On the road to Wall Drug. . .

Entering South Dakota, aside from taking in the beautiful, scenic farmland, you can't help but notice the billboards posted along Interstate 90. Some are public service announcements reminding you to buckle up or stop smoking, but most call your attention to the fact that the world famous Wall Drug Store is a mere 250 miles away. Every few miles, there's another Wall Drug billboard. "As seen on the Today Show" and "Cowboy Up at Wall Drug!" Even "Free Ice Water and 5 cent coffee at Wall Drug!"

How can you help but get curious? With each passing billboard, I KNEW we needed to stop there. But first was a stop at the Corn Palace in Mitchell. A palace made out of CORN! HELLO! Of course we had to stop! And yes, inside, the entire place did smell like popcorn. A few pictures and soon we were back on the interstate and to my daydreams about the world famous Wall Drug.



Even as we were approaching the Badlands National Park exit, I started doing mileage calculations in my head. If we do the scenic loop through the Badlands we would miss passing by Wall Drug on Interstate 90. Sadly, I nearly resigned myself to NOT seeing Wall Drug as we approached the entrance to the Badlands, until I saw the billboard saying, "See the Badlands and THEN follow the arrows to Wall Drug." I could have my cake and eat it too! Which I found out via a billboard that they did have at Wall Drug!

The Badlands were incredible (and conveniently had a restroom located just a couple minutes inside the park). The girls were in awe at every twist and turn. The colors were incredible, the formations were both stunning and alien at the same time. We stopped, gawked, and filmed.



And then we found the sign to Wall Drug! A mere thirty minutes later, we arrived in the town of Wall, SD and miraculously found the parking spot in front of the entrance to my much anticipated destination. I wish we had an entire day to spend at Wall Drug, but alas we had an hour. The girls were in heaven and surprisingly, so was Michael! Candy, jewelry, food, gifts, art, gems, and yes a fully stocked Drug store. . .you name it, they had it. And if they didn't have it, you really didn't need it.

An hour later, we left with four enormous bags. The Tolley family did indeed "Cowboy Up" at Wall Drug. We all left with new cowboy boots (or as Katherine says, "Pink boots are NOT cowboy boots, they are cowGIRL boots!" and the girls each picked out a matching cowboy/girl hat. These items will actually serve a real purpose when we reach Wyoming, but the girls do not yet know this. Another surprise in store. SSSSHHHHHHH.

With new hats on their heads, we drove though an ominous thunderstorm to reach Mount Rushmore. Skies cleared as we made our way through Keystone up through the Black Hills National Forest. Although I've seen thousands of images of the carvings at Mount Rushmore, it is truly awe inspriring to round the corner and look up and see four very familar faces carved into the side of the mountain. Kayleigh squealed with delight! We spent a couple of hours hiking around the Presidential Trail, dinner and bed early for a long drive through Wyoming.