Corn Palace, Minuteman Missile, Wall Drug, Pioneer Auto
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Acting Corny!Ok, cue the corn jokes -- we're at the World Famous Corn Palace!
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2009 Corn PalaceWait, what year is it again? I guess the Corn Palace uses the same calendar as the auto industry...
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TeacherThis year's theme was "Everyday Heros". I snapped this picture of the 'teacher" mural in honor of Grandma, who was with us...
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2008 or 2009?Ok, so now I'm confused, what year is it, anyway? Actually, I think the do the grains early in the season, and the corn late in the season (since they have to wait for it to actually grow). The murals are done in corn, and the 2009 in grains. So there ya have it.
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Police MuralThere's a joke about ham & corn in there somewhere, but that would just be disrespectful...
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Overall ViewAn overall view of the Corn Palace. Did I mention it was raning the entire time I took all these pictures (and, sadly, too much of our trip as a whole...)
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StormMidway between Mitchell and Wall, we ran into a really nasty storm. But this picture makes it look kind of pretty as we were driving into it...
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Long driveWilliam looks like he's sick of the hours spent in the van that day...
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AndrewAndrew seems to be doing much better.
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Minuteman MissileI didn't take a lot of pictures here, unfortunately. I'm not sure why, it was really interesting. This picture shows grandma walking into the underground control bunker. That huge door with the "domino's" logo on it was the blast door to protect them in case "the button" was pressed from the other side.
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Minuteman MissileAbout 10 or so miles from the control center in the previous picture was one of the missile silos. The silos themselves weren't manned. The ranger giving the talk was VERY interesting -- he was actually in the air force and for many years could have set these missles off himself.
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View down the siloIt's really interesting to see something like this, especially growing up at the tail-end of the cold war. These missiles were placed in silos all over South Dakota and elsewhere, and were a large part of our "Balance of Terror" defense. This particular silo now has a peculiar "sunroof" over it so you can view it. Thanks to the glare, it's also somewhat of a self-portrait of Tim...
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