« Older SD Transplant Newer »

Heartland Country Corn Maze

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 by Alyice

I ran across an old journal entry that I felt belonged here in the SD Transplant section of my blog. It was written on September 4, 2005 at 5:48 pm. Hope you enjoy it…

After a long week of work and school, the family and I decided we needed to get out in the sun and enjoy our Saturday—together. After much contemplation we decided to visit Heartland Country Corn Maze in Harrisburg, South Dakota. This year, the corn maze was designed to look like a dinosaur, but you can only make out the image by flying over the corn maze.

When we arrived, the hostess informed us that we could have a free treat if we answered the questions on the cards she gave us, by locating the numbered markers throughout the maze, and if we got our card punched with the unmarked hole punch marker.

Free treat? That’s all my children needed to hear.

“You take the map and find the answers mom,” my fourteen-year-old son exclaimed. “I bet I can find the hole puncher before you do!” And off he went with my ten-year-old daughter in tow.

My husband and I leisurely walked the corn maze, as he tried to find the markers, only to realize that he was lost and the map wasn’t much help. “Hmmm,” I thought to myself, “was the map really no good or was my husband sending me on a wild goose chase?”

After arriving at marker number five, I heard my children’s voices. “Was that excitement or arguing?” I couldn’t tell. I called out to them, but they didn’t answer. As we turned the corner, there was my son, beaming with excitement.

“I told you I’d find the hole punch marker before you did. Hurry up. Come over here. I marked our spot with this broken corn stalk that was on the ground and I want to move it before someone else realizes it’s a marker.”

We smiled, congratulated him, and followed him to the marker. Once we all punched our cards, my son and daughter took turns reading the map—which they had no problem doing by the way. And in a matter of minutes we were back at our hostess’ shack getting our free treats—cool and refreshing popsicles.

After we left the corn maze, we decided it was time to grab a bite to eat, but wait! What was that I just saw? Was it a refurbished car from the fifties? A vintage car?

As I wondered where it came from, I spotted three more old cars.

“Honey,” I said as I tapped my husband on the shoulder. “Can we follow that car? Let’s see where it’s going. I bet there’s a car show somewhere close by.”

My husband looked at me as if I were crazy. “They probably just left a car show, but I’ll follow them for a few blocks anyway.”

After five minutes of following them, my husband was ready to give up and turn around to get something to eat. He was hungry, after all.

“Oh wait!” I exclaimed. “They’re turning the corner. Can’t we just follow them around the corner and if there’s nothing there we can leave?”

Though he was reluctant, he was in such a good mood that he humored my woman’s intuition. And to his surprise and my daughter’s joy, there were three entire streets blocked off with nothing but vintage cars—my daughter was in heaven!

We finished our little excursion in a matter of fifteen minutes and none-too-soon according to my son, but my daughter got lots of pictures and had fifteen minutes of pure pleasure.

A simple day, true, but it was one filled with wonder, family, smiles, laughter, and the warmth of the sun beating down on us. What could be better than this?

Until next time…

Disclosure: I paid for this attraction. This is “my opinion”. I was not paid to give a positive review.

Posted in SD Transplant | 1 Comment »

The Badlands

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 by Alyice

On our return home, from my son’s college orientation, we stopped by The Badlands. I had no idea what to expect as I had never heard of the place before so imagine my surprise when upon paying the $20 entrance fee, I was introduced to 244,000 acres of desolate land dating back 75 million years—when a shallow sea covered the Great Plains.

It looked like a giant artist had created the world’s largest collection of sand castles—one right after another. It’s truly an amazing sight to see. But after about a half hour, my son and daughter became bored with the view, insisting that every mound looked like the next and refused to get out of the van, leaving the rest of the exploration to me and my husband—luckily we have a working air conditioner and DVD player! I had absolutely no guilt in prolonging our visit while we took in the beauty and magnitude of the place.

The land has “sharp ridges, steep walled canyons, gullies, pyramids and knobs” that, according to my son, look like “home to giant killer ants just waiting to take over the world.”

While we spent a good three hours exploring the area, there was still much that we did not see since we stayed on the roads designated for vehicles and avoided the hiking and designated foot areas.

But one thing we could not miss was the gift shop and restaurant, located inside the Badlands. We weren’t sure what type of food we were going to find, but we knew it was an experience we could not pass up. The restaurant looked like it hadn’t been updated since the early 60s and was packed with hungry diners. I ordered the “Indian Taco” which was topped with buffalo meat, beans, and salad. I have to say it was the best decision! It was so delicious that I was tempted to order a second serving, just to savor the flavor.

If you’re ever in the area, I encourage you to spend a few hours exploring The Badlands as the $20 entrance fee, per carload, is well worth it! And if you happen to have time, stay the night at the Cedar Pass campground, I hear the view at night is breathtaking!

Until next time…

Disclosure: I paid for this attraction. This is “my opinion”. I was not paid to give a positive review.

Posted in SD Transplant | Comments Off

Mount Rushmore

Sunday, June 28th, 2009 by Alyice

When I was in the 11th grade, I lived with my honorary aunt and uncle. That summer, they took a trip to South Dakota, without me, and came back with wonderful tales of their time in the Black Hills, including their trip to see Mount Rushmore. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to visit the area—just once. Well, that day arrived this year and while Mount Rushmore wasn’t as glorious and magical as I remember my aunt and uncle telling me, it was a beautiful site.

Upon paying a $10 entrance fee, we parked the car and ventured up a walkway that was adorned with flags, straight to a balcony that was directly in front of the presidential carvings. Realizing that ninety percent of the carvings were done by dynamite, not chiseling, made the view even more inspiring. To realize that the dynamite had to be placed at just the right spot, or the entire head would have been blown off, is surreal.

Off to the left was a path. We took the path to get a closer look at the carvings, it wasn’t as close as I’d hoped to get since it didn’t go up towards the carvings but it did allow us to get a good view from underneath and a side view.

Upon returning to the balcony area, we rested. The climb back up was a little steeper than our out-of-shape bodies anticipated, LOL. Then we waited. We waited for the light show.

Honestly, I was expecting a real light show: colorful lights dancing in the sky, lasers creating an image in the sky, something. Instead, we got a mountain lit up with steady white lights while we watched a historical presentation on a big screen. The presentation was well-done so there was no disappointment there.

We wanted to visit the gift shop and eat in the restaurant, but we waited too long. By the time the presentation was over, everything was closed so we did what anyone in our position would do…we left Mount Rushmore and munched on the snacks we had packed in the car.

Let me leave you with a few interesting facts:

Mount Rushmore was named after a visiting attorney and not the creator, Gutzon Borglum.
When state historian, Doane Robinson, conceived the idea to create a large sculpture on the side of a mountain to attract visitors, he intended the sculpture to be of horses, but Borglum disagreed. Believing the sculpture needed a more national appeal, he selected four presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.
Mount Rushmore wasn’t the original place for the carvings, but was picked because it would receive “good light throughout most of the day” and because the granite erosion was much better; averaging 1 inch every 10,000 years.
Mount Rushmore took 14 years and $989,992.32 to complete.
It was not carved by a single man, but took 400 workers to complete.
Thomas Jefferson was originally placed on Washington’s right but after discovering a large crack in the foundation, he was blasted off and moved to the left.

Oh, and if you’re in the area at the right time, you can take free sculpture classes and tour the Sculptor’s studio. I’m hoping to take advantage of this offer during one of my return visits.

Until next time…

Disclosure: I paid for this attraction. This is “my opinion”. I was not paid to give a positive review.

Posted in SD Transplant | Comments Off

Pages: Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next

AlyiceEdrich.com
I'm a freelance writer, mixed media artist, SMVA, and the owner of The Dabbling Mum.

Copyrights

All material on this blog belongs to Alyice Edrich, unless otherwise noted. No project, artwork, or text may be reproduced or displayed elsewhere without the consent of the creator. That includes making derivative works for resale. Please use project tutorials for personal use and/or gifts only.