The Corn Palace and the Mall of America

A few rainy days left us with little sightseeing and lots of driving. We did not leave the campground in the Badlands on 9/14 until almost 2 pm. We sat and talked with a couple who has been fulltime RVing it for the last 7 years. They were giving us tips and tricks and were very interesting to listen to.

Sept 15 was a long day of driving out of South Dakota and into Minnesota. We did stop in Mitchell, SD to see the Corn Palace…. Yes it’s corny but really pretty at the same time. This building, the “Palace”, is covered with different colors of corn and wheat to create murals both inside and out. It takes thousands of ears of corn to do these “works of art”.  I watched a group of workers staple the cut in half dried corn to the building creating a mural of an eagle. You can see in the upper left corner where the mural is not completed.   Every year they take down all of the old corn, design new murals, and replace the corn with new. Below you will see the sketch of the next mural to be completed.  This was really something to see and from a distance you would never know it was corn and not a painting. Strange and interesting things you see alone the way. The pictures below are just a few of the murals inside the auditorium.

                 

We saw fields and fields of sunflowers that were beginning to dry now.   I bet a week or so ago those fields looked like sunshine, bright yellow and happy. There were also miles and miles of corn fields. I expected this in Iowa but it’s here in Minnesota too. Hey we passed through another town with a name I am familiar with.

We had some of the heaviest rain storms I have seen since last summer. In these wide open spaces there isn’t anything to cut the wind and did it ever blow. We made it to Bloomington, MN and thanks again to a Walmart, we called it home for the night.

Today, Sept 16 we went to the Mall of America, the largest mall in North America. Living in the Delaware/Maryland area means we are close to Philly, Baltimore, and New York and I have been to some large malls in my day. But I have never seen anything like this place. I knew it was big, but Whoa! Four stories high,     an amusement park in the the center, 520 stores, and 50 restaurants! The amusement park has a log flume ride, roller coasters,       a skateboard that swings you back and forth 180 degrees,     a Ferris wheel, and kiddie rides. Pretty crazy! On shop employee told us that people fly in from other countries, shop, and fly out. The airport is right across the highway from the mall. Oh the convenience!  She said about 40% of their business comes from foreign travelers. That’s amazing to me as well. Fly in, shop, fly home. Oh the lifestyles some people have.

Another oil change was done in Walmart’s parking lot today. Tommy really keeps this RV in shape. This is the 5th oil change he has done since we have been on the road. He does them every 3000 miles… do the math. Tomorrow will mark the sixth month we have been gone. We have traveled 15,000 miles since we left on March 17! Will we do another before we get home? I hope so!