Ryan & Jess & Stuff: America's Hidden Gem

In 5th grade, everyone in my class had to do a big report on a state that was chosen for you at random. I got South Dakota, which sucked because I knew nothing about it and thus had to actually do some research to fill out my report (screw you, whoever got New York). It turns out South Dakota was mildly interesting; however, except for Mount Rushmore being there, I quickly forgot anything I learned about South Dakota. Like most Americans, I went into adulthood thinking nothing of this part of the Midwest/West and not really caring to go there if weren't for a desire to see all 50 states. After my brother and a friend made this trip a few years ago and listening to them rave about it, I knew that it was a hidden gem that shouldn't be overlooked.

After starting our trip in Nebraska (which exceeded expectations), we got into South Dakota yesterday. Our first destination set for today was the Badlands National Park. You can see the pictures from the earlier post and while I had seen some photos before so I knew what to expect, it still blew me away. The terrain is just awesome and almost doesn't seem real even as you're standing there. It's so vast and varied - I really recommend everyone come and see it. Jess didn't have any expectations going in so I think it was even more incredible for her. The way we entered the park meant we saw the most spectacular view first and it just got us looking forward to the rest of the day even more.

After that, we backtracked a small ways and went off the paved road. This gravel road is where the wildlife is; we were lucky it was dry since this road gets closed when the conditions are bad. This too was fantastic - the scenic viewpoints were great and we saw a ton of animals up close (like two feet from our car). The animal highlights included bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs and bison. The prairie dogs were great since there were so many of them and you could get close...at least they were great until later we saw a sign that said that have the plague (really). The bison were hard to find today but thankfully Jess has a buffalo sixth sense and she found a bunch (including getting pictures of one while pooping (the bison, not Jess)). Who knew she was a northern plains girl? The gravel road got very hilly and windy at the end and every car I passed was sliding around the turns. I didn't feel like I had any control issues so I was impressed my driving...until later in the day when I realized our Kia Sportage was AWD so it was probably the car and not my driving that got us through with no problems, which frankly made a lot more sense.

After the Badlands we went to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. We got lost going to it originally - the GPS took us a silo site (which did have a couple signs, but was down a dirt road on what looked to be someone's farm) but no one was there and it seemed like the fence around this thing was locked. We backed up and headed back 10 miles to a different sign we saw only to realize we drove past the headquarters site as we left the Badlands. I didn't really know what I was looking for and this was just a couple trailers that had a few signs with info and a movie. Luckily tour passes for the launch control center were available so we quickly left to a third site that actually contained a launch capsule.

Some background: in the early 90's, there were over 1000 Minuteman ICBMs in remote parts of the interior US. They were armed and ready to fire at the Soviet Union (about 5000 miles away, over the North Pole) if a nuclear war broke out. By being in the middle of the US, if the Soviets launched a missile at the US, there would be enough time to launch a retaliatory strike before we were all obliterated. Anyway, when the Soviet Union fell, there was a treaty to reduce the number of nuclear weapons so a bunch of missiles were removed. The treaty allowed for a couple sites to remain as museums and we were at the ones that were designated as such.

The launch center and the silos were mostly off highways (within like a mile) and looked kind of like small ranch houses or fenced off concrete areas. They weren't really trying to hide them - everyone knew what was there, including the Soviets, but that was kind of the point. We got lucky in that our tour guide was retired Air Force and spent 4 years working in one of those control centers and then 5 years working on the planes that fly around, ready if a war broke out. He really knew the history since he worked it for nearly a decade and I think that made for a better tour.

The facility had a few rooms, like a big apartment, on the ground level floor. We had to take an elevator down 30 feet where the command capsule was located. It was relatively bomb proof with the amount of concrete protecting it; the capsule itself (where the missiles could be launched from) was protected by 3 foot thick door and it has shock absorbers to withstand a near impact. Within the capsule, two people would stay for long shifts, ready if an order came in from the President to launch. The guide went over the sequence of events, all of the redundancies for communication and control of the local missile network and what would happen in various scenarios. It was more fascinating than I thought it'd be and it hammered home the point that with so many redundant parts, destroying the whole network would be virtually impossible. If a Soviet missile was launched at us, planes would immediately go in the air (with the President and key personnel) and everything could be controlled from there. In the end, America would probably be ruined but the key point was that the Soviet Union would suffer the same fate so no one would really win. I guess the mutually assured destruction worked after all since we're all still here. After the tour, we realized that the first site we visited - the one we thought was nothing - was an actual silo that you could walk up to and had a replica missile in it that you could see through a glass cover.

Finally, we went to Wall Drug on our way to our hotel in Deadwood. Wall Drug was ok - kind of stupid but it's one of those tourist traps you can't avoid. We finally got into Deadwood around sunset and while Jess was probably a little disappointed no one greeted us with singing and dancing, it does seem like an awesome and fun little town. It's got tons of casinos and in just under an hour or playing slots, Jess is already up over $100 so we can't complain.

Tomorrow is Mount Rushmore and probably a couple more sights depending on how much time we have. Hopefully the rest of the trip is as good as the first two days and as the locals say, may you avoid the buffalo chips. Note: No one says this.

Here's some pictures from the Missile tour and Wall Drug: