Dakota Dispatch #7: Coteau des Prairies

I live on the Coteau des Prairies, or as South Dakota's tourist information more often refers to it, the "Glacial Lakes and Prairies" region of the state. It's a nice place, full of lakes and a greener, hillier prairie than the flatlands of central SoDak and West River's desolate ranchland.

I'm telling you this because my parents and I went on a little tour of the region this Saturday. We started by driving north to Pickerel Lake:


Once there, we had dinner at the Pickerel Lake Lodge where they make a mighty good burgers and chislic (a South Dakota specialty):


After dinner, we drove around the lake, stopping at a state park and the former site of Camp Wisagoma. My mom worked at the camp when she was in college and I attended a brief camp there the summer before 7th grade (an experience that left me lifelong hatred of horror movies). The camp flooded a few years ago and was torn down. Now, the land is being developed and is quickly filling up with fancy lake cabins.

Next, we drove to Waubay and from there headed south, back toward Watertown. On the way back, we ventured off paved roads for a while in order to search out a farm owned by some family friends. This road was our bumpiest:


We found the farm after a few wrong turns and stopped briefly to enjoy their view (they weren't home). Nothing says "welcome" like a skull:


We ended the night at our own Lake Kampeska, stopping at one of my favorite bars, The Prop, for refreshments (The Prop is one of the few bars I've been to around here that actually serves beer on tap rather than just bottles), video lottery, and a couple games of shuffleboard.