When we were planning our cross country trip, we had some big must-do's on our list, the usual touristy things. So in mapping out one big tourist spot to the next, we needed some stops to fill in the gaps to make shorter days. Between Chicago and Rapid City, SD was one of those fillers. I originally was just looking for a place to stop. We wanted to get farther than Wisconson, although Wisconsin had a few contenders on our list of things we wanted to check out. It really just came down to what we had time for. And newsflash: Southern Minnesota is pretty rural. There wasn't a lot there. So we toughed out the 9 (it took us almost 11) hour drive and made it all the way from Chicago to South Dakota in one day!
While we were just looking for a city to stop in, I stumbled across Mitchell, SD. I said, good enough and we booked a hotel there.
Driving there, after we left Wisconsin, there wasn't much as far as stops. Keep your gas tanks full! We needed gas about an hour before we got to Mitchell and saw a gas sign on the next exit. We exited and drove another 20 minutes off the highway to a "town"...it was 3 buildings, maybe 5 houses and a gas pump (singular). I come from Central Pennsylvania where things are pretty desolate but this really blew my idea of "middle of nowhere" out of the water. It took us an hour just to get gas. We finally made it to Mitchell though and settled in for the night.
The next day we had an entire day to just drive 4 hours so we decided to explore the town a bit and I'm glad we did! People at breakfast told us about all of the fun things to do in town and I kind of chuckled. We grabbed a few brochures and headed off to see the sights!
First stop, The World's Only Corn Palace. I wasn't very surprised that there are no other corn palaces in the world, but I was happily surprised at this American icon.
It is set up to be the perfect tourist spot, with cute shopping inside the corn palace (I mean, who doesn't need a corn hat? corn slippers?). While a bit "corny", the kids loved the agricultural information (ok, the tractors) and seeing close up the amazing pictures made entirely of...you guessed it...corn. Across the street were some cute shops too.
If there is something you do well, like corn in South Dakota, I say flaunt it. And that they did! I wouldn't say you could spend more than an hour or so here, but it's definitely worth the stretch break if you're driving by! We bought a couple cute souvenirs and the rest of the exhibits were free, although the do offer paid tours if you're interested in learning more. Another pro: This stop is DOG FRIENDLY! They happily welcomed our leashed pup.
As if a cute downtown and a corn palace wasn't enough, we grabbed some lunch and decided to take it over to Mitchell Lake to enjoy, since the weather was so nice.
There were picnic benches right by the water and lots of grassy areas for the kids to run. There were some short trails and we did walk for a bit, but not for long, so I can't attest to how the hiking around the lake is.
Right by the lake we also found the Prehistoric Indian Village and decided to stop in. They have a really cool exhibit to learn more about the Indian village and life of the people who lived in Mitchell 1000 years ago. They also have a small dig site for kids to look for arrowheads (and an arrowhead they got to take home!)
You can also go see the area that they are still digging and excavating and see the scientists at work at the sight. This spot was also dog friendly! We could take the dog everywhere except inside where they are digging. It is a small fee to enter the village but it is free for military! The kids were very excited about their arrowheads and had a lot of fun before we hit the road!
This cute little town is definitely worth a pit stop, so next time you're driving through South Dakota, and think there is NOTHING, don't be surprised to find a lot of hidden gems like Mitchell.
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