Badlands National Park, South Dakota

As we traveled west on I-90 from Sioux City, we stopped in Wall to visit the famous Wall Drug, the Minuteman Missile Site, and Badlands National Park. What a diverse landscape this state has, and very rugged. The badlands got its name from the harsh landscape of mountains and valleys - not a very welcoming place to travel. 

White Prairie Dogs, Prairie Homestead, South Dakota

The Prairie Homestead on your way to Badlands National Park on Hwy 240 have the world's only white prairie dogs. These white prairie dogs are extremely rare and are a unique species with black skin and white hair but are not classified albino. In 1966, the Ogalala Sioux Tribe was going to poison out a large area of prairie dogs on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation which contained two or three white dogs. The white prairie dogs were relocated to the Prairie Homestead through cooperation with the Sioux Tribe and the Badlands National Park. They were successful in catching one white male prairie dog.  It took 30 years before most of the whole prairie dog town turned white.

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, South Dakota

The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site was established in 1999 to illustrate the history and significance of the Cold War, the arms race, and intercontinental ballistic missile development. This National Historic Site preserves the last remaining Minuteman II ICBM system in the United States. 

Wall Drug Store, Wall, South Dakota

The infamous Wall Drug ~~ we first saw an ad for it when we were in Jasper, Arizona last year, and on our way here on I-90 there were so many billboards advertising it ~~ of course, it had to be on our list of must sees. Wall is located in the "Badlands" of South Dakota. The "Badlands" was named when French trappers who explored the west in the early 1800s called the area a "bad land to cross." The Dakota Sioux Indians labeled it "makosica," meaning "land bad."

Dorothy and Ted Hustead bought Wall Drug Store in 1931. When they moved here there were 326 people in Wall ~ very poor people, most of them farmers who had been wiped out either by the Depression or drought. 

Branson, Missouri

We drove around Branson to see the various oddities and famous landmarks. This place reminds us of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge ~ just lots of show places, water parks, mini golf, to name a few ~ everything geared to taking ones money. Most of the museums are over priced so we did not see them, even though they did sound interesting. 

Ripley's Believe it or Not

Ralph Foster Museum, Branson, Missouri

We visited the Ralph Foster Museum located at the College of the Ozarks, a Christian liberal-arts college where its students work at the college in payment for their tuition, so they come out of college debt free. 

Mr. Foster also collected artifacts, one of which is the famous "Beverly Hillbillies" vehicle, which was the actual one seen in the television series.

The Original Beverly Hillbillies Automobile