Here is a quick update to let you guys know what I’ve been up to so far:

I drove 15 hours on the first day to get to Parkston, South Dakota. By lunch, I managed to drive 7 hours north to just above Salina, Kansas where I decided to pull over in to Minneapolis and get some lunch. This is also home to Rock City which I decided would make a good detour while I’m here. Rock City is about the strangest group of rock formations I’ve ever seen.

The rock formations at Rock City were formed millions of years ago and you can get more information at these three links:

Official Site: http://www.naturalkansas.org/rockcity.htm

Wikipedia Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_City,_Kansas

Fan Site: http://www.washburn.edu/cas/art/cyoho/archive/KStravel/rockcity/

On Saturday I went to Mitchell, South Dakota to see The Corn Palace. I really have no words to describe this place. Every year, the town commissions the redesign of The Corn Palace exterior and murals on the interior using nothing but corn of various colors. The first Corn Palace was built in 1892. Every year The Corn Palace is redecorated with a new theme and the 2009 version is currently underway. Here are some links to help describe this better as well:

http://www.roadsidephotos.com/sd/sd3.htm

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2215

On Suday, I finished the drive in to Mount Rushmore. Along the way I drove through the Badlands National Park. This is truly an amazing view and I was absolutely stunned with the scenery. It was just as stunning to see the Badlands and in less than an hour drive in to the Black Hills – talk about a complete change of scenery. I haven’t seen real trees this entire trip so it’s great to see the forests and pitch camp within. I’ll have more pics of the Black Hills in my next blog.

So, be sure to check out the gallery. I have a lot more pics there.

Tags: Badlands, Black Hills, Reptile Garden, ridgeline, rock city, south dakota, The Corn Palace

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 6th, 2008 at 10:20 pm and is filed under Road Trip 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.