Epic scale ... the Crazy Horse Memorial, started by the late sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski.Credit: AFP
Kitsch? Yes. Worth a visit? Definitely. The midwest is home to 10 of America's wackiest attractions, writes Katrina Lobley.
WITH no Rocky Mountains, Grand Canyon or Malibu beaches in the upper midwest to help pull a crowd, what's a town to do? With a little ingenuity, imagination and even a few sticks of dynamite, these places in South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota have all managed to lob themselves onto the tourist map.
1 Pop on a calico bonnet and follow in the footsteps of Laura Ingalls Wilder. The author, whose books inspired the Little House on the Prairie TV series, came from a poor pioneer family that moved - a lot - so seven US states have museums dedicated to her. Children can play shopkeeper or scrub clothes on a washboard in the interactive outdoor museum of Walnut Grove, Minnesota (where the family lived in the 1870s), or explore the 1887 "House that Pa Built" over the border in De Smet, South Dakota. www.walnutgrove.org, www.discoverlaura.org.
2 There's only one reason to stop in Mitchell, South Dakota: the so-kitsch-it's-fabulous Corn Palace. Each year the faintly Russian-looking building, which houses a basketball court, is redecorated with images constructed from 275,000 ears of corn. It's a popular stop with Harley-Davidson riders and, if you're feeling peckish, pop into the "corn-session stand" inside. www.cornpalace.org.
3 Americans love their presidents and that adoration is on display with life-size bronze sculptures of all 42 presidents decorating the street corners of historic downtown Rapid City, South Dakota. Barack Obama will be added when his presidency ends. During the bitterly cold Black Hills winters, visitors sometimes wrap scarves around the necks of their favourites. www.visitrapidcity.com.
4 Twenty-seven kilometres from Mount Rushmore's famed carved presidential faces, the world's largest mountain carving continues. The late sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski started blasting a mountain into the shape of famed native American warrior Crazy Horse on board a prancing steed in 1948. Today, seven of his 10 children continue the project - no one knows when it will be finished. At the visitors' complex, try native American favourites such as fry bread. www.crazyhorsememorial.org.
5 Deadwood, South Dakota, could basically be described as Las Vegas meets the Wild West. Make a pilgrimage to the graves of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane, buried next to each other in Mount Moriah Cemetery overlooking the town, then head to the Midnight Star gambling saloon owned by movie star Kevin Costner on historic Main Street. His memorabilia, including Whitney Houston's thigh-high boots from The Bodyguard, fills the walls of the upstairs dining room. www.deadwood.com, www.themidnightstar.com.
6 Straight up the road from Deadwood is Medora, North Dakota, the quaint gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National Park's South Unit that showcases the badlands' stark beauty. It's also home to the Medora Musical, one of the cheesiest all-American extravaganzas you'll ever clap your eyes on. After tucking into barbecue served up on prison-like metal platters, take a seat in the Burning Hills Amphitheatre where you'll be dazzled by the whitest teeth in the midwest at this show running from June to September. www.medora.com.
7 Head east from North Dakota's capital, Bismarck, along the I-94 and it's hard not to miss the world's largest buffalo in Jamestown. The 60-tonne concrete buffalo, which is visible from the interstate, is worth a detour. It sits at the edge of a re-created pioneer village that includes the Louis L'Amour writer's shack and overlooks a real-life roaming buffalo herd containing a rare albino named White Cloud. www.buffalomuseum.com.
8 Mention the Coen brothers' 1996 movie Fargo in Fargo, North Dakota, and get ready for an impassioned reaction. Fargo folk mostly want to say they don't talk like that. You betcha. Hidden on the upstairs floor of the art deco Fargo Theatre is a carving of Marge Gunderson, the police officer portrayed by Frances McDormand. At the Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau, have your photo snapped with the infamous woodchipper that played a gruesome role in the plot. The prop even has its own Facebook page. www.fargotheatre.com, www.facebook.com/thewoodchipper.
9 Minneapolis's Mary Tyler Moore statue made headlines recently as one of the world's worst pieces of public art. But fans of the iconic 1970s TV show, which was set in the city, still flock to Nicollet Mall in order to have their picture snapped with Mary joyfully tossing her tam o'shanter into the air. Music fans can head a few blocks further to nearby First Avenue, the club that was a backdrop to Prince's movie Purple Rain. www.meetminneapolis.com, www.first-avenue.com.
10 Minneapolis's mega-mall, Mall of America, is a destination in itself for shopaholics - that's why there are 51 hotels within a 10-minute radius. Minnesota doesn't add state sales tax to clothing or shoes, so North America's second-largest mall draws up to 150,000 mad-keen shoppers from across the globe every day. It's home to the largest indoor theme park in the US; there's also an aquarium. Just don't let the kids roam by themselves - the mall cops, with an eye out for truants, will have something to say about that. www.mallofamerica.com.
The writer travelled courtesy of North Dakota Tourism, South Dakota Tourism and Meet Minneapolis.
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