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In the Mood
“Are they closed?” My wife wondered as we parked outside the Glenn Miller Birthplace Museum in Clarinda, Iowa. I reminded her that we were often the only visitors at a tourist attraction. In fact, our visit to the South Dakota Hall of Fame started that way. We added Clarinda to our itinerary after seeing an ad for the museum in a copy of Our Iowa magazine on the first day of our trip.
Sure enough, the Miller museum was open for business. The woman in charge ushered us in to a screening room and started a documentary about the bandleader’s life. She said we didn’t have to stay for the whole thing but by the time we started getting restless, it was almost over. We couldn’t walk out right before they got to Miller’s untimely death. If they do choose to edit the film, they could probably shorten a few of the interviews and show highlights of the musical performances instead of full songs.
The museum is a year old and its collection is growing. Among other things, they had gold records, sheet music and musical instruments on display. My favorite item was the metallic bandstand donated by Tex Beneke. He inherited them after Miller’s death and used them for years. The museum replaced Tex’s name with a replica of the letters G.M. that had been there originally.
The museum is adjacent to the home where Miller was born. The birthplace is being restored and furnished to how it would have looked in 1904. They removed a part of the house that was added-on by a subsequent owner in 1912.
Stamp Site
The choice of a Nebraska tourist attraction was a no-brainer. Boys Town was founded by a Catholic priest; it was the location of an Oscar-winning movie; and it is home to the World’s Largest Ball of Stamps. My wife found a reference to the stamp ball when looking online for free things to do in Omaha.
The ball, which was featured in “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!”, was completed in the 1950s and is the centerpiece of a stamp-collecting display. A nearby workbench offers a “penny bin” of old stamps that kids can add to their own collections. A small message warns visitors to not add any stamps to the ball, which means someone must have tried it.
I bought a couple of postcards featuring the stamp ball and some air-mail stamps from the 1960s to use as postage. I also supported the cause by buying a pound of flavored coffee. I chose English Toffee, which I am enjoying as I type this. The clerk told me that their most popular flavor is “Jamaican Me Crazy,” which I found somewhat amusing since we were only a few hundred yards away from their behavioral health facilities.
Nebraska Five-O
The conclusion of my 50-state quest came as we drove across the Missouri River from Yankton, South Dakota, into Nebraska. My wife and I stopped at the Corps of Discovery Welcome Center in Crofton. The center is on a bluff with a nice view of the river, looking back toward Yankton. It offers clean restrooms, a map for visitors to mark their hometowns, and free coffee… when they’re open.
A Bust in the Hall of Fame
Pat O’Brien is a good guy who has graciously survived some embarrassing moments. He was always an excellent guest when I booked him on KPWR and KROQ. He’s back on the air at Fox Sports Radio. I’m happy that we’ve reconnected via Facebook and Twitter. He writes about various topics including sports and entertainment but I especially like his inspirational posts, which can apply to life in general, in addition to his recovery.
In April I was using Twitter to solicit suggestions for things to see as I concluded my 50-state quest. Pat suggested I visit the South Dakota Hall of Fame. He’s in it.
My wife and I found the Hall easily. It’s just off I-90 in Chamberlain. We signed the guest book and looked for the Arts & Entertainment inductees. In addition to Pat, the Hall has honored Tom Brokaw, Mary Hart, Bob Barker and other household names. Instead of their memorabilia, we discovered an empty display case.
The staff at the Hall was very apologetic. They had used the case for a recent art exhibit and had not yet replaced the items. Since I was an acquaintance of Pat O’Brien, they offered to go into the back and get his placard. They returned with more. Before long, I found myself holding a copy of his book, “Talkin’ Sports: A B.S.-er’s Guide,” and his Dakotans blazer. No, I didn’t try it on.
Another Brick in the Wall
The omnipresent billboards for Wall Drug on I-90 in South Dakota make you feel obligated to stop. You don’t want to be the one tourist who missed out, right? I’ve heard that South of the Border on I-95 in South Carolina uses a similar approach. Wall Drug offers free ice water and 5¢ coffee, which was surprisingly good. I had expected watered-down “church coffee” and ended up buying a second cup.
The word “overkill” came to mind several times as I walked around the various shops. I asked the sales clerks in the Souvenir Department how they could stand listening to the floor that squeaked every time a patron walked past. They said they could tune it out, until someone mentioned it. Oops.
My wife and I knew that we had to go to Wall Drug ever since our friend Jennifer stopped off there 11 days earlier. I joked on Facebook that she should hide something for us to find. She cleverly put a bookmark into a copy of “Some Awfully Tame but Kinda Funny Stories about Early Dakota Ladies of the Evening” and posted photographic proof on her Facebook wall. I found two copies in the bookstore but was disappointed that the bookmark was not in either one. Then I thought about someone who may have unwittingly purchased the book with Jennifer’s note inside. How will they explain that one?
Up to Date in Rapid City
If tourists will drive thousands of miles to see four presidents carved into a mountain, wouldn’t they also be interested in statues of all the presidents? That logic explains the Presidential Wax Museum in Keystone as well as the “City of Presidents” sculptures in Rapid City, South Dakota. My wife and I skipped the wax museum but we did take some time to walk among the statues on the street corners of Rapid City.
It was fun to see the less-famous presidents like Millard Fillmore and William Henry Harrison immortalized in bronze. My favorite statue was of William Howard Taft. From one direction, you can tell that he’s winding up to pitch a baseball. From the opposite angle, it looks like he’s staggering out of an Irish bar.
Tunnel of Shove
South Dakota’s Custer State Park is home to a huge herd of bison and many amazing rock formations, including one known as the Needles Eye. To reach it, vehicles on the Needles Highway must pass through a narrow tunnel, carved into rock. It appears to be only a few inches bigger than the park’s tour buses. Some visitors from New Mexico who were towing a camper had a close call in the tunnel. Their eagerness to get through, rather than turn around and go the long way, cost them a couple of awnings.
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