FINALLY, not just driving on the highway. We got up, ate breakfast and headed out back over to the Badlands. Since we got to the area around 11:30am and it was 104 degrees outside, it was decided to eat lunch at the famous Wall Drug in Wall, SD (named so because it is on the edge of the wall before the pinnacles of the Badlands). Wall Drug was founded 1931 by a pharmacist and his English teacher wife from Sioux Falls. They were looking for a small town with a good decent Catholic church where they could do some good. They didn’t mind being poor, but wanted to use their talents to better the world. After struggling to make a go of a pharmacy for five years, they hit the jackpot when the wife came up with the idea for the pharmacy to offer free ice water to travelers on I-90, tourists off to see Mount Rushmore, or traveling east to see their families. It was genius idea that gave this family a business that has lasted four generations. The place today is basically a restaurant and souvenir shop, but it has many entertaining goodies: like an animated T-Rex, stuffed Bison, a water fountain that soaks the kids, as well as a pretty decent collection of fine art by western American artists and a cute chapel replicated from an order of Monks in Sioux Falls. It’s a decent place to pass the time away from the blistering sun. (Oh, I read to eat the fresh pies at Wall Drug, note to self and anyone who will be there: don’t eat the pies, wasn’t worth it)
PROOF that the world is really only about 25 people and the size of Harrisburg: outside of Wall Drug, Danko met up with the Boy Scout leader from Maryland who had taken his troop out here, and in his troop is Danko’s co-worker’s son. Danko actually helped pay for the trip, by sacrificing his diet and buying chocolates at a fund-raiser. Curiously, it was the first time I heard of any chocolates…figures. I have learned that he was buying chocolates at a dollar a piece often, so often that the boy scouts made it to South Dakota…on a plane…well…guess we’ll be doing some extra hikes.
We headed over to the Badlands park around 3. Driving in, we stopped at various viewpoints and simply were amazed. Unfortunately, Dmytro got a little spooked, because Solomia was worried he’d trip and fall down the cliffs, but that fear was soon replaced with a fear of rattlesnakes…yikes!
We stopped off at the Big Pig Dig. About 15 years ago, a hiker discovered an unusually high amount of fossils in one spot of the park. Fossils here are fairly common, especially of prehistoric marine life, but this was a rare high concentration. If one spots something that could be of interest, anyone can fill out a paleontological report and the local paleontologists check it out. So, they did check out this particular spot and found it to be a watering hole that later on trapped many animals in prehistoric times. Today we saw three paleontologists mapping and brushing the dig, among the items was a skull and bones of some prehistoric creature. VERY cool, figuratively, since it was anything but…see note at top about HOW hot.
Ate dinner in the park at the Cedar Pine Lodge. To be honest, the Cedar Lodge gift shop is much smaller than Wall Drug, but it is much nicer (so I recommend shopping there if anybody ever is out here). We ate their famous Sioux Indian tacos: Indian fry bread topped with seasoned Buffalo meat, lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, and cheese. Below I’ll include the recipe, because it is worth duplicating, I’m salivating just thinking about it.
SIOUX TACO:
Fry bread--1/4 cup sugar, 2 cups flour, 1 cup water (or enough to make soft dough), 1 tsp salt, 3 tsp baking powder
Mix together, using a big spoon drop dough onto a floured surface and pat down to about an inch thick. Fry in 1 or 2 inches of oil at 350 degrees until golden brown.
Meat topping--32 oz refried beans, 1 lb ground buffalo meat (or beef can be substituted), 1-2 packages of Taco Seasoning
Brown meat, stir in refried beans and seasoning. Spread meat on top of fry bread. Top with cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. Complete with guacamole, sour cream, and salsa.
ENJOY!
People here are SUPER friendly. In ten minutes Danko found out more about three strangers in a bar than we know about our next door neighbors of nine years. Also, poor economic standing is not equal to unkept and dirty, a big difference from the south we saw last summer. The bathrooms in the poorest of gas stations are very clean, dare I say “Uncle Nick” clean, and for those that don’t know my Uncle Nick…well, that’s CLEAN.
Not clean: our windshield. I tried to grab the idea in a photo, and it simply didn’t translate, but it must be an entomologists dream!
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