CORN PALACE & LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE SOUTH DAKOTA

August 1, 2013

I have heard of the Corn Palace in Mitchell SD before but never thought about it as a destination point.  It is on I-90 and since we were close, why not?  The palace was built to celebrate the end of harvest.  It now is used as a venue for various local activities and state basketball tournaments.

I justified to Ray the reason to see the palace was so we could say yes when anyone asked if we had seen it.  I think Ray was more intrigued with artwork of the murals than I was.  I was fascinated that they continue the process of making murals.

 The palace is in the middle of town.  We did have the fifth wheel with us and we opted to park three blocks away on the street instead of trying to find a parking place closer.



There was parking across the street for RVs but we didn't know it was there and didn't want to take a change of not being able to get out.  Something we always have to think about.

Yep, its really covered in corn!

 The inside also has murals and also pictures of previous murals.

We had to stop at the "Corn"cessions and have a corn-on-the-cob and a corn dog.  The picture behind Ray is the first palace.

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE - DeSmet SD

Not on the interstate and 70 miles away from Mitchell, is the final home of Laura Ingalls Wider and her family.  I had to go and see where Laura lived on the prairie.  Ray, being the good husband, said you find the route and we will go.  The upside we saw a lot of corn fields and silos.  I was a little nervous being on state and county roads and Ray hates it when I say "I'm pretty sure I know where we're going..."  I mean who trusts a Garmin to be right?

The museum property has the first school house, the surveyors house, a replica of an old school house and a gift shop.  There is also a walking/riding tour through town where you can see shops and other places described in books.  There is a guided tour for $10 but we opted to walk on our own and took the dogs.

 The gift shop contains all of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books.  It was fun to look at them and remember reading them.  I think these were the first chapter books I read and was exited when I realized that there was a series of books.  This started my love of reading.  I also noticed families sharing the experience of the books with young daughters and sons.  It made me smile as they were selecting books, mementos, and dolls.

One thing that Ray and I both commented on was all the jobs Pa had.  The family moved a lot and Pa had many jobs - farmer, hotel manager, surveyor, carpenter...

 Up three blocks to Main, down four blocks and turn right and go three more blocks - there you are at the house pa built.  Never mind in you are in the Midwest and its humid...you're at the house that Pa built.

This was well worth the nerves about getting lost and not finding a place to park the truck and RV.  Now three more hours of travels to Prairie View RV Park in Granite Fall, Minnesota where ever that is...