Aberdeen, South Dakota

Frost on Wednesday morning when we departed after breakfast at the hotel in Watertown, but the sun was out! We were sent west from Watertown, to Aberdeen, a small town established in 1881. Like many towns of the Midwest, it was built around the newly developing railroad systems, had four different railroad companies with depots and soon became known as the "Hub City of the Dakotas". The only railroad still running through Aberdeen is the Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Main attraction of the city (and the region) is Wylie Park/Storybook Land where we had a tour in the morning. It's not only a huge city park with go-karts, bumper boats, mini golf, bicycle rentals, playgrounds, trails, volleyball, a lake with swimming beach and fishing for kids, but, also has Storybook Land and the Land of Oz. This area is open for free April to October and shows 60 displays of favorite fairy tale characters.


Also, there are different rides, among them a rollercoaster and a historic carousel (pic), and a lot of events take place every year. They have campgrounds and - new - they have "tiny homes" to rent. The adjacent zoo is quite an attraction, too, with its bison, elk, prairie dogs and other animals. They had real impressive bison and elk patriarchs (pic).

After the tour we drove into downtown and visited the Dacotah Prairie Museum, which depicts the history of the whole region and the westward expansion of the U.S.. Railroad and pioneer settlers are the main topics in this historic Bank/Western Union Building, In the 1880s homesteaders flock to Dakota Territory to plow the prairie lands and start farms. They had been told by the government and the railroad companies that it was terrific land. But, the Dakota priairie was treeless and when they arrived there was some doubt about whether crops could be grown in Dakota.

We explored downtown, but it's small and seemed a little depressing. Though there were some nice historic buildings, quite a few were standing empty. We even didn't find a coffeeshop or a bookstore on Main Street, however, there was a brewery, "One Legged Pheasant Brewery", which we didn't check out. Didn't want to drive back into town later in the evening since our Ramkota Hotel was in the suburbs. Therefore we checked out the local Kessler's grocery store and got us dinner there to eat in our Ramkota Hotel room.