Day 4... South Dakota

     After leaving our hotel room in Brookings, SD and driving passed field, after field, after field...

we bumped into a small town named Arlington with a huge mural and a saying worth stopping for:

"As pioneers, we sowed the seed. As families we nurtured it. As a community, we watch it grow." 

We didn't spend too much time here as there were many other sights that we wanted to see through South Dakota today.
We had a suggestion from a friend to check out the place where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived. We met Dianne in the visitors center and she was very helpful! She showed us a movie and gave us lots of information. 

Dianne gave us our map of the 160 acre area and showed us points of interest that we should definitely hit. The first thing we did was climb up into the tower and look out over the property. From that vantage point you could see the entire property. I couldn't believe that were standing on the very same property where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived!!

Here is the house, barn, corn fields, and way down the road was the little church. We didn't get to tour the church as there was a funeral in progress the day we were there. We saw how the Ingalls family lived in different dwellings. There was a small sod house on the property. And there was also something called a shanty that was a little bigger than the sod house. 

Sod House

Shanty House  

This place was well worth visiting. I'm not a Little House buff by any means, but I thoroughly enjoyed my visit here. Lots of picture opportunities and it's also neat to say that I was here on Laura Ingalls Wilder's homestead. Here are a few more pics and one with our own personal tour guide....

A cat was just walking around the property showing us around.

Corn fields with the church steeple in the background.

Grinding stone

Lantern on an old wagon.

Old farm equipment

Farming rake.

Wagon Wheel

Water pump that works!

We spent a few hours at the Ingalls-Wilder homestead before getting back on the road and continuing on west. We drove through several small towns; Very small.  Cavour population - 141, Reliance population - 169. Miles and miles of farms and then a small town would pop up. Upon our travel we came to a road that had a 4 way stop. Which was funny because you could see for probably 50 miles in each direction. The funny thing was watching a truck actually come to a complete stop  for a good 15 seconds or more!

This was looking North

This was looking East

This was looking West

Not sure what happened to my South bound picture but you get the idea..

Our final destination today was the Badlands. We hopped on I 90 and headed West. The most scenic time of year has to be late summer for this road. We saw field upon field filled with sunflowers! Of course this time of year they are all dried up and ready to be harvested for their seeds.

After driving all day, we finally made the Badlands and they did not disappoint! They were absolutely amazing. My only regret was not getting there sooner. There was just so much to see that we were left wanting another whole day to explore. Here is what I captured at the Badlands.

It was a little disconcerting to be walking out onto these ledges. The ground has a very soft, spongy, type texture and will give a little as you walk on it. My partner, though, is fearless and had no problems walking to the ledge!

The Badlands went on for miles! It was absolutely stunning to look at the view!!

Here is my partner again... No fear being up there at all!! I couldn't even walk over there!

This is the area where you were able to walk around and explore. Again, a little unnerving being out there due to the texture of the ground.

This is what the texture of the ground looks like.

On our travels through, we even got to see a mountain goat! I thought that was pretty interesting as I've never seen one in person before!

We finished up our Badlands tour with a beautiful overlook where the sun was setting.









The Badlands were a really nice place to visit. The views of the valley and buttes were so impressive. I'm definitely making plans to come back here!!






Our final destination for the evening was Rapid City, SD. We had wanted to try to make Mt. Rushmore, but we couldn't seem to pull ourselves away from exploring the Badlands.

From Rapid City we are continuing on westward approximately 5 hours. We hope to see Mt. Rushmore, the Devil's Tower, and Yellowstone park for day 5.