A bit of Americana

I spent many summers as a child in Nebraska. We would visit my mom's family and enjoy time with my grandparents. We would occasionally take a trip south to Kansas to visit one of my uncles and his family, but that was about it. I had only been to the state to the north of Nebraska once for work. I had no idea of all the little bits of Americana and beauty it held. Dave knew as he had visited it as a youth. Now I know firsthand as do my kiddos.

After our night on the Ingalls Homestead, we continued the trek west. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD was the next stop. I had no idea such a place existed. It was quite a visual treat. The whole building is done in a corn and grain mosaic. Inside the building are pictures of the palace and the murals dating back to its inception in 1892. It reminded me of a friend who loves mosaics. I doubt she has ever thought of using corn!

Murals inside the center which was setup for a volleyball game

The day we visited some people were working on removing one of the panels to make way for the new installation. It was quite impressive. Each mural is comprised of ears of corn nailed to the side of the building. They use 13 natural shades of corn to create the pictures as well as other native grains and grasses. Eamon grabbed a piece of the old corn which littered the sidewalk. He wanted to keep it as a bit of treasure.

New Mural for 2013

From the Corn Palace, we headed to Wall Drug. This crazy store is chock full of everything. The kiddos loved looking at all the trinkets,  It has so many separate stores and treasures. The kiddos also liked the decorations throughout the buildings. I was amazed at what this small town had done to bring tourism and money here. Wall drug is a South Dakota icon. It was near closing time when we arrived, so we had to limit our meandering, however it is somewhere my kiddos want to visit again.