Before You Go. South Dakota is in the northern Great Plains. There are hills, but much of it is flat. It can get quite cold. This weekend, it might not: Although it's forecast to rain on Friday, Saturday should be dry, with daylight temperatures in the mid-40s and the evenings in the low 20s. You'll need Winter clothes, but it won't be that bad.
Vermillion is in the southeastern corner of South Dakota, and Brookings at the eastern edge of the State. Both are in the Central Time Zone. Most of the State is, but the Western part, including Mount Rushmore, is in the Mountain Time Zone.
Tickets. USD's DakotaDome (1 word) seats only 10,000 people. SDSU's Dykhouse Stadium seats 19,340. Whichever was hosting, it would be tough to get tickets. USD charges $20, SDSU charges $27.
Getting There. It's 1,343 miles from Times Square in Midtown Manhattan to the DakotaDome in Vermilion, and 1,422 miles from Times Square to Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings. That's a long way. You're going to want to fly.
It will be tough to find a good airport nearby. You may have to fly to Minneapolis, and then rent a car for the last 215 miles (to Brookings) or 298 miles (to Vermillion). Or, perhaps, fly to Omaha, and then rent a car for the last 138 miles (to Vermillion) or 239 miles (to Brookings).
Amtrak certainly doesn't go to either one. Greyhound does. Round-trip fare is $445 to both cities. The Greyhound station in Vermillion is at 604 High Street, a 10-minute walk southwest of the DakotaDome; and in Brookings, 3045 Lefevre Drive, about 2 miles southeast of Dykhouse Stadium.
If you decide to drive, it's far enough that it will help to get someone to go with you and split the duties, and to trade off driving and sleeping. The directions are rather simple, down to (quite literally) the last mile. You'll need to get into New Jersey, and take Interstate 80 West. You'll be on I-80 for the vast majority of the trip, through New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. In Ohio, in the western suburbs of Cleveland, I-80 will merge with Interstate 90. I-80/90 will take you through Ohio, Indiana, and into Illinois.
Which way you go from here depends on which school you're going to:
* If it's USD, you'll stay on I-80, across Illinois and Iowa, but turning onto Interstate 29 North in Council Bluffs -- if you cross into Nebraska, you've gone too far. Take I-29 North into South Dakota, to Exit 26, then take State Route 50 West to the campus.
If you do it right, you should spend about an hour and a half in New Jersey, 5 hours and 15 minutes in Pennsylvania, 4 hours in Ohio, 2 hours and 30 minutes in Indiana, an hour and 45 minutes in Illinois, 6 hours and 45 minutes in Iowa, and 45 minutes in South Dakota, for a total of 22 and a half hours. Counting rest stops, that's more like 30 hours.
* If it's SDSU, you'll take I-90 around Chicago, out of Illinois, and across Wisconsin (past Milwaukee and through Madison), and southern Minnesota, into Sioux Falls, South Dakota. From here, you'll turn north on I-29, taking Exit 133 for SDSU. If you do it right, you should spend about an hour and a half in New Jersey, 5 hours and 15 minutes in Pennsylvania, 4 hours in Ohio, 2 hours and 30 minutes in Indiana, an hour and 45 minutes in Illinois, 3 hours in Wisconsin, 4 hours and 45 minutes in Minnesota, and an hour and 15 minutes in South Dakota, for a total of 24 hours. Counting rest stops, that's more like 32 hours.
Once In the City. "Dakota" is a Native name meaning "friends" or "allies." South Dakota is home to about 865,000 people, a few more than North Dakota. Vermillion, founded in 1877 and named for the redness of the land, home of the University of South Dakota, has only 10,000 permanent residents. Brookings, founded in 1883 and named for early prairie promoter Wilmot Brookings, home of South Dakota State University, is over twice as big, but not big, at only 22,000 people.
The largest city in South Dakota is Sioux Falls, with just 175,000 people. The capital is Pierre, in the middle of the State, with only 14,000 people. Only Vermont has a smaller capital city. And that's pronounced like "Peer," not like the French "Pee-AIR."
The State House in Pierre
ZIP Codes in South Dakota start with the digits 57, and the Area Code is 605. The State sales tax is 4.5 percent. Leading newspapers include the Sioux Falls-based Argus Leader, the Pierre-based Capital Journal, the Mitchell Daily Republic, the Rapid City Journal, and, for the seats of the schools in question, the Vermillion-based Plain Talk and the Brookings Register.
It was always Lincoln on the penny, Jefferson on the nickel,
and Washington on the quarter. Now, thanks to State Quarters,
We have Jefferson and Lincoln on quarters, too.
In Vermillion, Cottage Avenue divides streets into East and West, and Cherry Street divides them into North and South. In Brookings, address numbers increase northward and eastward. Both towns are too small to have their own bus service. Fortunately, in both, pretty much everything is within walking distance. Neither has a freeway "beltway."
Notable graduates of USD include:
* Politics, representing South Dakota unless otherwise stated: Governors Sigurd Anderson, Dennis Daugaard, Frank Farrar, Joe Foss (also the 1st Commissioner of the American Football League), Carl Gunderson, Bill Janklow, Leslie Jensen, George Mickelson and Merrell Sharpe, plus Dwight Burney of Nebraska; Senators Joseph Bottum, James Abourezk, Larry Pressler, John Thune and Tim Johnson.
* Journalism: Tom Brokaw, Al Neuharth.
* Science: Physicist brothers Ernest O. and John H. Lawrence.
Notable graduates of SDSU include Governor Richard Kneip; Senators Tom Daschle (Majority Leader) and Mike Rounds; and General Mark Clark, the last commander of United Nations forces in the Korean War.
The DakotaDome
Going In. The official address of the DakotaDome is 1101 N. Dakota Street, just north of downtown. It seats 10,000, and opened in 1979. It hosted USD basketball as well as football, until the construction of the 6,000-seat Sanford Coyote Sports Center just to the south. The University website doesn't say how much parking costs.
Food. The universities' websites make no mention of concessions. There's probably nothing out of the ordinary, and you may be better off eating before and after the game.
Team History Displays. The DakotaDome has banners atop the sidelines showing USD's titles. But these are in other sports, as they've never won any conference titles in football.
In contrast, SDSU has won 16 Conference Championships. They won the North Central Conference in 1922, 1924, 1925, 1933, 1939, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1961, 1962 and 1963. They won the Great West Football Conference in 2007. And they are the defending Champions of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
The schools first met each other in what's now called "the South Dakota Showdown Series" in 1889, right after Statehood. SDSU has won the last 8 meetings, and 19 of the last 22, to take a 53-52-7 lead in the series. And since the teams didn't play each other from 2004 to 2011, USD hasn't won since 2000. The winner gets a trophy called the Showdown Trophy. Be careful: It's glass.
UPDATE: Through the 2019 season, South Dakota State leads 55-53-7.
Probably the best player in USD history was Tom Compton, an offensive tackle who now plays for the Chicago Bears. SDSU's most honored football player is a placekicker -- but not just any kicker: Adam Vinatieri. His nephew Chase is now SDSU's kicker.
Stuff. Neither stadium has a big team store. Unless you want to go to a small souvenir stand, you'll have to go to the university bookstores to get any stuff you'd want. USD's is at 414 E. Clark Street in downtown Vermillion, and SDSU's is at the Student Union, at Student Union Lane off Jackrabbit Avenue. In each case, about a 5-minute walk south of the respective stadium. Don't count on finding books or videos about either school's football program.
During the Game. Safety shouldn't be an issue at either school -- provided you don't openly root for the visiting team.
USD's fight song is "Hail, South Dakota!" Their mascot is Charlie Coyote.
South Dakota State's student section has an official student organization called the Barnyard Cadets. This group organizes a student gathering on campus before each Jackrabbit home game, followed by the whole student body walking toward the stadium from the south.
South Dakota State's band, The Pride of the Dakotas, plays the fight song, "Ring the Bells," and then the alma mater, "The Yellow and Blue," to the tune of one of the great old (but rarely heard since the University of Chicago dropped competitive sports in 1940) school songs, "Wave the Flag for Old Chicago." As you might guess, their mascot is named Jack Rabbit.
After the Game. At USD, Cherry Street, between the Dome and the main campus, has several places to eat. At SDSU, you might have to go a mile south of the stadium, back downtown, to 6th Street, a.k.a. U.S. Route 14.
If your visit to South Dakota is during the European soccer season, you're probably not going to find a place in either Vermillion or Brookings willing to show Arsenal vs. Burnley, or AC Milan vs. Pescara. Your best bet is to go to Gateway Lounge, at 3408 S. Gateway Blvd. in Sioux Falls. That's about halfway between the campuses. (Campii?) It's 58 miles north of the DakotaDome, and 58 miles south of Dykhouse Stadium.
Sidelights. Aside from these 2 schools, there isn't much in the way of sports in South Dakota. Sioux Falls has minor-league baseball's Canaries (Sioux Falls Stadium, opened 1993, 4,500 seats, 1001 West Avenue North), minor-league hockey's Sioux Falls Stampede (Denny Sanford Premier Center, 2014, 10,678, next-door to the Stadium at 1201 West Avenue North), and minor-league basketball's Sioux Falls Skyforce (the Sanford Pentagon, 2013, 3,250, 2210 West Pentagon Place).
The Denny Sanford Premier Center is at one end of the Sioux Falls Convention Center. At the other end is the Stampede's previous home, the Sioux Falls Arena, 1961, 6,113. Elvis Presley sang there on October 18, 1976 and June 22, 1977.
At the opposite end of the State, the Rapid City Rush play minor-league hockey at the 5,119-seat Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. This arena opened on June 21, 1977. You might have heard of its opening event: An Elvis concert that was taped for a CBS special, which they decided they couldn't air, because he looked so bad, but then he died on August 16, and they aired it on October 3, anyway. Anyway, the arena is still in use. 444 N. Mount Rushmore Road. (The Beatles never performed in either of the Dakotas.)
The film The Dark Knight Rises shows the Gotham Rogues playing the Rapid City Monuments, presumably named after Mount Rushmore. Both teams, of course, are fictional.
Southwestern South Dakota, due to distance and being in the Mountain Time Zone, is Colorado Rockies and Avalanche, and Denver Broncos and Nuggets country. The rest of the State is Minnesota Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves and Wild territory. Even though they're still new, Minnesota United are a more popular MLS team in the State than the Colorado Rapids.
SDSU's base of Brookings is home to the South Dakota Art Museum, at 1036 Medary Avenue. USD's student union, at 414 E. Clark Street, is home to the National Music Museum, with a collection of instruments.
Of course, the most famous thing in either of the Dakotas is Mount Rushmore National Memorial, blasted and chiseled out between 1927 and 1941, but scaled back considerably, as sculptor Gutzon Borghlum originally wanted to show them full-length, not just their faces. Hence, you can see Washington's lapels. The original model can be seen inside the exhibit center.
Why did choose those 4 Presidents? George Washington was the Father of the Country, and Abraham Lincoln saved the Union, so they were easy choices. Thomas Jefferson signed the Louisiana Purchase, and is thus the father of westward expansion. And Theodore Roosevelt, though born in New York City, had a ranch in North Dakota, and was the 1st President to truly embrace the American West. Jefferson talked and wrote about it, TR lived it.
The official address is 13000 South Dakota Route 244, in Keystone, about 23 miles southwest of Rapid City, 367 miles north of Denver, 596 miles west of Minneapolis, 727 miles northwest of Kansas City. You're driving: There isn't even shuttle bus service from Rapid City.
How much? Trick question. According to the National Park Service website, "There is no entrance fee for Mount Rushmore National Memorial. However, fees are required to park at the memorial." But it's a relatively cheap fee: $10. For comparison's sake, it now costs $28 for Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts (a.k.a. Plymouth Rock), $41 for Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, $56 to go all the way to the top of the Empire State Building, $97 for Disneyland and $107 for Disney World. (These are all for a single day.) And that's before you pay for parking.
There is also a counter-memorial, in protest of the fact that Mount Rushmore was built on Native land in the Black Hills. The Crazy Horse Memorial, named for the chief who led the 1876 attack on the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry, commanded by Lt. Col. George Custer, in Montana, has had lots of problems -- and the fact that Crazy Horse refused to be photographed in his lifetime, thus preventing us from knowing what he really looked like, is the least of these issues. Most of it has been about funding. It's been worked on since 1948, and it's nowhere near finished. If it ever is, it will be the world's largest sculpture. The mailing address is 12151 Avenue of the Chiefs, in the town of Crazy Horse.
South Dakota has never produced a President. Hubert Humphrey was born in Huron, but lived his adult life in Minneapolis. George McGovern was from Mitchell. Both were nominated by the Democratic Party, Humphrey losing a very close election in 1968, McGovern getting clobbered in 1972, both by Richard Nixon.
The tallest building in South Dakota is the CenturyLink Tower, although, at 174 feet, it's hardly a "tower." 125 South Dakota Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls.
The only major TV shows set in South Dakota have been Deadwood, HBO's 2004-06 Western set in the town where Will Bill Hickock was murdered in 1876; and the science fiction series Warehouse 13. Most movies set there have been Westerns, including the "revisionist Western" films Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Dances With Wolves. A few have used Mount Rushmore as a setting, including Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest and National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
*
Aside from Mount Rushmore, there's not much to do in South Dakota. But a sports rivalry that means a lot to them is being replayed this Saturday. It could be worth a visit.
Team History Displays. The DakotaDome has banners atop the sidelines showing USD's titles. But these are in other sports, as they've never won any conference titles in football.
In contrast, SDSU has won 16 Conference Championships. They won the North Central Conference in 1922, 1924, 1925, 1933, 1939, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1961, 1962 and 1963. They won the Great West Football Conference in 2007. And they are the defending Champions of the Missouri Valley Football Conference.
The schools first met each other in what's now called "the South Dakota Showdown Series" in 1889, right after Statehood. SDSU has won the last 8 meetings, and 19 of the last 22, to take a 53-52-7 lead in the series. And since the teams didn't play each other from 2004 to 2011, USD hasn't won since 2000. The winner gets a trophy called the Showdown Trophy. Be careful: It's glass.
Probably the best player in USD history was Tom Compton, an offensive tackle who now plays for the Chicago Bears. SDSU's most honored football player is a placekicker -- but not just any kicker: Adam Vinatieri. His nephew Chase is now SDSU's kicker.
Stuff. Neither stadium has a big team store. Unless you want to go to a small souvenir stand, you'll have to go to the university bookstores to get any stuff you'd want. USD's is at 414 E. Clark Street in downtown Vermillion, and SDSU's is at the Student Union, at Student Union Lane off Jackrabbit Avenue. In each case, about a 5-minute walk south of the respective stadium. Don't count on finding books or videos about either school's football program.
During the Game. Safety shouldn't be an issue at either school -- provided you don't openly root for the visiting team.
USD's fight song is "Hail, South Dakota!" Their mascot is Charlie Coyote.
Sometimes, he goes in the other direction,
and wears Number 99.
South Dakota State's student section has an official student organization called the Barnyard Cadets. This group organizes a student gathering on campus before each Jackrabbit home game, followed by the whole student body walking toward the stadium from the south.
South Dakota State's band, The Pride of the Dakotas, plays the fight song, "Ring the Bells," and then the alma mater, "The Yellow and Blue," to the tune of one of the great old (but rarely heard since the University of Chicago dropped competitive sports in 1940) school songs, "Wave the Flag for Old Chicago." As you might guess, their mascot is named Jack Rabbit.
"What's up, Doc-ota?"
After the Game. At USD, Cherry Street, between the Dome and the main campus, has several places to eat. At SDSU, you might have to go a mile south of the stadium, back downtown, to 6th Street, a.k.a. U.S. Route 14.
If your visit to South Dakota is during the European soccer season, you're probably not going to find a place in either Vermillion or Brookings willing to show Arsenal vs. Burnley, or AC Milan vs. Pescara. Your best bet is to go to Gateway Lounge, at 3408 S. Gateway Blvd. in Sioux Falls. That's about halfway between the campuses. (Campii?) It's 58 miles north of the DakotaDome, and 58 miles south of Dykhouse Stadium.
Sidelights. Aside from these 2 schools, there isn't much in the way of sports in South Dakota. Sioux Falls has minor-league baseball's Canaries (Sioux Falls Stadium, opened 1993, 4,500 seats, 1001 West Avenue North), minor-league hockey's Sioux Falls Stampede (Denny Sanford Premier Center, 2014, 10,678, next-door to the Stadium at 1201 West Avenue North), and minor-league basketball's Sioux Falls Skyforce (the Sanford Pentagon, 2013, 3,250, 2210 West Pentagon Place).
The Denny Sanford Premier Center is at one end of the Sioux Falls Convention Center. At the other end is the Stampede's previous home, the Sioux Falls Arena, 1961, 6,113. Elvis Presley sang there on October 18, 1976 and June 22, 1977.
At the opposite end of the State, the Rapid City Rush play minor-league hockey at the 5,119-seat Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. This arena opened on June 21, 1977. You might have heard of its opening event: An Elvis concert that was taped for a CBS special, which they decided they couldn't air, because he looked so bad, but then he died on August 16, and they aired it on October 3, anyway. Anyway, the arena is still in use. 444 N. Mount Rushmore Road. (The Beatles never performed in either of the Dakotas.)
The film The Dark Knight Rises shows the Gotham Rogues playing the Rapid City Monuments, presumably named after Mount Rushmore. Both teams, of course, are fictional.
Southwestern South Dakota, due to distance and being in the Mountain Time Zone, is Colorado Rockies and Avalanche, and Denver Broncos and Nuggets country. The rest of the State is Minnesota Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves and Wild territory. Even though they're still new, Minnesota United are a more popular MLS team in the State than the Colorado Rapids.
SDSU's base of Brookings is home to the South Dakota Art Museum, at 1036 Medary Avenue. USD's student union, at 414 E. Clark Street, is home to the National Music Museum, with a collection of instruments.
Of course, the most famous thing in either of the Dakotas is Mount Rushmore National Memorial, blasted and chiseled out between 1927 and 1941, but scaled back considerably, as sculptor Gutzon Borghlum originally wanted to show them full-length, not just their faces. Hence, you can see Washington's lapels. The original model can be seen inside the exhibit center.
Why did choose those 4 Presidents? George Washington was the Father of the Country, and Abraham Lincoln saved the Union, so they were easy choices. Thomas Jefferson signed the Louisiana Purchase, and is thus the father of westward expansion. And Theodore Roosevelt, though born in New York City, had a ranch in North Dakota, and was the 1st President to truly embrace the American West. Jefferson talked and wrote about it, TR lived it.
How much? Trick question. According to the National Park Service website, "There is no entrance fee for Mount Rushmore National Memorial. However, fees are required to park at the memorial." But it's a relatively cheap fee: $10. For comparison's sake, it now costs $28 for Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts (a.k.a. Plymouth Rock), $41 for Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, $56 to go all the way to the top of the Empire State Building, $97 for Disneyland and $107 for Disney World. (These are all for a single day.) And that's before you pay for parking.
There is also a counter-memorial, in protest of the fact that Mount Rushmore was built on Native land in the Black Hills. The Crazy Horse Memorial, named for the chief who led the 1876 attack on the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry, commanded by Lt. Col. George Custer, in Montana, has had lots of problems -- and the fact that Crazy Horse refused to be photographed in his lifetime, thus preventing us from knowing what he really looked like, is the least of these issues. Most of it has been about funding. It's been worked on since 1948, and it's nowhere near finished. If it ever is, it will be the world's largest sculpture. The mailing address is 12151 Avenue of the Chiefs, in the town of Crazy Horse.
The mountain in 2014, with the plaster model in the foreground
South Dakota has never produced a President. Hubert Humphrey was born in Huron, but lived his adult life in Minneapolis. George McGovern was from Mitchell. Both were nominated by the Democratic Party, Humphrey losing a very close election in 1968, McGovern getting clobbered in 1972, both by Richard Nixon.
The tallest building in South Dakota is the CenturyLink Tower, although, at 174 feet, it's hardly a "tower." 125 South Dakota Avenue in downtown Sioux Falls.
The only major TV shows set in South Dakota have been Deadwood, HBO's 2004-06 Western set in the town where Will Bill Hickock was murdered in 1876; and the science fiction series Warehouse 13. Most movies set there have been Westerns, including the "revisionist Western" films Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Dances With Wolves. A few have used Mount Rushmore as a setting, including Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest and National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
*
Aside from Mount Rushmore, there's not much to do in South Dakota. But a sports rivalry that means a lot to them is being replayed this Saturday. It could be worth a visit.
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