Week of September 13th – South Dakota

There are a couple of things that come to mind when you think of South Dakota. The obvious one and where the “Mount Rushmore” State got it’s nickname is the huge monument tucked into the Black Hills honoring four of our prominent presidents. Well, that sentence contained all of the information I actually know about Mount Rushmore, so part of the South Dakota celebration will be to get a book about the monument so I can be ready for the next Trivia Pursuit game.

The second thing that comes to my mind is Black Hills Gold, the jewelry originally made from “Black Hills gold” and identified by its signature green and pink leaves. I used to work for a distributor that carried Black Hills Gold and I never really cared for it so we’ll leave that one alone.

The next thing that comes to mind, and one that I very excited to revisit, is the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. I originally saw this ornate tribute to corn during a cross-country tour when I was 15. It made such a lasting impression that I was surprised, when I mentioned it, that people didn’t know what I was talking about. And if you don’t, you must look it up.

But in a nutshell, the Corn Palace is a building completely covered with corn that contains murals solely “painted” with corn celebrating the life, history and agricultural heritage of South Dakota and the western United States. Over the years parts of the building have been replaced with fiberglass structures but the spirit remains the same. A new theme is selected each year and the murals, which change as well, are designed to depict segments of the theme. The theme for 2010 is “Through the Ages” which they illustrated with images of various modes of transportation from the canoe to the segway. Just recently I came across a treasured Corn Palace snow globe which brought back some good memories from many years ago.

For the record, I did purchase a book created for the Mount Rushmore National Memorial which follows the dream through to the current state of the monument. It is full of glorious pictures of the structure which represents a noble and proud country. I really would like to see the presidents in the sky again some day. (Picture a couple in their late 60’s traveling the country in a rented RV and that will be us.)

South Dakota was the 1st state to legislate that there be a State Mineral – Rose Quartz as well as a State Gem – Fairburn Agate. I mention this only because in the 60’s there apparently was an interesting and heated debate between the rose quartz collectors and the Fairburn agate rock hounds as to which gem should represent the state of South Dakota. Although not a registered voter in this state I weighed in by purchasing a necklace which included Fairburn agate.

Even though I haven’t mentioned food once, this week of Black Hills exploration had to culminate with some kind of culinary tribute. So in honor of the bison that roam free in Custer State Park and the iconic Corn Palace we feasted on bison burgers, corn on the cob, corn chips, popcorn, caramel corn, corn muffins & candy corn. The table was set with multi-colored Indian corn in place of the State Flower: Pasque Flower which I understand is toxic. Although not invited I believe Gutzon Borglum snagged a kernel of corn or two.

Color in South Dakota with four presidents and an agate and travel northeast to complete the New England adventure with the “Constitution” state – Connecticut. 43 down – 9 to go.