billboard

Wall Drug, South Dakota

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 10 Comments

Yes Virginia, there is a Wall Drug.

Wall Drug was a little drug store in a small dusty town reeling from the Great Depression. Then the pharmacist’s clever wife realized that people were traveling like never before to see the construction and building of Mount Rushmore. So she told her husband to put a sign out on the highway offering people free ice water. It worked like a charm. By the next year they had to hire more than half a dozen people. Today it’s a 76000 square foot roadside attraction.

Now that is good old American ingenuity.

I adore their billboards. There are dozens and dozens of them.

They’re mostly in the traditional style of the 1930’s. At that time the use of billboards was widespread because of the increasing popularity of the car and family road trips. Advertisers used cartoons and bright colors to portray a sort of happy-go-lucky optimism. Buy this product and you can be happy! (in spite of the Depression).

We were getting close to Wall Drug. After so many billboards, hundreds of them, I was expecting a lot.

I had forgotten by that point that South Dakota is the king of the build up…

The entrance…

I do like the 80 ft dinosaur.

The store front..and a really crowded parking lot.  That’s understandable though, there’s nowhere else to stop. I’m serious there is no where.

But the store itself is right here, in case you needed to know.

I like the parking horses. They’re pretty.

Not a horse (or parking spot) in sight but never mind they’re pretty.

The giant monkey is a little odd. Fun odd but still odd.

It was a shame that the quarter slot to hear him play was “Out of Order”

I’ve never been serenaded by a giant monkey.

And here is the infamous jackalope

And right near the jackalope is a 6ft bunny that desperately needs a hug.

This buffalo looks like it wants to say something…

I’m thinking he is a little freaked out by all the wooden people.

Or annoyed that they stuffed him but didn’t stuff them.

Or he could just be worried that the statue behind him is ready to poke him in the butt.

This wooden guy is rather noble looking.

I think they meant this lady one as a compliment but she looks a little grumpy.

Maybe she should go give the bunny a hug.

I like this one, he looks pensive.

I mean he is flammable but he is also sitting next to the fire extinguisher.

Cheer up buddy.

And then it was so interesting. There was a long hallway with a photo gallery.

We were looking at them having a good time when..

What the ????!!!

An animatronic T-Rex.

And not a damn tree to hide behind anywhere.

The billboards…the drive continued..

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 8 Comments

I love billboards.  Fortunately South Dakota has many of them.

And I say fortunately because the majority of South Dakota is prairie grasslands. Sure it’s lovely for the first couple of hundred miles but after awhile the Eastern part of me starts to wondering. Where are the trees? I like trees. They’re pretty, they provide shade and if an uncivil UFO bent on world domination came down or Godzilla woke up and wanted to graze in the grasslands or even worse an  uncivil UFO bent on world domination carrying a grass grazing Godzilla came down, then you can hide behind a tree.

Unless you’re in the prairies.

Then you are out of luck.

Sure there’s a few trees here and there and you could technically hide behind one but it would be a bit obvious. Because all your neighbors would be hiding behind the tree too.

The head alien would say to his lieutenant “Where are all the people?”

And the lieutenant would reply “Behind that tree, sir.”

And the head alien would ask “Is that a tree or a bush?”

And Godzilla would say “Grrrr.”

So I like billboards because they distract me from thinking about being eaten alive in the prairies.

(By the way I took all of these photos while in a 75 mph zone. So please excuse any fuzziness. I would have slowed down but the prairies kind of freak me out.)

So get comfy, pull up a chair, pour yourself a glass of Red Ass wine and I’ll share them with you.

Vet’s Whoa n’ Go! I love the colors, the silliness of the name and the little guy riding a runaway donkey. I don’t know why there’s a runaway donkey. But it’s cute.

The Reptile Gardens, had dozens of billboards. These are a few of my favorites.

Old styling font, great colors against a beautiful scene. What’s not to like.

I like the outright threatening message on this one..

Especially since the next one is this cutesy train. Talk about mixed messages.

The cows don’t seem to mind a train carrying various reptiles and a goose for some reason (I’m thinking it must have been bring your own lunch) being driven by a turtle running through their pasture. Odd. You would think cows would mind that sort of thing.

Not fond of reptiles? You could go to the Taxidermy Exhibit.

Yes, you too can see dead stuffed animals “in action”.

Speaking of dead animals. Are you wearing any fur?

Why not?!?!?!!!

Hungry yet? How about an appealing little hotdog named “Senor Wiener”..

C’mon you know you want him..

No? How about a walleye burger? or a buffalo burger? Anyone?

Or you could get a pop for 10 cents. Though truth be told after all that prairie I was more excited about seeing a river. I am an excellent swimmer. I could hide from UFO’s and/or Godzilla in a river.

Or we could just stop at the “Busted Nut” and have a beer…

Not too many though, that sign is fuzzy enough..

If we can’t drive we could always get a “toe”

Might need one since I refused to be bullied into buying gas..

Ahh, that’s better. Short and to the point.

Too bad the sign is pointing an at an dilapidated barn and there’s nothing else in sight. Including an exit.

We can always walk.

Oh nevermind…

We could stop for the night…

This hotel sounds good, especially if you’re a mass murderer and your victims scream a lot.

(Note to my single friends, do NOT date anyone who makes reservations at this place.)

Not tired? Well let’s shop then.

How about we go buy some rocks. No not the diamond kind, just regular old rocks..

in a ghost town. A ghost town with a rock shop. And a gas station. And a grocery store. And people…

And yes I did buy a rock! For a $1.75.

Because I always enjoy a good con. Well done people, well done.

Now here’s another con I enjoyed thoroughly.

Especially since it was free.

Yes! You too can see prairie dogs for free!! Free!  On the prairies. At this store.

Oh look! Here it is!

“Urd”

No? Oh that’s right,we’re going to Deadwood.

Wow, that’s a little harsh.

Alright I’m done for the time being.

Don’t worry I have Wall Drug signs too.  But that is a whole different post.

And I mean different.

The drive out…

~ thepurpledogpaintingblog ~ 2 Comments

It was a dark and stormy morning…..

Well it wasn’t that dark, since we didn’t leave until 9:30 as we hadn’t any water. Our well was being cleaned..we had forgot all about the maintenance schedule…

*sigh*

So we took our dirty selves to the store and bought bottled water to have quickie baths in and then smelling pretty we left…

As we drove over the Mississippi River into Iowa, the wild sunflowers were glowing in the sun. At this time of year the wild grasses have a silvery feathery top on them. It is so lovely. We decided to drive north through Iowa to Minnesota then over west to South Dakota.

We drove past the world’s largest truck stop. As you can see the sky was starting to darken. We hit hard rain several times, hard enough to have to pull over. We saw several cars in ditches but thankfully everyone was fine.

The skies cleared as we reached South Dakota.  We realized fairly quickly that people in South Dakota really like signs. I mean they really like signs.

We started to see a few signs here and there. But then we saw one we couldn’t ignore..

Hmmmm. A Corn Palace? The world’s only Corn Palace?

We tried to resist but then we saw this one…

A Corn Palace and a ban pun and Free!…I like corn, I like bad puns..and free is always good…we needed to stop for the night but Dummy would not let us forget that we were so near the home of the Corn Palace…

At the hotel he nagged and nagged and hogged the remote until we agreed to go over to the Corn Palace the next morning…

The little so and so….

The next morning dawned bright and crisp and clear. A perfect September day. A day made for seeing corn palaces…

And there was a corn palace..and it was free.

These people like corn. A lot.

Even the street posts..well you can see for yourself. They like corn.

And then we saw the Corn Palace in all it’s glory. I had envisioned a sort of Lincoln Log type of model built with corn but oh no this was much bigger. In fact these people took a perfectly good building (albeit one with Russianesque onion domes and medieval turrets painted in glaring greens and yellows) and glued 300000 pieces of corn and various grasses all over it. It is pretty impressive. I can’t even get two sheets of paper to stay glued together. If I was the one who glued all that stuff on, people would be getting boinked in the head from falling cobs..so kudos to them.

Apparently they’ve been doing this every year for a good long time. Every year has a theme. This year’s theme was American Pride and Transportation. Cause you know we are just not a patriotic enough country..and lord knows none of us drive enough.

A closeup of the corn.

 Why did they do it?  And how do they stop the lights from setting the dry grass on fire?

I don’t know.

Sometimes it’s best not to ask.

We made a quick stop at Cabela’s to look at dead animals and an iron sculpture..

Smile..

Dummy lost his manners and ignored the signs telling people not to climb on the sculpture.

So he had to go in the glove box for a while.

And we continued on..