After spending the night at the Walmart in Wahpeton, ND, we made the decision to head south and check Pierre off the capital list. We still plan to hit a few parks in South Dakota on our way south, but the parks to Pierre would be about six extra hours of driving, where going to Pierre “on the way” to Bismarck only added a few hours. We cut the corner on North Dakota and made our way southeast through South Dakota on very flat, very straight roads. As we approached Pierre, the landscape became a little more interesting, with a few rolling hills and some horse farms, and we were surprised when the GPS told us we were less than 2 miles from the capitol and we were still in horse country.
We had set the GPS for Griffin Park, which supposedly had a small campground. We had a little scare getting there because we were rerouted for some construction and passed a sign saying we were approaching a 11’6” bridge which we wouldn’t squeeze under, but after stopping and talking to residents and consulting maps, we found a route that would get us to the park without going near the low overhead bridge. The park does in fact have a very nice campground, although all of the RV sites were taken because a circus was coming to town and the circus people, as well as some of the construction people, were staying at the campground. That turned out to be a good thing, because we were able to park at the adjacent marina in the boat launch area, and it was free. We set up the camper, and were able to walk to the capitol, which was only about a half mile from the park.
We had set the GPS for Griffin Park, which supposedly had a small campground. We had a little scare getting there because we were rerouted for some construction and passed a sign saying we were approaching a 11’6” bridge which we wouldn’t squeeze under, but after stopping and talking to residents and consulting maps, we found a route that would get us to the park without going near the low overhead bridge. The park does in fact have a very nice campground, although all of the RV sites were taken because a circus was coming to town and the circus people, as well as some of the construction people, were staying at the campground. That turned out to be a good thing, because we were able to park at the adjacent marina in the boat launch area, and it was free. We set up the camper, and were able to walk to the capitol, which was only about a half mile from the park.
We had set the GPS for Griffin Park, which supposedly had a small campground. We had a little scare getting there because we were rerouted for some construction and passed a sign saying we were approaching a 11’6” bridge which we wouldn’t squeeze under, but after stopping and talking to residents and consulting maps, we found a route that would get us to the park without going near the low overhead bridge. The park does in fact have a very nice campground, although all of the RV sites were taken because a circus was coming to town and the circus people, as well as some of the construction people, were staying at the campground. That turned out to be a good thing, because we were able to park at the adjacent marina in the boat launch area, and it was free. We set up the camper, and were able to walk to the capitol, which was only about a half mile from the park.
We had set the GPS for Griffin Park, which supposedly had a small campground. We had a little scare getting there because we were rerouted for some construction and passed a sign saying we were approaching a 11’6” bridge which we wouldn’t squeeze under, but after stopping and talking to residents and consulting maps, we found a route that would get us to the park without going near the low overhead bridge. The park does in fact have a very nice campground, although all of the RV sites were taken because a circus was coming to town and the circus people, as well as some of the construction people, were staying at the campground. That turned out to be a good thing, because we were able to park at the adjacent marina in the boat launch area, and it was free. We set up the camper, and were able to walk to the capitol, which was only about a half mile from the park.
While Pierre isn’t much of a city, the capitol area is beautiful. It is surrounded by park, and the lawn runs down to a large lake fed by a hot spring which is 92 degrees all year. The small downtown area is wedged between the capitol and the river, along with some ball fields and parks, and the park like area behind the capitol runs all the way out into the countryside, which is the direction we had approached from and which is why we couldn’t figure out why we were almost to the capitol and we were still passing horse farms. Paths run all around the area, and we were able to successfully find our way back to the campground by an equally pleasant route, unlike our experience in St. Paul.
In the morning, we followed the river walk path up the river for a few miles, and it was park almost the entire way. We passed picnic areas, a skate park, fishing docks, benches where you could sit and watch the geese, tennis courts, ball fields, kite fliers, and even the area where the circus was getting organized. I commented to Tom that if I had to pick one state capital to live in, I would pick Pierre because it doesn’t feel like a city and it’s very beautiful, and everyone we met was gracious. Tom reminded me that I probably wouldn’t like the South Dakota winters, which is true, but while this capitol wasn’t the most impressive, it definitely scored big points on just feeling good.
We walked back to the marina, packed up the camper, and headed almost directly north towards Bismarck.