Things We Didn't See but Maybe Should Have in S.D.

Are you ready for this? We missed all kinds of good things, darn it! We just couldn't get to them in the time we had while we were here...but on our list for our next visit to South Dakota are the following attractions (maybe) :

1) Petrified Wood Park in Lemmon--well, maybe not!

2.) The Hugh Glass Monument--not sure where that is, but he was a frontiersman who got mauled by a grizzly bear back in 1823--his friends left him for dead but he survived and CRAWLED with a broken leg and fever almost 200 miles to the nearest town to tell his "friends" what he thought of them! Well, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it, but you can imagine their shock when he showed up!

Presidents Park in Lead, SD

3.) Presidents' Park in Lead--43 heads of the presidents that are 20 feet tall in pretty park surroundings

4.) Dinosaur Park--in Rapid City--5 concrete dinosaurs constructed in the 1930's so they aren't quite the politically correct versions, but awesome for the kiddies...I think we'll skip this one....

Porter Sculpture Park

5.) Porter Sculpture Park--right off Interstate 90, 25 min. west of Sioux Falls--you can't miss it--a giant Egyptian bull head is highly visible from the highway--it made us go "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?" and as I quickly snapped around to see it, I could see the sign for the park. Guess there was some guy who thought he'd beautify the interstate and he constructed some very weird things in his sculpture park--"The Screaming Man", also a huge yellow hand sticking up out the ground, a 15 foot tall giant pink hammer that stands for all the hammers he's broken in construction of his sculptures (?), and some other weird stuff. He's working on a new sculpture, can't wait to see what that might be!

Dwight "I Like Ike" Eisenhower

6.) City of Presidents project--in Rapid City (isn't that the same city I just mentioned about the dinosaurs? Yep! They like things BIG in their town....you can see 42 presidents so far on 42 out of the 80 street corners in their city. These are life size bronze sculptures of the presidents. Great photo op for next visit!

7.) Cosmos Mystery Area--but we weren't quite mystified enough to stop and check it out. I guess we should have because it's "where laws of nature have gone completely berserk"...or so they say..We saw the sign, but didn't stop in, again, Rapid City....Their claim to fame is very strange things happen here...balls in tossed in the air veer off course, a grove of trees are all bent in one weird direction, people shrink or grow depending on where they are standing...AND they have tours...sounds a little hokey to me, but who am I to question the laws of nature? Supposedly, Michigan has places like this, too, where water runs uphill, etc. etc. We'll have to check it out next time!

And last but not least..an authentic wild west town, the 1880 Town---15 min. east of Murdo, SD.  There are authentic buildings there, props from the movie "Dances With Wolves", period costumes, furnishings, accessories, period antiques, and the chance to dress up in clothes of the time. Then you can go around town and take your photos as if you lived there--pretend to rob the train, gals--flutter your fan, swish your petticoat skirts and eyelashes at your favorite cowboy....there are more than 30 old west buildings and establishments there AND an 800 acre longhorn cattle ranch....COOL!  That one is definitely going on my to-do list for next visit. And with that, my friends, we leave you wondering where the heck are we going to go next, other than south, 'cuz we have no idea! Tune in tomorrow to see the latest episode of Where's Eldo?