Laura Ingalls Wilder

Today was going to be a relatively short day with just two planned stops. The aim was to position ourselves in Mitchell SD for a longer drive tomorrow to Rapid City where we would spend Labor Day weekend. We would have gone further to better divide up the distance, but looking for hotels in smaller towns can be tricky. I’m starting to miss my motorhome.

Our first stop was gleaned from roadsideamerica.com – The International Vinegar Museum in Roslyn SD. It was my pick. I was really curious how an entire museum could be devoted to vinegar. Alas, my curiosity remains unsatisfied; the museum was closed. It’s only open T-F-S and we were there on W. So it’s on the road again.

The International Vinegar Museum, Roslyn, SD

We continued cruising south on Hwy-25 looking for a town to fill both the car and ourselves. Webster was too soon so we headed on to De Smet as the next town of any size. We filled up the car then stopped at a nearby diner (sorry, can’t remember the name now and neither Garmin or Google Maps show anything.) While eating, we noticed the placemats were making a big deal out of Laura Ingalls Wilder. So we asked at the register and it turns out De Smet was where she lived and they have a museum celebrating her.

I never read any of the “Little House on the Prairie” books, but Ken’s daughter really loved them as a child. We had plenty of time so we headed over to the “Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial” and took a tour. They had brought together several of the buildings mentioned in her books and were restoring them to the appropriate timeframes. It was a pretty interesting tour even though I didn’t know any of the references. It gave a great snapshot of a period in our history.

Surveyor's House - the house the Ingalls family lived
in the winter before moving out on the Prairie

“The House that Pa Built – 1887”

We ended up spending nearly two hours extra in De Smet but finally headed on the road to Mitchell SD and the Econo Lodge where we had reservations. That turned out to be a crummy hotel. Which is strange since the last two Econo Lodges we stayed in were pretty decent. I guess some franchise chains are not closely supervised.

After checking in and fiddling around getting the wi-fi to work, we headed out for supper and to see the Corn Palace (actually in the opposite order). The Corn Palace is a multi-purpose arena/facility that started out as a boosterism competition with Pierre. Each year new murals are designed by local artists. We were told that they weren’t as colorful this year due to the drought. All colors are from various plants – no dying allowed. Ken had visited it sometime in the past and said he remembers it as being more impressive. It’s still pretty neat.

293 mi, 4.33 hrs moving, 8:53 hrs total

[written 11/18/13 – long after the fact!]