Sunday, June 27, 2004

Sunday, June 27, 2004

The Jolly Green Giant of Blue Earth, Minnesota stands 55 feet tall, hands on hips, staring to the north. This was the first major stop during our marathon Wednesday that took us from Minneapolis at 5 a.m. to our campsite at the Badlands near midnight. You can see the Giant peeking over Blue Earth's foliage from the interstate. He has a small guest center resting on the ground below, but no one seemed to be there at 7:30 in the morning. I think I recall that he cost the town somewhere around $50,000...unfortunately, we didn't have the time to stick around and meet some of those people.

How do you fill an entire building with corn memorabilia and call it "The Corn Palace"? We don't really know. The exhibit was free but really...we had roadside farmer's sculptures to see...

This thing here was just too freaky to stop so we took some photos as we sped down the highway. The farmer claims no ability to paint or draw, BUT.... he can weld. Weird little skeleton figures guard the bull's head, which is about 60 feet tall. Curious? We were,too, but not enough to pay $4 each to have the farmer give us a tour.

Man walking dinosaur (in scrap metal). We don't have any information on this, but you just can't find this type of thing back home. I guess you've got to do something with your time when you live in the flatlands of South Dakota.

Another mission complete---the giant prairie dog was easier to find than we originally thought, waiting on the way into the Badlands. The area surrounding the statue featured a prairie dog feeding zoo and was covered with prairie dogs. It costs money though, so we politely declined.

Unsettlingly beautiful. Disturbing majesty. Pick your paradoxical description. The Badlands were a sight I won't soon forget. It's amazing to think how God came around to making them, and it's nice to think that they'll never be used for a housing development, even if they weren't preserved by the government. There's a good reason they're called the Badlands.

This guy was all over the place Wednesday. He marveled at our Alaska license plate at Sioux Falls on the far east portion of South Dakota, and then we saw him and his posse at the Corn Palace too in the middle of the state. After we bumped into him at the Badlands, we knew we had to get a picture of him with the hands.

The Badlands legendary color schemes never really came out at sunset, but we would meet some buffalo the next day that compensated.

Currently Playing Songs By Rich Mullins see related