Minuteman Missle NHS

Wednesday night we walked through the world famous Wall Drug, and stayed at a campground a few blocks away.

Today the kids earned their Jr Ranger badges at the Minuteman Missile NHS in Cactus Flat, SD. The site is a very recent addition to the national park system, and they're still figuring out what it's going to be like. Right now they only give tours, limited to six people at a time. We met at a trailer, where they gave a brief overview site, then caravaned out to a launch site, and went down into an old launch bunker. Then we drove a couple of miles to a missile silo. It took about 2 1/2 hours for the whole tour. Pretty interesting stuff. 

Then we drove east to Mitchell, SD, where we're staying tonight. We stopped at a visitor center when we crossed the Missouri, and there was a small exhibit about Lewis and Clark. We probably won't be hitting too many national parks or monuments between here and DC. Right now, we plan to swing north to see the town where Laura Ingalls Wilder grew up, then go into Minnesota to see the Mall of America before heading down to Chicago.