looking up facts while we are driving. Onshore turbines are taller than the Statue of Liberty. The TIPS of the turbines reach speeds of 100-180 mph! Sparky had a hard time wrapping her head around that, because they look like they are turning so slowly! If the wind is too gentle, under 7-9 mph, the blades won't turn. If the wind is over 55 mph, they shut down to prevent equipment damage. If the electrical grid is receiving enough electricity, wind farms will curtail the number of turbines operating. Some of them are shut down even right next to another one due to possible maintenance needed. Many modern wind farms use camera or radar monitoring systems to detect protected or migratory birds and that curtails the number in use as well. Did you know that the fourth largest wind "farm" is in Indiana? And lastly, a typical wind turbine generates enough electricity to power an average home for an entire day in about 46 minutes. WOW!

Day 2, a LONG driving day--we drove to Hill City, SD, a distance of 645 miles. Gas averaged $3.49. The most interesting part of the drive was the amazing and beautiful rest stop at Chamberlain, SD right at the Missouri River. There is an amazing stainless steel sculpture there, 60 feet tall, called "Dignity". She represents the courage and perserverance of the Lakota and Dakota Native Americans and is standing right in front of the Missouri River.

At night, there are LED lights in the quilt panel sections that light up. The grounds and the outside designs of the building were so beautiful as well.

The inside of the rest stop was like a museum. It was wonderful and amazing! That boat hanging from the ceiling is a keel boat-a shallow water, freight boat poled or rowed by early settlers. The boats were the heavy haulers of frontier times. We could have spent a lot of time there, but had to move on. In Hill City, we stayed at the Golden Spike Inn...It was dated, but pleasant and comfortable just the same.

Day 3...Exploring Custer State Park...We drove the wildlife loop, the Wind Cave loop, and the Peter Nordbeck scenic byway. We saw LOTS of bison and LOTS of prairie dogs! Get ready for lots of bison and prairie dog photos, haha.

Bison in the fields....bison by the roadside...

Baby bison....

Some dumb lady reached out her window and tried to pet a bison walking right by her truck. Gr-r-r-rr.....Luckily, nothing happened, except he reared back.

Bison visiting the Visitor's Center...

Sparky has about a 100 photos of buffalo/bison and prairie dogs, be glad she isn't sharing more, says E. You've seen one, you've seen them all...OH! What about the bison nursing? Nah, we will protect the mother and baby's privacy but it was cool to see....

By the way, is it bison or buffalo? Sparky, always the teacher, says bison is the preferred term, scientifically, in North America, you are supposed to call them bison, as true buffalo species are native to Africa and South Asia...but ok...locals said buffalo as well, so Sparky gave up trying to correct Eldo on that one! (She was relentless! laughs E.) But guess what? There really are some differences...Bison have the massive hump over their shoulders, thick shaggy coats for winter, shorter curved horns. Buffalo don't have the prominant shoulder hump, have thinner, flatter horns, and shorter hair. (She just has to have the last word! sighs an exasperated Eldo.) Final word--you can call them either one. HA!

We saw quite a few pronghorn...males and females and a baby fawn! We think this is a male....

By the way, they are not pronghorn sheep but sometimes are referred to as American antelope. They are related to goats and antelope. They are the fastest land mammal in North America. They can reach speeds of up to 60 mph and can maintain speeds of 35 mph for up to 4 miles. They are the second fastest land mammal in the world. Within 5 days of birth, they can outrun a human! They have incredible endurance, and unique shedding horns. The horns have a distinct forward pointing prong or branch. Both the males and females have horns. Males have the bigger, more prominant ones, the female's are much smaller, sometimes only a bump. They can spot moving things from up to 4 miles away! One more thing--they migrate 150 miles one way between Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park each year. 

One more photo/video of a nice looking pronghorn...It was interesting that he dug a hole, then appeared to pee in the hole, then pooped! More than you wanted to know, we're sure.

Sparky found out a few new things about prairie dogs...She knew that they were social and have an extensive underground system divided into "neighborhoods", but she didn't know how sophisticated their communications are. They have warning calls that describe a specific predator, a different bark for coyotes, humans or hawks and even the color of a person's clothing! WHA-A-T??!! They greet each other by touching noses--it looks like they are kissing!

Their "bunkers" have different "rooms" for sleeping, using the bathroom, and having babies. The largest colony was in Texas, spanned over 25,000 miles and contained 400 million prairie dogs. 

We were sorry to see Custer State Park sustained a LOT of damage from a very bad winter storm this past December, where winds sometimes reached speeds of over 90-122 mph. The wind snapped off thousands of pine trees right in half and twisted other trees around to the ground. There was really extensive damage to the trees in the Black Hills area. The massive pine trees were snapped off just like matchsticks, twisted, or completely uprooted and slammed to the ground. This photo doesn't even begin to show the extent and severity of the damage. We were shocked at the magnitude of the damage. The damage was caused by high winds shifting opposite directions in 24 hours, loosening the trees and then whipping them back. Sixty to ninety mile an hour winds lasted for 4-8 hours. Glad we weren't in the area then!

We headed back to town (Rapid City) and found a wonderful restaurant right next door to our hotel, called the Wild Sage. It was terrific!  Most beautiful salad I have ever seen and the rest of dinner was just as great! 

A great way to end a great day, with a wonderful meal. And with that, we will see you later...Up and coming....The Needles scenic drive, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, more Custer wildlife, the begging burros and the Badlands!