- 4/28/2011
5/5 stars
This review is *cough* years out of date (2008), but I just can't resist. Wall Drug keeps popping up in the most likely of places. Any restaurant covered with stickers has a Wall Drug bumper sticker *somewhere*. I don't expect Wall Drug has changed substantially.
Basically: ice water + mechanized Tyrannosaurus + historical photos + nickelodeon = WIN!
This is a tourist place. Has been since they first offered ice water to travelers during the Depression. But if you pay attention, you can learn a bit about the region. The back building has both a T-Rex and photographs. Many photographs. You easily could spend days just studying these snapshots of South Dakota history. Everything from the clothing to the interaction to the cultures are worth it. Among all the fake, this is real.
We experienced Wall Drug just before passing through the Badlands. I suspect that's the best route. The excess of Wall Drug makes the Badlands even more beautiful. You go from children bouncing on everything to a mountain goat perched atop an impossible rock. People tossing money and coins to prairie dogs tossing chunks of mud. And when the sun sets, the colors dance with the shadows.
I imagine dawn is similar. We really need to return. Excuse me, but now I want a glass of ice water.