We went west on I90 this morning and drove for more than three hours through rolling green countryside with several rain showers until we arrived in Wall, SD. Our first objective today was to visit Wall Drug Store. This store has become a major tourist attraction. It started out as a pharmacy in 1931 and blossomed into a major enterprise by perserverence and astute marketing. When you click on the link above, you can see a brief story on how it got started. Hint - "Free Ice Water".

We stopped for lunch and to find out why it is so popular. Lunch was counter service. I ordered a buffalo hot dog, a donut, cherry and, of course, free ice water. We sat in the large wood paneled dining area decorated with western art and artifacts. After eating, we wandered through the complex. There were more shops than I could count. To get an idea of the expanse, click on this link.

The Geezers

One of the Aisles

Cheater

Animals on Display

Ann and Ellen at Lunch

John, Lynne and Juan at Lunch

Free Water

Western Art

Our next objective of the day was to visit Badlands National Park. We drove southwest from Wall and entered the park. The narrow winding road had several turnouts so that visitors could stop and take in the views of fabulous colorful geological formations as well as views of prairies and grasslands. We took advantage of most of them. We saw little wildlife other than some mountain sheep. I took several photos and have put them in this slideshow. Because we were driving two cars at our own pace, we decided to meet at the visitors center at the end of our tour of the park.

Our final destination of the day was Rapid City. Because it was still early afternoon, we decided to take the more scenic isolated road. We arrived mid-afternoon at La Quinta. It was adjacent to an indoor water park which had another hotel on the other side. The parking lot was very full partly because of all of the people in the water park. This hotel was chosen because Juan and Ann liked to swim. We didn't expect a water park filled with excited kis, though.

Independent Ale House

After checking in, Ann and I decided to do some laundry. The laundry machines were on the floor above us so we had to walk up and down a filthy staircase to use them. To be fair, there was construction maintenance going on, so a little mess couldn't be avoided.

Our dinner was downtown at the Independent Ale House. This was an excellent choice. There were lots of beers on tap. I had a good IPA. Others had wine and cider. The pizza was very good and our waitress was outstanding. We drove back to the hotel in cold, wet and windy weather.