Thursday, July 24, 2025 we left Custer State Park at 8:15 am for a six-hour drive to Lake Mitchell Campground in Mitchell, South Dakota for a three-night stay.
Along the drive we stopped for about 20 minutes to take photos and video of the “Dignity of Earth and Sky” sculpture off I-90 in Chamberlain, South Dakota.
Dignity of Earth and Sky
The “Dignity of Earth and Sky” sculpture is a soaring metal work of art that is 50 feet tall, weighs 12 1/2 tons and took 3 years to design and construct. The entire figure, including her face and hands, was fabricated by the artist, Dale Claude Lamphere, and his team of three assistants, then transported over 200 mile to this site which overlooks the Missouri River.
In addition to the artist and his team, structural engineers were consulted to address the complex challenges faced in building a monument of this size that could withstand the extreme weather conditions of the location. The star quilt on her back, an important symbol among Lakota, Nakota and Dakota peoples, is made of 128 diamonds, each 4 foot long and painted in the colors of the sky and water that surround Dignity.
“Dignity of Earth and Sky” is designed so the wind and sun move through her. She is an expression of both presence and integration with the environment. The sculpture was dedicated at the site on September 17, 2016 and draws thousands of visitors every year.
As I developed the design, foremost in my mind was the dignity and long history of indigenous people in this land. I wanted to encourage visitors to understand the deep culture and world view of the first peoples.
Women have always been a stabilizing and renewing force. This is celebrated here, specifically honoring the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota women who continue to be a strong and guiding influence for the families and communities of the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires).
My greatest hope is that Dignity will inspire present and future generations to see the strength of tradition that still exists in indigenous cultures throughout our nation and encourage all of us to embrace out similarities and celebrate our differences.
Dale Claude Lamphere, Sculptor
We arrived at Lake Mitchell Campground around 3:15 pm and were now in the Central Time Zone. It was very hot and after getting set up we were too as well as being tired (my left knee is STILL swollen and hurting) so we just ordered pizza for delivery to the trailer. Later in the evening, as the temperatures cooled off some, we took Bella on a walk around the campground. There was a hiking trail, but it was closed due to road construction at the entrance of the campground.
The Corn Palace
Friday morning after breakfast and a walk for Bella around the campground, we went to The Corn Palace. I missed my chance to see this when I was deployed to South Dakota several years back, so this gave us a chance to see it together for the first time.
Mostly, The Corn Palace is the basketball auditorium for the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers. But the interior and exterior is decorated each year with different murals made from locally grown ears of corn of differing colors into some pretty beautiful designs.
When it’s not basketball season, they fill the court with various corn-related products; all the way from corn palace t-shirts to corn skewers and corn jewelry. If it has something to do with corn (and sometimes not, lol), you’ll find it here.
We made a few purchases (of course!) and I was wearing my “Marvel” t-shirt that Amber gave at Christmas. The salesgirl said, “I like your shirt” and I thanked her, explaining we were going to see the new Fantastic Four movie later in the day and since I didn’t have an FF shirt I was wearing the Marvel shirt. She said that she went to the sneak peak showing the night before and really enjoyed it, so that was good to hear.
Afterward we walked next door and had lunch at a place called Bradley’s, which was better than we expected. Sharing a chicken strip basket, we both really loved the French fries for some reason. They were quite tasty.
Then, because Mitchell is so small and compact in size, we drove back to the campsite for about 30 minutes before returning to town to see the FF movie at 1 pm.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps
A few days earlier, knowing that the The Fantastic Four: First Steps movie was opening on Friday, July 25th, I had looked for a theater in or near Mitchell and discovered the Luxury 5 theater in downtown Mitchell. It was a very nice and affordable venue.
You can read my review of The Fantastic Four: First Steps over on my personal blog.
After the movie we bought some groceries and relaxed the rest of the night and all day Saturday just reading and writing and (for Cindy) tatting.
Thanks for following The Wandering Wetheringtons
The corn pics are funny, what a neat exhibit!
Their whole experience is built on corn, which they have reason to be proud of since they grow so much of it. But I really enjoyed the artistic design using different colored ears of maize.
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