Fun:South Dakota

South Dakota is yet another rectangular state in the United States, carved out of the badlands of the Midwest.

It is one of those not-quite-midwestern, not-quite-western states that splits the difference between each. Eastern South Dakota is an appendage of Minnesota and Iowa: flat, boring, and full of corn and wheat fields, Lutherans, and people of Scandinavian descent. Western South Dakota has badlands, bikers, ponderosa pine, bison, coyotes, roadrunners, real and wannabe cowboys, free ice water, and dead presidents carved on a hillside, and is essentially an appendage of Wyoming.

Demographics
South Dakota has more prairie dogs than people, except in Sturgis, which has a lot more Harley-Davidsons than cars.

Some notable SoDakians are (Senator 1963-1981), who became notorious in 1972 for getting totally trounced in the presidential election - winning only D.C. and Massachusetts; and  (Senator 1987-2005), Senate Majority Leader in 2001-2003.

Main attractions

 * Wall Drug
 * The Mitchell Corn Palace
 * Sturgis
 * The Crazy Horse Monument
 * Mount Rushmore, a mountain sacred to American Indians which was desecrated with huge carvings of dead rich white males (see main image on the state quarter). It's worth noting that the Bible says Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. (Exodus 20:9)
 * The Black Hills region has more bad tourist traps than anyplace else on Earth except Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It's that tacky. It does have some beautiful scenery, however.