Tuesday, December 9, 2008

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.



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.


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.



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:


Real Ingalls:




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!

75 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow - what an interesting introduction to South Dakota! Had to laugh at your description of the weather! I'm in the tiny tip of Ontario that's actually SOUTH of you (barely), and we definitely get our share of 'wonky' weather here, too... It's like the weather has "mood swings" or something! :P

Thanks for taking the time to write such a nice overview of SD! :)

Frizzy said...

YEAH! I'm so happy you get your own BATW day! You rock and so did your tour. I've been to all of the places you mentioned. Well, all but Deadwood. Had to hit most of them on my drive from MO to MT during the summers growing up. LOOOOONG DRIVE! Thanks for the tour!

Tracy P. said...

Oh, I love South Dakota! I'm your neighbor to the east. The Black Hills is one of my favorite places in the world. Too beautiful! Did I just read too fast, or did you skip Wall Drug on purpose? ;-)

Thanks for a fun tour!

Michelle said...

Oh what a fun intro! I've driven through both the Dakotas when in high school in an RV. I think it was SD that had my all time favorite touristy type attraction: Head Smashed In Bufalo Jump. Please tell me it was in SD :)

Casey (@ Chaos and Cardboard) said...

Thanks for the post! I must admit, I only know one other person that lives in SD, and that is because she moved there from Texas!

Enjoy your BATW day! It can be overwhelming!

Vicki said...

Cool! It's beautiful! My husband's grandmother and her family are from Draper, SD.

Thanks for hosting today!

Allison said...

Great blog! Came here via BATW...your Christmas layout is great and I enjoyed reading about SD ;)

Vanessa Rogers said...

I drove through South Dakota this past summer right before Sturgis and stayed for an evening in Rapid Cities. It was very beautiful.

Lilly said...

That was fabulous. I learnt so much. Enjoy your feature day today. Make me want to come over for a visit now.

Connie said...

Beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing your home with us :-)

Anonymous said...

Here from BATW. Thanks for the interesting tour.

Anonymous said...

Good Morning South Dakota!!! What an interesting "trip" this morning! I have never been further West and North than Colorado so this was a real treat. Your blog is lovely and I am going back now to read more.

Unknown said...

What a wonderful tour! I've been to South Dakota. I was a child and we went to Mt. Rushmore. I didn't realize that South Dakota was so sparse (on people) - that's interesting.

Well, you made SD look simply wonderful and quirky (in a good way). It was very nice to meet you.

Congratulations on the April 2008 wedding. Marriage is a wonderful thing! Enjoy.

Lynnette
PS I guess I didn't realize the De Smet was in SD. Cool! We are huge Little House fans over here!

Keeper of the Skies Wife said...

Here from Arkansas!!

Loved the tour....love Little House!!!

Stacey Cannon said...

Thank you for that beautiful tour of SD! I had never been there, but your informative post makes me want to visit! What a nice feeling it must be to have all that space! Being cooped up in DC has me craving a bit of that...

lynn said...

Happy BATW day! I guess there's a lot more to South Dakota than I thought! Thanks for the tour and sharing you state with us!

Lisa said...

What a great post. I have never met anyone from SD until now. Very, very cool.

Desi said...

That's some crazy weather! I'll have to try and use the word "wonky" at some point today. I took a likin' to it.

I think it's awesome that you have lots of room and not so many people. How wonderful.

Thanks for having us!

Desi said...

That's some crazy weather! I'll have to try and use the word "wonky" at some point today. I took a likin' to it.

I think it's awesome that you have lots of room and not so many people. How wonderful.

Thanks for having us!

Julie said...

My husband was born in Fargo...I always laugh thinking... really people are born there. Ha ha. Thanks for the fun tour! Enjoy your day

Debbie said...

Nicole...you are killing me...how on earth did you think your post would be boring??? This was fantastic!!! Thank you so much...those pictures are spectacular and now I actually have a picture in my head of what SD looks like! Love it!

Brenda said...

I enjoyed this. So many things I never knew about South Dakota, especially how small the population is!

Karin said...

Loved your tour and the wonderful memories it evoked! When first married hubby attended seminary in Sioux Falls and I cooked for the boys in the dormitory. Bought a car and learned to drive there. Gas was 15 cents/gal. then. OK, now you know how old I am, lol! We visited all over SD, all the places you mentioned, and enjoyed it so very much! We had the best apple cider ever in SD. You are so right about the weather ~ love how you described it. We lived in Manitoba in those years and would drive through ND to go home for school breaks. Thanks for such a lovely tour!

Lynda said...

Greetings from BATW and Texas! You're right, I didn't know a thing about South Dakota and now I do - thank you for such a great tour!

Melissa Lester said...

Thanks for the tour! I was born in North Dakota, but have lived most of my life in the South. I would love to get back to the Dakotas someday, and especially to visit the Little House tourist spots!

Alicia @ Oh2122 said...

Thanks for the tour!

I love your festive layout!

Happy BATW Day!

Tamie said...

you're not that far from me.....well, at least mt. rushmore isn't that far from me. i've actually been there. i went in college b/c someone told me that it was only about a four hour drive (from northern colorado) i loved it.....and yippie! there ARE people in S. Dakota---not just tourists :)

Elena said...

Sounds like you could live in Idaho, (minus the tornadoes of course). I've always wanted to see the Black Hills. It's on my list. I also had to go on to reivew your Twilight review. Sounds almost exactly like my own thoughts! :)

katylinvw said...

awesome! thanks for such a thorough tour! i think hubby and i are coming up for sturgis next year so we can say we were actually in SD at that point :) hope you have a great wednesday!

Ronnica said...

Thanks for the welcome! I love the picture of the weather forecast...LOL. I'm from Kansas so I'm used to extremes in fast succession, but now I live in North Carolina and the weather is fairly predictable.

Amy said...

THanks for hosting today. Love the beautiful photos :D

Unknown said...

I LOVE SoDak - it's a beautiful state!! I knew LOTS of people from MN who went to SDSU for college... i even dated a guy from there for a while.

I LOVED the corn palace! I haven't been there since I was in Kindergarten but I thought it was COOL!!!

Thanks for sharing today!

taratoons said...

I was so happy to see it was your BATW day! I loved it!! I have a lot of family that lives in the Black Hills and we used to visit there every summer. It's a great state!! Have fun today!

Ashley said...

Yay! I know someone from South Dakota now! Haha! My mom lived in Minot, North Dakota for a while growing up as a military brat.... that's about as close of a connection as I have. I'd love to make it up one day to visit Mount Rushmore but my husband scoffs at the idea of going all the way up there just for that. Haha! Oh, well! Maybe one day! Congrats on your BATW feature!!!

Jodi said...

That was really an interesting post! I didn't know that you were featured on Blog around the World, but now I do! I check that blog too, but this week I've slacked on checking blogs since my parents are here all week! You probably don't know that I used to do a lot of shopping in Sioux Falls when I went to college in NW Iowa and I even lived in SF for a short bout...about a year! :)

And look at all those comments!!!

Betty said...

You did a great post! Now I´m totally interested in South Dakota. It´s a beautiful area you live in.
Have great BATW day!!

angie {the arthur clan} said...

Hi Nichole! I was excited to see today's BATW destination because I was born in Sioux Falls, SD. We lived there until I was 3 years-old when my dad was transferred to Ohio for his job. I've always wanted to go back to visit the place of my birth though.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write up such a nice description of your lovely state. It was fun to learn so much about it!

The Muse said...

Nice to meet you and to visit!

Anonymous said...

I have been through South Dakota and visited Mt. Rushmore and even stopped for lunch at Wall Drug. I thought the people were very nice and I liked the landscape. We were moving from Idaho to Georgia at the time, and the South Dakota landscape reminded me a lot of Southern Idaho.

Thanks for sharing about your great state :-)

Lady Dorothy said...

Wonderful tour! I found out that I know more about SD than I thought! I just didn't connect them with South Dakota. I know, that sounds totally stupid. :-) Oh, well. Have a wonderful BATW day!

Crystal Rae said...

WOw.... I never knew any of this from South Dakota, that was a great post. Thanks for sharing!!!!

Rebecca said...

I would love to experience the four seasons like you. I am from Alabama. The seasons are, HOT, SWEALTERING, STILL HOT, and COOL. Thanks for the tour!

Aubrey said...

Great tour!
Growing up, we took our family vacations to SD EVERY year. It's beautiful there in the summers. Now as adults, we take a family vacation with our kids. We just spent a week in a cabin there and it was lovely!

the Steiger's said...

Thanks for sharring. That is great. I have been to SD once and I loved it. It happend to be a bike week so there was tons of bikes everywhere. Hey I saw you got married April 26th. Our wedding ann. is the 25th (got married 1998)
Lenka

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your BATW day!! I would love to come to a place that gets snow like that! I want to stay inside of course...except for an hour to go and play for a minute! haha!

momma said...

very interesting facts about south dakota. i had a college roommate from south dakota. she complained about the weather, too :)

(from batw)

I Love Purple More Than You said...

AAACCCKKK!!! You're a fellow Twilighter! :)

I loved the tour of South Dakota! I can't believe you get so much snow! And it sounds like your driving-time predictability is exactly the opposite from ours. (visiting from Los Angeles, CA)

Susie said...

Greetings from Wisconsin. Congratulations on your BATW feature. I hope you enjoyed your day in the sun:-)

Susie said...

Greetings from Wisconsin. Congratulations on your BATW feature. I hope you enjoyed your day in the sun:-)

Gombojav Tribe said...

What a lovely and informative tour! I DO know someone else from South Dakota. So you're number 2 for me! LOL!

Anonymous said...

Wow! What a beautiful place! Those are some beautiful pictures. And I love that you included the actual 'Little House' family photo. All of these features makes me want to visit. Maybe someday I will actually take a long road trip to all of the places described! Thank you for the tour!

Tara Bennett said...

Wow. Congrats on being featured! I love all the pix, especially the sunsets - amazing!

Anonymous said...

Hello from your neighbor in the state directly north of you. Love the tour and pictures.

Denise Grover Swank said...

I have family and friends from NORTH Dakota and I have been there several times but not to South. I love your post. Awesome job!

Blog Stalker said...

Nopw I know someone from SD. Great post!

You make me want to live there. The open spaces, four seasons....ahhhhhh! So wonder why more people do not live there?

Any ideas?

?Have a great day!

Carla said...

You gotta love the weather! That was a good tour. Gave me a good perspective, especially with your funny way of looking at it.

MsTypo said...

Visiting from BAtW! The corn palace looks so cool! :)

C. JoyBell C. said...

I love how people can just say "west of the river" or "east of the river" or maybe "up there on that side of the river" and stuff like that, to describe where they grew up in! :)

That sounds like so much fun...I can just imagine myself saying something like that... LOL :)

I used to watch Little House On The Prairie! :)

I liked Anne of Green Gables more, though! :)

lov said...

found you on batw...(love that place!!)

what great info on south dakota....i totally never knew any of that....
and now i do!! thanks for being the tour guide!

Becky W said...

I have actually been there - a long time ago! We went to Rushmore. Much to my dismay we did not get to DeSmet! I LOVE Little House!!!! thanks for the tour - sorry I am late! You did a great job!

Joy said...

I have actually met one person from North Dakota, but I don't think from South Dakota.

This was a great post and I learned a lot about South Dakota. I want to go see all those tourist places except for maybe the motorcycle time. I don't have one. :)

Merry Christmas,
Joy

Rachel Ann said...

Thanks for your tour of South Dakota...I read your post last night and then thought of you this morning as I saw a car with South Dakota plates. I live in a small town of about 18,000 in Eastern WA state...so we don't get a lot of car plates from other states!

Rachel Ann said...

Nichole...you're not going to believe this...LOL...

I graduated from high school in Maple Valley...very weird. Who are your family? Are they active in a church or the community? Who knows...I might have met them at some point.

Tabitha Blue said...

Congrats on your BATW day!!! What a great place to live! You make it seem wonderful, and great pics to go along with everything as well!! :)

Darlene said...

I LOVE all your information about South Dakota! Quite interesting!

Love your Christmas layout!

Grand Pooba said...

Holy Cow, didn't know anything about SD! I love the idea of space! Are the houses more than 2 feet apart? Really? That's paradise!

Just stopping by BATW. My husband rides a harley and has always wanted to go to Sturgis but has yet to take the drive....someday we'll make it over there:)

Writing from the Holy Salt Lake City Utah!

Aleta said...

That's for the intro to your state! I've never been there, but the pictures are beautiful!

I'm from New Orleans, Louisiana and we had our "first snow" (since Katrina) this morning - how exciting.

Julie said...

Hi Nichole-

I got here via a comment you left on another blog that I had commented on....LOL

Anyway, just wanted to say, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE some of your decorating ideas! Very creative. Someday when my kids get bigger, maybe I'll be able to decorate with breakable stuff again. Maybe.

Speedcat Hollydale said...

I've been to your state! I am your neighbor to the East, in Minnesota.

Fine job of showing off the state. Well done :-)

The Muse said...

Dropping by (again) LOL to see if you have been snowed in ? Hope not....!

Merry Christmas!

Abigail Kraft said...

Hey! I'm stopping in late from BATW. I had fun reading your post and your pictures are awesome. That sunset is beautiful!

You certainly made it look like an interesting place to visit someday (if nothing else for the oodles of weather conditions you get there!)

Thanks for sharing with us!
--Abigail

Star Forbis said...

Hi, congratulations on being featured at Blog Around The World. It's nice to meet you. My girls & I love Little House On The Prarie! How awesome to be from a place with so much history.

Pamela said...

Hey! I've actually been to the corn palace and the badlands.
I always think of Little House...(the books) when I hear "Dakotas".
Found you at BATW. Enjoy all the attention!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the tour of South Dakota, I learned heaps. I hadn't realised that Little House on the Prairie was based there.

Sorry I'm late for the tour. Hope you enjoyed your BATW day.

Georgia Girl said...

I loved this post! Lots of things I never knew and enjoyed everybit of it...Just not sure I could stand that much snow...I know you got to be freezing!