Welcome to South Dakota

Welcome to everyone stopping in from Blog Around the World! Please bear with me if the layout is all wonky. I had a hard time with blogger while writing the post and I won't be home til this afternoon to fix it if needed. Thank you :o)

Have you ever said – South Dakota? I’ve never met anyone from South Dakota. Well...now you have. :o) Yes, people do live here, and yes South Dakota and North Dakota are two very different states.

South Dakota has a population of approximately 780,000. So if you’ve never been to SD that’s probably why you’ve never met a South Dakotan. South Dakota is ranked 17th in the US for area, but 46th for population so we have lots of room to spread out. Oh, and our state capital is Pierre (say peer, not the French name).

One big plus about living in SD is that driving is pretty relaxed. You can tell how long it will take to get somewhere based on how many miles you’re driving. Going 30 miles? Takes 30 minutes. 75 miles? 75 minutes. Of course this isn’t necessarily the case in the winter.

We get to experience each of the 4 seasons in SD. Sometimes the seasons kind of run together and we have a blizzard in the spring (like the day before our wedding), a fall-like day in the middle of winter, etc. etc. And, if it's above 40 degrees in the winter you're almost guaranteed to see a handful of people wearing shorts. For example, it is currently 5 degrees outside and my husband wore shorts to work and he's not the only person I saw wearing shorts today. Sometimes we even get to experience winter and summer in the same day. This is a weather advisory map taken from a local news station. I believe this is from the last day of April this year.

A few pictures taken from around South Dakota in various seasons. source for all pictures

People often say east river or west river when describing a location, or where they grew up. The Missouri River cuts the state (almost) in half. East river grows crops, west river has more ranches but no we don’t all live on farms. I’ve been a town girl all my life.

Want to know how South Dakotans sound? I’d say we east river residents have a cross between a Sarah Palin and a “Fargo” sound but not as northern. We just have a little twang. We tend to stress the long “o” sound and say it more like “oh” than “o” – say South Dakooohhta. I think west river residents have less of an “accent”.

Some touristy places that you've probably heard about:
Mount Rushmore, Badlands National Park, and the Black Hills.

Some you may not heard of or know much about:

Deadwood The town of Deadwood attained notoriety for the murder of Wild Bill Hickok, and remains the final resting place of Hickok and Calamity Jane. Deadwood was the third city in the United States (after Las Vegas and Atlantic City) to legalize gambling.

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Sturgis Sturgis is home to the Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The Rally is held each first full week of August. The first rally was held in 1938 and now hosts over 500,000 visitors during the week.

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Corn Palace The Corn Palace (AKA the World's Largest Bird Feeder) is located in Mitchell. The murals displayed on the outside and inside of the building are made using SD corn, grasses, and wheat. I wouldn't make a special trip to see it but if you're passing by it's an ok stop.

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De Smet You may have read the Little House series or watched Little House on the Prairie when you were younger. Author Laura Ingalls Wilder spent part of her life in De Smet. You can visit the Ingalls Homestead just outside town and the Ingalls home in De Smet. Since 1971, De Smet has hosted a pageant, held over several weekends in July, to honor Laura Ingalls Wilder. Five of the Little House books were based on her experiences in and around De Smet.

TV Ingalls:

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Real Ingalls:

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Other notables from South Dakota include Bob Barker, Tom Brokaw, Cheryl Ladd, Catherine Bach, Brock Lesnar, Mike Miller, Chad Greenway, and Adam Vinatieri.

I hope you enjoyed your visit and thanks for stopping by!