Friday Photo: Wall Drug

Wall, South Dakota (August 2010)

Near Mt. Rushmore is a tourist trap town of Wall, South Dakota. Wall’s claim to fame is Wall Drug, supposedly the largest drug store in America. We were warned that it was pointless to go but we went anyway just to check it out, and indeed, it’s not even really a drug store. It’s a large building that houses several different businesses under its roof – a mini-mall, basically. False advertising!

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Meet me in St. Louis!

I haven’t been able to travel much in 2010 because my funds have been tight, but I’m excited to announce that I’ve booked a trip to St. Louis for early December!

A 2-day, mid-week, mid-winter vacation to St. Louis might not be the most exotic trip one could take, but I’m looking forward to it. St. Louis is one of the biggest American cities I have yet to visit so I’ll finally get a chance to see the Arch and all the other stuff the city has to offer. I’m taking the Megabus so it’s a bargain-basement trip – just $17 for the round-trip – and I’ll probably couchsurf to minimize my expenses.

I recently read the Patricia Schultz book 1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die, and I browsed through it and discovered that I’ve already seen 168 of them. St. Louis offers the potential to see 4 more, so I will definitely try to hit those spots during my brief time there.

More details will be coming next month either here or on my brand new travel blog, which is still a work in progress. I hope to roll it out by the beginning of 2011.

Friday Photo: Black Hills bison

Black Hills, South Dakota (August 2010)

A massive group of a couple hundred bison likes to hang out near the Norbeck Visitor Center in the Black Hills of South Dakota. They are not bothered by your puny human vehicles and will wander around as if you’re not even there, as this shot from the front seat of the van shows.

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Friday Photo: Fur trade museum

Chadron, Nebraska (August 2010)

There’s a museum in the middle of nowhere in western Nebraska dedicated to the fur trade. Unfortunately it was closing just as we arrived, so we only got to see the outside.

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Friday Photo: Giant Jesus

Sioux City, Iowa (August 2010)

In Sioux City there’s this religious organization with giant 30-foot-high statues of Jesus and Mary. It’s hard to get perspective in this shot, but note how the statue is taller than the trees behind it.

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