Up and on the road from Waco, NE at 9:00AM this morning. 7 Miles back to the west on I-80 to York, and then turn north on 81. 20 miles up 81 came apon a detour. The Columbus Viaduct was closed, whatever that is, and we were detoured a few miles to the west for about 20 miles, before joining back to 81. This section a little narrow and through a couple of small towns, but that is OK with us. Adds flavour to the trip! The remainder of the day was fairly uneventful. We had talked about just continueing on for a total of 400 miles or so to Aberdeen, SD, but as soon as we were onto I-90 started seeing signs for the the "Corn Palace" in Mitchel, SD. We have wanted to see that on other trips, but never did get this far east. I remember once at Ripid City, we started east toward Mitchel, but when we found a mileage sign and realized it was 250 miles away, changed our plans, and went south on another route. Today we decided to take the time and go there. I was for taking ELTORO to the site, but Denice convinced me to go and get settled into the Famil-E-Fun RV Park about 6 miles to the west, and then come back with the jeep. Good decision Denice!! I never realized the palace was on the far side, through the down town section. This is a real neat place, with everything made from either corn on the cob, or straw, or husks.
The Palace, with its mad mix of onion domes and minarets, looks like it was drop-kicked out of czarist Russia. It was originally built to show off the fertility of South Dakota soil - and it's remained on the job, standing in downtown Mitchell for over 75 years. A rival "grain palace"
View of the Corn Palace, 1914. (Courtesy Mitchell Corn Palace)
Mitchell's Corn Palace is built out of reinforced concrete, not corn. Every spring, however, its exterior is completely covered with thousands of bushels of native South Dakota corn, grain and grasses that are arranged into large murals.
Typical yearly themes are South Dakota Birds or A Salute To Agriculture; this past year's was Youth In Action. Locals take great pride in the Palace's "corn-septual art" and "ear-chitecture." Mitchell isn't called the Corn Capital of the World for nothing.
The Corn Palace serves as a huge auditorium for touring celebrities (Lawrence Welk played here five times - a record), as a sports arena for the various Kernels teams, and as the locus of Corn Palace Week, the high water mark of Mitchell's yearly social calendar.
Corn Palace Week marks the end of the harvest - and the beginning of the planning for next year's Palace theme.
The Corn Palace has one more title - the World's Largest Bird Feeder. After Corn Palace Week ends and winter sets it, local pigeons and squirrels make a feast of the tasty murals.
After the Corn Palace went on to see the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village. Here is a link to the site, that will explain better than I can.
http://www.mitchellindianvillage.org/index.php
We were late getting there as it closes at 4:ooPM, and we didn't arrive until 3:30PM, but the on duty Guide was more than generous by giving us a personalized guided tour through the complete facility and archeology dig site. He even took us to the dig site on his golf cart to speed our tour. Now late in the day, so stopped at KFC for some chicken to take back to ELTORO for dinner. Oh Yes!! some sunset pics!!
The Palace, with its mad mix of onion domes and minarets, looks like it was drop-kicked out of czarist Russia. It was originally built to show off the fertility of South Dakota soil - and it's remained on the job, standing in downtown Mitchell for over 75 years. A rival "grain palace"
View of the Corn Palace, 1914. (Courtesy Mitchell Corn Palace)
Mitchell's Corn Palace is built out of reinforced concrete, not corn. Every spring, however, its exterior is completely covered with thousands of bushels of native South Dakota corn, grain and grasses that are arranged into large murals.
Typical yearly themes are South Dakota Birds or A Salute To Agriculture; this past year's was Youth In Action. Locals take great pride in the Palace's "corn-septual art" and "ear-chitecture." Mitchell isn't called the Corn Capital of the World for nothing.
The Corn Palace serves as a huge auditorium for touring celebrities (Lawrence Welk played here five times - a record), as a sports arena for the various Kernels teams, and as the locus of Corn Palace Week, the high water mark of Mitchell's yearly social calendar.
Corn Palace Week marks the end of the harvest - and the beginning of the planning for next year's Palace theme.
The Corn Palace has one more title - the World's Largest Bird Feeder. After Corn Palace Week ends and winter sets it, local pigeons and squirrels make a feast of the tasty murals.
After the Corn Palace went on to see the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village. Here is a link to the site, that will explain better than I can.
http://www.mitchellindianvillage.org/index.php
We were late getting there as it closes at 4:ooPM, and we didn't arrive until 3:30PM, but the on duty Guide was more than generous by giving us a personalized guided tour through the complete facility and archeology dig site. He even took us to the dig site on his golf cart to speed our tour. Now late in the day, so stopped at KFC for some chicken to take back to ELTORO for dinner. Oh Yes!! some sunset pics!!
so where are the pictures of all of these wonderful things Dennis.lol We will be in SD tomorrow you two better get moving or we will be going home together which would be fine with me.
ReplyDeleteBrenda