Sites & Bites

Everyone loves to rave about the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD since it’s the “World’s Only Corn Palace”, but honestly it’s just a giant area that happens to be decorated with corn.

I have visited the Corn Palace twice in my life, the most recent in October 2019, and both times work was being done on the artwork. While it is sort of neat to see the “process” of things going up or down, it’s also disappointing to not have any idea of when you can really see the whole thing decorated.

The murals are not just on the outside, but inside the arena portion as well. When we stopped in, it was clear some kind of farming event had either just happened, or was due to happen soon. This is my other problem with the Corn Palace. Because it is an arena, I’m sure there are times where tourists may drop in to see it, only to be told they can’t enter on that particular day due to an event being held in the arena.

All in all, we maybe were at the Corn Palace for 15 minutes. They have pictures of past displays up in the outer hallways, and you also can climb up to the second level to be able to access the balcony over the entrance. It’s ok if you want to use it as a stop to stretch your legs while driving along Interstate 90, but overall, it’s nothing that spectacular to write home about.

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One of the best kept (not so hidden) secrets of traveling in South Dakota, is the Dignity statue. Dignity stands at the rest area in Chamberlain, just off our Interstate 90. She is magnificent to behold, and from the instant I learned of her, I knew I had to see her someday. This was the main reason why we traveled back home via Chamberlain on our trip to the Black Hills region.

Dignity is easy to access given that she is located just off the interstate at the rest area. But this is not your average rest area either! Inside it also contains an information center with fliers about every region of the state (I found several new place to explore while inside), and also has interpretive displays about the time the Lewis and Clark Expedition spent in the area, complete with a Keelboat replica and a viewing terrace that looks out over the Missouri River! You really should plan to go during open hours for the informational center to get the full experience!

Back to Dignity! The statue has signage near it explaining the vision and goal behind creating the sculpture. Something really unique about it, is that the blue diamonds of her shawl actually were built to “move” in the wind!

On top of the coolness of just viewing Dignity (and the museum inside), you also can walk down a path towards the river for better views of the wide Missouri. There were signs saying to watch for snakes, but we didn’t see any while out and about exploring the path.

So the moral of this story is, it can be easy to bypass a rest area and just keep driving, but this is one rest area you should plan to stop at and stretch your legs for a longer amount of time as it offers lots of history and things to see!

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On our return trip from the Black Hills regions, we decided to come home via Chamberlain so that we could visit the Dignity statue in the morning. We arrived in Chamberlain in time for dinner, checked into our hotel, and then decided to take a walk along the river front.

We walked a portion of the Chamberlain Walking Path that sits along the Missouri River and American Creek. The view of the sunset was just gorgeous and they had so many fun sculptures along the path. It was a very enjoyable way to spend a portion of our evening.

If you ever find yourself in Chamberlain for the night, I highly suggest this walking path as the sun sets! It was just beautiful to witness!

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