Badlands National Park

  Everyone driving along I-90 in South Dakota should take a slight detour and drive the thirty odd miles along Badlands National Park loop road. It’s beautiful! If possible, drive east to west and stop at the visitor center to watch the movie and see the excellent displays covering the geology, fossils, plants, animals, and human history of the park lands. A campground with electric and non-electric sites, a dump station, and fresh water is located near the visitor center.
         
   Accessibility is very good. The visitor center and theater are completely accessible. All of the overlooks have new curb cuts. Most have boardwalks to the viewing platforms.  Many of the overlook parking lots have an accessible vault toilet. There are four short, accessible, boardwalk trails.The only places that we found lacking were the picnic areas and campground. The tables have a very short overhang and are centered on a concrete pad without any extra room for a wheelchair. If the pad isn’t level with the ground the table is not usable by a person in a wheelchair. The campground supposedly has two accessible sites but they all looked the same to us.
         
   All of the sites in the campground are pull-offs parallel to the road. Some are long enough for any RV. The visitor center has long RV spaces. The loop road has a few hills and is windy so it’s a slow trip.  Most of the overlook parking lots are large enough for RVs. Park
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Pioneer Auto Show

    Be prepared for a surprise. This is not just a collection of cars, although there are over 275 including some very unusual ones. It’s a collection of everything imaginable – a 58 year accumulation of advertising signs, metal toys, motorcycles, radios, oil cans, all kinds of stuff, and way too much to take in on one visit.

  A good bit of the museum is accessible but wheelchair users will need to have help in places. The entrance door is heavy and there’s a high threshold. The main buildings are accessible. The other buildings on the grounds are connected with a concrete sidewalk that is uneven and sloped at spots. Some of the buildings have a short step or poor ramps. The prairie town buildings are mostly inaccessible due to steps, narrow doorways, and loose gravel paths.

  A large parking lot on the side of the museum has enough space for any size of RV. Museum
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American Creek Campground

   This may have been a COE park at one time. I think that it’s managed by the city now. The rates are a little more than we usually pay but there are few inexpensive camping or boondocking opportunities in the area.

  Many of the sites in the campground have a nice view of the Missouri River. The sites are fairly close together, not much privacy but lots of trees for shade. There are water and electric sites, full hookup sites, a sandy beach, boat ramp, playground, and a dump station.

   We didn’t see any sites marked as accessible but most of them should be usable.

   Some of the sites are large enough for any RV. Campground
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Akta Lakota Museum & Cultural Center

  The museum, on the grounds of the St.Joseph’s Indian School, was founded to preserve and interpret the Lakota culture for both the students and visitors. Along with viewing historic artifacts, interpretive displays, and contemporary artwork, visitors may also buy original art, jewelry, and crafts.

 The museum is accessible but a few of the interpretive signs are positioned in a way that makes them difficult to read.

  The parking lot is large enough for all RVs. Museum
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Lewis And Clark Keelboat Center

   Located in an I-90 rest area and visitor center, the keel boat overlooks the Missouri River where Lewis and Clark camped as they traveled west. Interpretive panels in the center and along paved paths in the outside picnic area explain the function of the boat and the scope of Lewis and Clark’s explorations.

   Everything is accessible.

  Long pull through spaces are provided for RVs. Three hour parking only. Interpretive Center
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Dakota Discovery Museum

  This is a very nicely done small museum covering the history of the “middle border”, the plains of the midwest, on the first floor. The second floor features art galleries with both permanent and changing exhibits. Four relocated buildings are included in the village grouping on the museum grounds.

  The museum is completely accessible. The village is not due to uneven ground and steps to the entrances of all of the buildings except the train depot.

  The parking lot is large enough for all RVs but may be filled with college students’ cars.  Museum
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Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village

  One thousand years ago a small village was located on a hill overlooking the Firesteel Creek River. The people farmed along the flood plain, fished in the river, and hunted game. The limited resources only lasted through a few generations before the villagers had to move farther west. A section of the village site has been enclosed to protect the archeology project and allow visitor access.

  A museum is also on the site. Displays include a reconstructed lodge, a complete bison skeleton, and a diorama of the village. A guided tour is included in the admission price.

  The site is accessible but only with some help.There’s a small handicapped parking area close to the museum entrance. The ground is covered with small stones which are hard to push through. The entrance door is heavy. The interior of the building is accessible. The village archeology site is accessed by a long brick walkway which is in good condition. An ADA walkway spirals from the lower level to the upper level so that visitors can view the dig from all directions.

  The parking lot is large enough for all RVs. The accessible lot is small and backing up is necessary to exit it.  Museum
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Corn Palace

  The first corn palace was built in 1892 to show the world that crops could be grown in South Dakota. A new theme is used every year when it’s redecorated with ears of corn cut lengthwise for the pictures, and decorative grasses and plants for the borders and columns. A short movie, a few displays about making the murals, a gift shop, and a sports arena with more corn murals are located inside.

  Everything at the palace is accessible but some of the curb cuts from the parking lots to the palace are steep or in bad condition.

  Parking for RVs is a block east on Seventh Street then north on Lawfer Street. The car lot is east on Seventh. Follow the signs for both lots.  Palace
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Old Courthouse Museum

   Five rooms of the old courthouse have displays about the history of the region plus the interior of the courtroom has been restored to the way it looked in 1900. We were expecting more history pertaining directly to Sioux Falls but that seems to be covered in the Pettigrew Home and Museum which we didn’t have time to visit.

  The museum is all accessible. The wheelchair entrance is located at the rear of the building close to the parking lots. A ramp and automatic door access the building. An elevator goes to all the floors.

The parking lots are large enough for vans and small RVs. Larger RVs can be parked along the streets at metered spaces-two hour limit.  Museum
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Great Plains Zoo , Delbridge Museum of Natural History

  When Sioux Falls was offered over 100 mounted animals, the collection of big game hunter and local businessman, Henry Brockhouse, they decided to join the collection with the zoo. So now visitors have the bizarre experience of viewing the dead animals in the museum and then their very much alive counterparts in the zoo! Actually both the museum and the zoo are done well. The mounted animals are displayed in life like poses with informative signs. The zoo has a lot of acreage so most of the animal enclosures are very roomy. An expansion is planned for the African Savannah.

  The museum is completely accessible. The zoo is accessible but some of the enclosures have fencing that blocks the view for children and people in wheelchairs. The giraffe section is especially bad with very high fencing. The walkways are wide, flat, and in good condition except for the very first section which is patterned concrete and very bumpy.

 The parking lot is large enough for all RVs.  Zoo
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