South Dakota is located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America. The name “Dakota” is derived from the Dakota Sioux American Tribes, the original inhabitants of that beautiful land. The capital of South Dakota is Pierre and Sioux Falls is the largest city. Sioux Falls international airport is the entryway for visitors into the state.
“Mount Rushmore State”, as South Dakota is nicknamed, celebrates the epic monument of the collage of faces of four dignified American presidents: George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson. South Dakota's Black Hills offer the back-drop for Mount Rushmore, the country’s greatest mountain carving. These high faces, some as large as sixty feet and almost five hundred feet above, lookout over a background of pine, birch, spruce, and aspen in the breathtaking wilderness.
The Missouri river is the largest and longest river in South Dakota. Periods of glaciations created the lakes and rivers including Cheyenne, James, Big Sioux, White river, etc.South Dakota has a continental climate. Summers are hot and semi-humid while winters are cold with subzero temperatures. Severe weather in the form of blizzards and ice storms are common in the winter season.
Some of the state’s breathtaking scenes may be found in the Southwest regions which include the Black Hills and Badlands. Visitors can gaze at some of the world’s most mesmerizing waterfalls in the country at Sioux Falls. Scenic cascades were created in this city when the Ice Age glaciers retreated. This also exposed the pink quartzite rock over which the waters flow to create a mesmerizing effect in Sioux Falls.
The Empire Mall of Sioux Falls is a shopper’s paradise. The mall is located in an area that is spread out over one hundred and twenty eight acres. There are about one hundred and eighty stores in this large Mall and every year, over fourteen million shoppers come here to shop for clothes, perfumes, handbags, electronics, shoes, etc.
Crazy Horse Memorial (Hwy 16/385 – SD 57730) is the warrior who defeated Custer, an aggressive cavalry brigade commander. His memorial was assigned to a Polish-American artist Korczak Ziolkowski who had worked at Mount Rushmore. Korczak worked on the gigantic sculpture until he died in 1982 when his family took over. The sculpture is bigger than the size of Mount Rushmore heads.
Reptile Gardens (8955 S Hwy 16 – SD 57702) is a complex encompassing about forty acres of land which was built in 1937. It is one of the best reptile parks in the world and contains Komodo dragons, giant tortoises, snakes, birds, farm animals, crocodiles and alligators. There is also a section that includes deadly poisonous snakes and a large number of lizards. Additionally, there is a beautifully maintained area with an orchid garden.
Cosmos Mystery Area (4021 W Chicago – SD) is a museum where Newton’s laws of Gravity do not apply. Here, water runs uphill, people find it difficult to stand upright and people seem to shrink or enlarge haphazardly. These attractions focus on the anomalies and mysteries of science. This is where science and intuition seems to collide and go off in different directions. A must see for the entire family!
