Minnesota to South Dakota

Yesterday morning Eric took us to Minnehaha Falls (“Laughing Water”) in Minneapolis, which was close to the Mississippi – it was a nice sight in the middle of a city. I think I would like to go back and explore the number of art museums (one of which Eric lived next to) and theaters in the city. We really didn’t have time to take full advantage of the city. We then went over to the Mall of America so that we could say we went there, though the shops were closed since it was too early. The main purpose, though, was to go to Ikea across the street to have their 99 cent breakfast – it seems like be a popular thing to do, maybe for the Mall of America shoppers and walkers.
We drove down Minnesota and then over to I-90 into South Dakota, which spans the entire state in the south. It is an endless road with flat prairie for as far as you can see. There are more signs advertising various “attractions” such as the famous Wall Drug and the Corn Palace, both of which we stopped at. Before we went to Wall Drug, however, we did the Badlands loop which was impressive. We were both thinking that pictures will not really do it justice. It was really strange to see that smack in the middle of the South Dakota prairie. We even saw prairie dogs, though fortunately no snakes.
After finally coming up on Rapid City it was dark and we were ready to be at the campground, but we were able to see Mount Rushmore lit up in the dark - it was smaller than we thought but still awesome in many senses of the word. The stars out here are of course plentiful and was also a welcome sight after the long drive.
This morning was also beautiful, and it was nice to wake up in the middle of nature for once. We are off to see Mount Rushmore in the daytime and perhaps take advantage of the $2.50 all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast at the KOA. Then its another long drive to Salt Lake City, probably through Wyoming (though I never know how Magellan will take us!)