50 (or more) Books for 50 States

For me a large part of the travel experience is reading (and food but that’s a post for another day). I always try to have an appropriate book with me to keep me entertained and elucidated on the trip just like I always search out food, beverage and restaurants unique to an area. It’s a lifesaver to bury your head in a good book when your flight is delayed for 3 hours (as happened yesterday, again a post for another day). My State Book Selections have come from several sources: 50 States of Literature, BookClubClassics!, A Bookworm’s Journey, Book Around the States, web searches and my own inspiration. In many instances they overlap. My objective is to read something I may not discover on my own which enhances my journey, ideally the book will enhance my knowledge of my destination.

The BookClubClassics! selection for Tennessee: Run by Ann Patchett, was posted after I traveled to the state, so I did not read it concurrently. Patchett is from Tennessee and a key character is named Tennessee Alice Moser but the book is not set in the state and in no other way makes a reference. I enjoyed Patchett’s Bel Canto (set in South America) and eagerly delved into Run. It’s an incredible novel and I hope that I would have got to it soon but thank you to BookClubClassics! for placing it higher in my stack. I read the book while traveling to Virginia with an unscheduled overnight in Texas so what I really needed was an engaging read, not “all that is Tennessee” so I was thrilled with the page-turning content, though I can’t agree to recommend it as a “state” read. I’ll be looking for anything else by Patchett wherever the setting.

I have blogged the following 16 state books:

Alabama: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Florida: Their Eyes Are Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Idaho: Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Iowa: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
Maine: The Lobster Chronicles; Life on a Very Small Island by Linda Greenlaw**
Minnesota: In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien
Montana: The Big Sky by A.B. Guthrie
Nebraska: My Antonia by Willa Cather
Nevada: Nevada by Clint McCullough*
New Hampshire: A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
New York: Wedding of the Waters: The Making of the Erie Canal by Peter L. Bernstein*
North Dakota: Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
South Dakota: Little House on the Prairie and The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Tennessee: Run by Ann Patchett
Vermont: The Secret History by Donna Tartt

* I’ve not read these selections.
** I’ve previously read, but not this year

Any recommendations for future state reads are very welcome!

A Yachting Weekend

Last weekend I did something completely different. John, Georgia & I took the Jo-Fran for a four hour cruise up the Petaluma River from Sausalito for a Classic Yacht Association event. We’ve been members of the CYA for years but have never had an opportunity to participate in a cruise before because we’re usually salmon fishing. That’s an entirely different topic that I won’t get into today. Navigating the river was easy and arranging for the D Street Bridge to be opened was equally painless. We docked stern-to at the Petaluma Yacht club dock, side-tied with nine other Classic Yachts.

You’re eligible for membership in the CYA if your boat was built prior to 1959 (just adjusted from 1942). The Jo-Fran was built in 1939 by Western Boat Works in Wilmington, CA. She’s a custom design by D.M. Callis and was built for actor, Frank Morgan.

The Northern California city of Petaluma was celebrating its sesquicentennial anniversary. On Saturday we were fortunate enough to have front row seats for The Petaluma Wine, Jazz and Blues Festival without even having to go through the gate. The stage was directly across from the dock and we enjoyed The Pete Escovedo Latin Jazz Orchestra and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy from the cabin-top.

One festival a weekend wasn’t enough. Sunday was the Petaluma Sesquicentennial River Fest. We were all invited “down by the Riverside for a day of Family Fun, Boat Races & Tours, Local Music, Classics and Old Cars on the river and on the waterfront”. We again had a front row seat, this time on the bow, for the canoe races & blindfolded dinghy races.

The historic Hay Scow Schooner Alma and the Sea Scout’s Compass Rose were open for tours as were our classic boats. It was a real kick to be a part of it all. The bonus of getting to know other classic boat owners made the weekend. Hopefully we’ll be able to attend another event soon.

#32 IOWA

Of all the state names, “Iowa” is the only one that begins with two vowels, it’s known as Hawkeye State, Tall Corn State, Land of Rolling Prairie, or Cyclone State. Northeast Iowa is the Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area I would have loved to take the 64-mile Barn Quilts loop through Grundy County or the John Deere Factory Tour in Waterloo but we were bound for the center of the Hawkeye State, Des Moines. It was the eve of the Iowa State Fair and we were challenged to locate accommodations for the night. Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, was going to the fair. The Rodgers and Hammerstein movie State Fair is based on the Iowa Sate Fair. Movie fans know that both the 1962 remake with Ann Margaret and the 1945 original are fun to watch today. With the help of the Hilton Honors Diamond hotline we secured a room in the Des Moines suburb Urbandale. Weary from the many miles, we opted to walk across the parking lot to a restaurant rather than explore when it came time for dinner. The Texas Roadhouse was offering a drink special for fair ticket holders, but I suspect it was a popular destination without that incentive. This was my second visit to this chain, the first being in Alabama early this year. I’ll go to extreme lengths to patronize independent establishments but I confess I’ve been happy with Texas Roadhouse on both occasions. I suspect the margaritas were a contributing factor.



The next morning was our opportunity to see the sights. The Des Moines Art Center’s three buildings are designed by Eliel Saarinen, I.M. Pei and Richard Meier so I had to take a look. We passed it by on Grand Ave. at first and had had to double back to the unassuming setting in Greenwood Park. The collection and restaurant were tempting but we contented ourselves with admiring the architecture and continued our town of downtown Des Moines, culminating with the Iowa State Capitol, which conveniently was at the end of the road.

Bill Bryson’s memoir, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is about his childhood in Iowa in the 1950s. I really enjoyed his Grand Avenue musings:
“I liked Grand Avenue very much. In those days it was adorned from downtown to the western suburbs with towering, interlacing elms, the handsomest street-side tree eve rand a generous provider of drifts of golden leaves to shuffle through in autumn. But more than this, Grand Avenue felt the way a street should feel. … Where it ceased being residential and entered the downtown, by the industrial-scale hunk of the Meredith Publishing Building (home of Better Homes and Gardens magazine), Grand made an abrupt dogleg to the left, as if it suddenly remembered an important appointment. Originally from this point it was intended to proceed through the downtown as a kind of Midwestern Champs-Elysees, running up to the steps of the state capitol building. The idea was that as you progressed along Grand you would behold before you, perfectly centered, the golden-domed glory of the capitol building (and it is quite a structure, one of the best in the country).
But when the road was being laid out sometime in the second half of the 1800s there was a heavy rain in the night and apparently the surveyors’ sticks moved – at least that was what we were always told – and the road deviated from the correct line, leaving the capitol oddly off center; so that it looks as if it had caught in the act of trying to escape.”






Satisfied that we saw at least a smidgen of the city we headed west. Route 6 broke off from I 80 about 55 miles west of Des Moines. How could I resist my new favorite highway? What’s even better was it was only a quick detour to the site of the first robbery of a moving train. The Jesse James Gang staged the misguided crime on July 21, 1873, after having learned that $75,000 in gold would be on board. They ingeniously pulled train from it’s rails, killing two and injuring scores and forced a guard to open the safe only to discover $2000 in currency within. Their cleverness let them down because that in combination with cash and items looted from passengers yielded only $3000. The $10,000 reward offered for the capture of Jesse James “Dead or Alive” was too tempting for fellow gang member Bob Ford and thus ends the story. Yet another crime doesn’t pay moral. The bucolic Route 6 led us into Council Bluffs as we contemplated James’ fate.


I was craving spicy food and when we located a Mexican restaurant in Council Bluffs right off the freeway I had to go there. La Mesa Mexican Restaurant is just south of I 80-29 exit 3, right next to the Motel 6. It was good, very good, but I would have liked it if it were only marginal, salsa junkie that I am. Pulling into the parking lot I experienced déjà vu. Could it be that I’ve been here before? Possibly. My sister & I drove east across the country on I 80 in 1999. I know we made an overnight stop in Council Bluffs, I’m 95% certain we stayed at that Motel 6 and I can’t imagine we opted for Burger King over La Mesa. Who would have thought I’d return!

Some Iowa trivia for you:

• Cedar Rapids has one of the largest cereal mills in the U.S.
• Indianola is home to the National Balloon Museum.
• In the U.S., Iowa ranks first in soybean, egg, corn and hog production.
• John Wayne (Marion Robert Morrison) was born in Winterset. You can visit his birthplace and view the eyepatch from True Grit and other Duke memorabilia.
• The RAGBRAI®, The Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, is an annual seven-day bicycle ride across the state. RAGBRAI is the longest, largest and oldest touring bicycle ride in the world. Check out the Roadkill Raccoon story from this year’s ride: http://tinyurl.com/67q5vv

My musical selection for Iowa is Joni Mitchell’s The Dry Cleaner From Des Moines Mitchell's 1979 collaboration with Charles Mingus, a story of a dry cleaner from Iowa who, to the disgruntlement of our narrator, is enjoying a lucky run on the slot machines: "Des Moines was stacking the chips/ Raking off the tables/ Ringing the bandit's bells." Thanks again to 50 songs for 50 states.

I couldn’t resist reading Bill Bryson’s The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, a Memoir. He’s one of my favorites and I needed some comic relief after the North Dakota and Minnesota selections. How can you resist chuckling aloud when you read Bryson’s wry wit.

“Iowa’s main preoccupations have always been farming and being friendly, both of which we do better than almost anyone else.” ___ “The climate is ideal too, if you don’t mind shoveling tons of snow in the winter and dodging tornadoes all summer”

Minnesota Prairie Home Addendum

Well, here I am driving into Santa Fe, NM and what do I hear on the radio? An ad for the Prairie Home Companion Rhubarb Tour on the day my Minnesota post went up. I started thinking about Garrison Keillor. Everyone who is familiar with him, the radio show, the books or the movie must associated him with Minnesota. Has anyone received more press or late night television digs than the trifecta Keillor, musician Prince and erstwhile wrestler and governor Jesse Ventura?

I watched the Altman film Prairie Home Companion two days ago and subsequently remembered I have his 2001 book Lake Wobegon Summer 1956 on my bookshelf, it was not one of his best works. 1985's Lake Wobegon Days stands out in my memory as the better read.

The Rhubarb Tour doesn't arrive in Santa Fe until I will be long gone on Aug. 26, but Keillor's presence continues to taunt me as I hop around the U.S.A.

#31 MINNESOTA

Minnesota is the Dakota Sioux words for sky-tinted water. The quarter and license plates proclaiming Land of 10,000 Lakes don’t lead you astray, the state has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined. Minnesota actually has closer to 15,000 lakes but obviously someone decided to err on the side of caution. John & I celebrated our 7th anniversary at Two Harbors Lighthouse Bed & Breakfast, on the Minnesota shores of the largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Superior aka Gittchie-gumma (among a number of other variations). We were in the Keepers Room in the main house and it was extremely comfortable. The three bedrooms upstairs share a single bath and I consider us so fortunate that we were the sole occupants that night. If I return, I would opt to stay in the Skiff House, a separate building located across the yard, for privacy alone.

The idyllic Two Harbors is a cliché small town, the perfect place to wile away your summer holiday. It’s named for its two harbors, Agate Bay and Burlington Bay and have humongous iron ore loading docks which we were disappointed to not see in action. We were only there overnight so had to wile quickly. A steam tug Edna G was docked by the taconite loading docks. It’s owned by the Minnesota Historic Society and of course, we had to take a tour. Afterwards a cooling walk out to the end of the breakwater capped off the balmy afternoon.


The next morning we followed the shore north 20 miles to visit the Split Rock Lighthouse which perches on a cliff top adjacent to a state park. I made note of the campsites for the perpetual “next time.”





We retraced our tire tracks to Duluth. The Duluth-Superior harbor is the world’s largest, farthest-inland seaport, and over 1,100 vessels drop anchor each year during the April-December shipping season. Each carries cargo such as iron ore, coal and grain some 2,432 miles across the Great Lakes and beyond. The most famous landmark is the Aerial Lift Bridge. We couldn’t figure out exactly how it works but finally discovered that the 1,000 ton (!!!!) center span is raised and lowered with two 500 ton concrete counterweights, an average of 5,500 times a year. If we had stayed in the area I’m sure we would have witnessed it in action, they say it goes up 25 to 30 times during the height of the season. The Boat Watchers Hotline is http://www.duluthboats.com/ or 218.722.6489. There was a Hampton Inn right on Canal Park Dr., a terrific location to watch it all. Ah, next time… We did patronize Northern Lights Books & Gifts right across the street. I keep finding this statistic: VisitDuluth.com reports “In the early 1900’s mining and timber barons built many of Duluth’s incredible mansions. At the time, Duluth had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the world.” I can vouch for some of the beautiful mansions.

It seems like a great area for cycling. The 60 mile Willard Munger State Trail, running south from Duluth to Hinckley, is the longest paved path in the U.S. If you prefer to go on foot, The Superior Hiking trail is one of Backpacker magazines ten best trails in the U.S. http://www.shta.org/. Venturing farther into the Land of Lakes you can hike or bike parts of the 100-mile Paul Bunyan State Trail around the 465 lakes in the Brainerd Lakes Area If you’re feeling really adventurous you can paddle the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, a dream trip of mine.

Somewhere over the state…Judy Garland was born in Grand Rapids. Check out her birthplace: http://www.blogger.com/www.judygarlandmuseum.com%20 . The North Star State is also home to Bob Dylan, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Paul Getty, Jane Russell and Charles M. Schulz.

We stopped at a Road Food recommendation in St. Paul for lunch. Mickey’s Dining Car did not impress. The food, when it finally arrived, was fine but we would have preferred to have received what we ordered. I was happiest with Mickey’s when I watched Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion and within the first five minutes the camera spanned the Mickey’s rail car. “I need to go there” I thought, and then I realized that I’ve already been there. How sad! It really is a cute location, and Altman used it well in the opening and closing of the film. I would have been better off with a Milky Way candy bar, first created by Frank C. Mars of Minnesota, out of a road side vending machine. Let’s face it, that’s what road food always comes down to isn’t it? OK, I must confess we had two other very enjoyable road food-esque meals in Minnesota. Lunch was good at Bridgeman’s Family Dining Soda Fountain in Floodwood and our walleye dinner with wild rice at The Vanilla Bean in Two Harbors was one of the best meals I’ve had in ages. There is no commercial walleye fishery in Minnesota, it all comes from Canada but the wild rice is a MN staple. Traditionally, August is called “manominikegississ,” the month of rice-making. I participated by purchasing some to take home.

You recognize the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) from the opening credits of Mary Tyler Moore Show. The State Capitol dome was visible as we left the city heading south down I 35. My final MN highlight was driving through an area I had lived in when I was 6 years old. Southeastern MN is flat. It’s primarily an agricultural growing and processing area. I lived in Waseca but time dictated I reminisce at the exit sign only. If I could squeeze in a few extra hours I would have driven through my former small town home and then veered south to Austin to visit the Hormel Food Corp’s. Spam Museum. How cool and kitschy that would have been!

My Minnesota song pick comes from Laura Barton’s 50 songs for 50 states: The Hold Steady’s Stuck Between StationsTales of drinking, dancing and making out in Minneapolis: "These twin city kisses/ Sound like clicks and hisses/ And we all come down and drown in the Mississippi River."

The Book Club Classics! 50 States 50 Books pick for Minnesota is Tim O’Brien’s In The Lake of the Woods.

The Amazon.com description reads: “In 1994 O'Brien wrote In the Lake of the Woods, a novel that, while imbued with the troubled spirit of Vietnam, takes place entirely after the war and in the United States. The main character, John Wade, is a man in crisis: after spending years building a successful political career, he finds his future derailed during a bid for the U.S. Senate by revelations about his past as a soldier in Vietnam. The election lost by a landslide, John and his wife, Kathy, retreat to a small cabin on the shores of a Minnesota lake--from which Kathy mysteriously disappears.
Was she murdered? Did she run away? Instead of answering these questions, O'Brien raises even more as he slowly reveals past lives and long-hidden secrets. Included in this third-person narrative are "interviews" with the couple's friends and family as well as footnoted excerpts from a mix of fictionalized newspaper reports on the case and real reports pertaining to historical events--a mélange that lends the novel an eerie sense of verisimilitude. If Kathy's disappearance is at the heart of this work, then John's involvement in a My Lai-type massacre in Vietnam is its core, and O'Brien uses it to demonstrate how wars don't necessarily end when governments say they do. In the Lake of the Woods may not be true, but it feels true--and for Tim O'Brien, that's true enough.”

I thought it was a creepy page-turner which I’m uncertain if I can wholeheartedly recommend but I couldn’t put down. Again, there was a definite sense of place that made it an appropriate read for the state. The thriller will haunt me if I ever find myself in Boundary Waters. It’s an unsettling enough portrait of a politicians motivation in this election year (Why does it seem that we’re always in the midst of an election?)

#30 NORTH DAKOTA

The world’s largest hamburger, at 3,591 pounds, was made in Rutland, North Dakota in 1982. Obviously we’re dealing with a state that doesn’t deal in half measures. The geographical center of North America is Rugby, ND. The Peace Garden State, named for the International Peace Garden that was built on the boundary between North Dakota and the Canadian province of Manitoba. Dakota, incidentally, is the Sioux word for friend.


What is North Dakota road food? My beloved Roadfood book had no listings and www.roadfood.com had only two. The sole selection for Fargo was a candy shop so I was left to my own devices for dinner. Normally I eschew a chain restaurant but I opted to dine at the Green Mill near our hotel. What a pleasant surprise! This Minnesota chain has a few branches in Wisconsin, Kansas and, fortuitously for us, Fargo, North Dakota. Our dinner salads were good as were the wine & beer specials.


Pleasant temperatures enveloped us in August but even in November there are days that Fargo is colder than the North Pole, when prairie winds whip up the snow and dirt on the ground causing a blinding horizontal blizzard without a fresh flake of snow falling. If you saw the Coen brothers movie Fargo, you remember the flatness of horizon on the horizon. The city did benefit from the film even though was filmed in other locations. An Academy Awards gala held at the Art Deco Fargo Theatre, formerly a silent film venue, brought enough attention to the theater to raise funds for a renovation. Residents are reported to obey the Scandinavian concept of janteloven (don’t show off), but sometimes a little exhibitionism is what it takes. The FargoDome, adjacent to the NDSU campus, is where some do. It’s an entertainment venue where local. The Convention & Visitor Bureau’s slogan is “Our welcomes are always warm. And that’s cool!” It can’t be said that they don’t have a sense of humor. Some stats: Fargo has 4 tanning salons & 20 city snowplows for 90,000 residents. There were 3 murders between 1998 and 2003 of which 2 are solved. The lowest temperature was -39 degrees and average annual snowfall is 40 inches.


Fargo has garnered some interesting accolades. It’s ranked the Third Least Angry City by Men’s Health Magazine and the environment tops San Diego’s according to Earth Day Network.


A particularly nasty winter melted into a flood in 1997. Fargo was able to contain the swollen Red River of the North but Grand Forks bore the brunt with damages estimated at $2 billion. Red River Rising: The Anatomy of a Flood and the Survival of an American City by Ashley Shelby sounds like a riveting recounting of the disaster. A copy is winging it’s way to me as I type.

Lewis & Clark (oh, them again!) spent more time exploring this region than any other. They first saw grizzly bears in North Dakota. In their honor scenic byways ND 1804 and ND 1806 (note the names are the years they traversed the land) now trace paths up and down the Missouri River. I particularly like the “Lewis and Clark slept here – 146 times” ad. Fort Mandan and ND Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center are the two richest sources of Lewis and Clark history in the world. North Dakota even offers a Lewis & Clark Golf Trail. Someday I hope to follow their trail, sans golf, but I really have a yen to visit the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. “Make a left at the giant dairy cow, then turn right at the “World’s Largest Buffalo,” and if you pass a 32-foot-tall turtle driving a snowmobile, you’ve gone too far.” A menagerie of oversized animal is reportedly visible for miles across the plains. Salem Sue, a huge fiberglass Holstein who symbolized the dairy industry, can be spied off of I 94, near Salem, from miles away. I’m sorry to report that our brief foray into the state yielded no zoological sights. I would have loved to view Wee’l Turtle in Dunseith, or the Fishing Hall of Fame’s, Wally the Walleye in Garrison. Oh know, it sounds like another trip in the plans.


All 50 states have wineries, and I have yet to sample ND wines at Maple River Winery in Casselton www.mapleriverwinery.com


The Walking Trail named in honor of author Louis L’Amour is a highlight of his hometown, Jamestown. Other famous North Dakotans are Lawrence Welk, Peggy Lee, baseball great Roger Maris


In 1951 oil was discovered near Tioga. The Aug. 6, 2008 USA Today reported that “North Dakota’s budget surplus is expected to soar above $1.2 billion by June, according to new estimates of state tax collections. State Budget Director Pam Sharp said the new revenue estimates assume state oil prices will average almost $98 a barrel until July 1, and almost $85 a barrel through June 30, 2010.” Beulah, ND, nicknamed “the energy capital of America” is home to the nation’s first synfuels plant – fuel produced from coal is used as a substitue for natural gas or petroleum. The North Dakota Energy Trail features Antelope Valley Stateion, Freedom Mine, Great Plains Synfuels Plant and Knife River Coal Mining Co.


The present-day capital building, in Bismarck, is commonly known as the “Skyscraper on the Prairie”. It was constructed of white limestone on black granite in 1934 after a fire destroyed the original building and stands a towering 19 stories. The interior of the Art Deco tower features Belgian marble, Honduran mahogany, East Indian rosewood, English brown oak and Burmese teak.


I think of ND as a rural state with most residents involved in agriculture but in as of 1987 more of the state’s population of less than 650,000 lives in cities and towns than farms. Agriculture still is North Dakota’s #1 industry, over 39 million acres, nearly 90% of the state, is in farms and ranches. The majority of those acres are planted to wheat, soybeans, barley, sunflowers, canola and corn. The ND Ag Foundation published a terrific brochure “Major Crops & Livestock of North Dakota.” I wish I could pick up similar material for every state I visit, instead of just speculating what could be planted in those fields we’re zooming by at 75 mph.


My musical choice for the Rough Rider state is Lyle Lovett’s North Dakota It’s a great cowboy tale of guns and the boys of North Dakota who apparently "drink whisky for their fun" but at heart it’s just another sappy song of the lovelorn. Another pop culture reference I can’t forget is The Electric Company’s (early Sesame Street) Fargo North, Decoder—An Inspector Clouseau-type detective who attempts to decode scrambled word messages and phrases using his different machines (one made from an old fashioned washing machine).


A comprehensive list of North Dakota books is at http://www.plainsfolk.com/buffalocommons/100books.htm I read and loved the choice from 50 States of Literature: Leif Enger’s Peace Like a River It’s one of my favorite book that I’ve read in a long time and was a perfect selection for the state. I’m not going to say anymore about except that I highly recommend this book.

#29 SOUTH DAKOTA

A Chinese ring-necked pheasant in flight above the Mount Rushmore National Monument, featuring the faces of four American Presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln, bookended by heads of wheat: does that say South Dakota? Sure, it works for me and obviously for the U.S. Mint. The South Dakota Division of Wildlife reported all time high pheasant counts for 2007, mainly due to ample habitat from CRP lands. SD is a pheasant hunter’s mecca with several outfitters offering trips, resulting in a huge source of revenue for the state. We drove through miles and miles of country road in the eastern part of the state and were disappointed that we never saw a pheasant. Perhaps the area was too cultivated? It was beautiful nonetheless.

The home of Sparky Anderson, Tom Brokaw and Crazy Horse; South Dakota was the highlight of a road trip I took with my sister in several years ago. We drove east to west on I 90 and after visiting the Corn Palace, Wall Drug and driving through the Badlands, stayed in the worst hotel I’ve ever encountered. It was an experience that somehow enhanced the trip as only extreme hardship can. After no sleep and afraid to shower lest we catch something from the grimy walls we started the next day predawn and arrived at Mt. Rushmore to see the faces emerge from early morning mists. It was one of the most beautiful sights I ever experienced. On the western side of the state Gutzon Borglum began drilling into Mount Rushmore, the 5,725-foot peak rising above Harney National Forest, in 1927. Creation of the "Shrine of Democracy" took 14 years and cost approximately $1 million, though it is now deemed priceless. It’s a landmark recognized around the world that was started as a draw to attract sightseers. Talk about a job well done. We then visited the Crazy Horse monument and drove down into the Pine Ridge reservation. Overwhelmed by history, emotion, kitsch and natural wonders on that trip, I was disappointed that I would only venture across the eastern plains this time around but contented myself with the knowledge that it would be one more state for the year.


Immediately after crossing the state line from Nebraska on I 29 billboards advertising the National Music Museum in Vermillion sprang up on the roadside. A quick cross reference of the map and the AAA book (a terrific resource) persuaded us to make to 20 mile detour to the home of University of South Dakota. The National Music Museum was terrific! They claim a collection of over 13,500 features instruments from all cultures and historic periods. Not too shabby! I especially enjoyed the exhibits from the early 1900’s and wanted to love the third world instrument gallery but became frustrated by the labels. There were numbers cataloging each item but corresponding identification sheets only encompassed half of the numbers. They just had too much in that room and every time I wanted to know more I was stymied.

Just six miles north of town is Spirit Mound Historic Prairie, a hill rising only 100 feet above the surrounding prairie but offering sweeping views of the area (get the flat picture?). Once again Lewis and Clark became a part of my travels. On August 25, 1805, Lewis & Clark took eleven men and Lewis’ dog Seaman to explore the mound. Their expedition was making its way up the Missouri River which runs at this point east to west across the now Nebraska / South Dakota state line. They had a difficult hike in the heat and humidity and Seaman had to be sent back to the river (Seaman was a Newfoundland that Lewis purchased for $20 in 1803. He is mentioned several times in the journals and accompanied them on the entire expedition.) We were much more comfortable: while the day was quite sultry, a stiff, refreshing breeze (note my hair in the picture) kept the bugs down and us refreshed. While wandering through prairie grasses reaching over my head I couldn’t help remembering having read that there is only one poisonous snake native to South Dakota: the prairie rattlesnake. Now, I’m not sure how this statistic relates to other states: is this high or low? Are prairie rattlesnakes rampant? How big of a threat is it? Should I be concerned or amused? Just random paranoia… we emerged back at the car unscathed. Clark wrote: “from the top of this mound we beheld a most butifull landscape; Numerous herds of buffalow were seen feeding in various directions….” I can report no buffalo, no snakes and few bugs but the Park Service did an impressive job with multiple interpretive signs identifying the prairie grasses. I would recommend this site to anyone but big, shaggy dogs.


The South Dakota Lewis & Clark Trail is choc-a-bloc full of interesting sites and activities. One could easily fill a two week vacation traveling the Missouri River via water or land and follow in their footsteps. Maybe someday…


Breaking away from the all things Lewis & Clark we opted to avoid the interstate we made our way via country roads to Sioux Falls for the night. Our dinner destination, the Tea Steak House, was 5 miles south. Road Food refers to it as “one of the top beef dens of the great plains” and we weren’t disappointed. Their slogan is “Bring Your Sugar to Tea”. Sweet!


We were one of the few automobiles in our hotel parking lot but had trouble locating a place to park. I hadn’t realized that the immense Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was taking place this week, but should have taken a clue from the hundreds of bikes in the area. Our fellow travelers were obviously having a terrific time and displaying camaraderie and good cheer.

Downtown Sioux Falls was a pleasant surprise. Wanting to view Falls Park, we detoured through downtown on our Sunday Morning departure. We passed the Old Courthouse, a sturdy 1800’s quartzite building anchoring the town. http://www.siouxlandmuseums.com/ I was very impressed with the Sioux Falls Sculpture Walk. This annual event consists of 50 or more sculptures displayed along the cute downtown Phillips Avenue. The artists lend their work the city for the season and all pieces are for sale. Every year a “People’s Choice” is elected for the city to purchase. The museum-quality artwork is varied and I was thrilled to be able to admire it while strolling through town. They’ve got a great photo tour that you can view via the link above. We walked along the namesake tiered waterfalls in Falls Park and went up the 5-story tower at the visitor center for a better vantage. They have a nightly lightshow in the summer and performances of a Shakespeare play for a few weekends in addition to the Falls Overlook Café and Horse Barn Arts Center. The 42 acre park is a beautiful setting for all sorts of cultural events.


I selected two Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books: Little House on the Prairie and The Long Winter for my South Dakota reads. Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series is autobiographical children’s fiction which recounts her early life with her family. Little House on the Prairie is about their move in covered wagon to what is now Kansas and efforts to settle there. I read this book for SD because so many of the experiences & activities detailed took place anywhere on the prairie. The Long Winter is specific to South Dakota’s winter of 1880-81, referred to as the “Snow Winter”; snow began with a three-day surprise blizzard in October and continued with unrelenting storms into May. One early resident wrotethat the snowstorms came so frequently that it was “almost one continuous blizzard”. Most families were unprepared for the early onset of winter with unharvested crops and short food supplies. By January, train service across the upper Plains was halted because of the heavy snow completely isolating the pioneers. Details in The Long Winter match the memoirs of pioneers: the grinding of wheat in coffee mills, the endless task of twisting prairie hay for fuel, the eerie gray twilight of the snowed-in houses, the agony of waiting and hoping that the trains would get through, the steady creep of starvation when they failed once again.

The Ingalls Homestead in De Smet, SD is a top draw attraction complete with covered wagon rides. This is the land where Charles Ingalls homesteaded in 1880 and where Laura met and married Alonzo Wilder.

To close here are lyrics from the Bee Gees’ South Dakota Morning, a rather peculiar perspective...

The sun shines down on a South Dakota morning
And I can see their faces in my eyesI wish they were behind me
My enemy can find me
If only to remind me that I'm really not alone
All the South Dakota mornings I have known
The eagle flies on a South Dakota morning
And I don't see my eagle anymore
Now stranger, I must kill you
You must survive, but will you
I may just beat you down, but will it even up the score
I think I saw the eagle just once more
The rain comes down on a South Dakota morning
And I can't see the sadness in my town
So let it be my pillow for underneath your willow
Wanna go back to you though your nothing but a town
On the South Dakota grass I lay me down