First of all, I appreciate everyone’s advice and encouraging words from last week’s post! Y’all definitely put my mind a little more at ease, and it makes me feel a bit better knowing I’m not the only one who thinks that way. 

Truth be told, this week was kind of bleh. Lots of things kind of pissed me off and I just felt like a grumpy mess. But don’t worry, I’m not going to talk about any of it. I’m really trying to work on letting things go and not stewing over them. I think I did okay this week – I just unfortunately had a lot of things come up that helped me practice! But we all have weeks like that sometimes, right? 

Anyway, instead, I’m going to have a little fun this week. I was bored and trying to distract myself the other day and decided to look up useless facts about South Dakota. I got a kick out of some of them and wanted to share a few. 

1. No horses are allowed into Fountain Inn unless they are wearing pants.

I have so many questions. I don’t know where this Fountain Inn is, but it makes me wonder how many horses show up in pants. Has anyone heard of this place? Maybe tested this rule? I might have to look into this one more. 🤔

2. It is illegal to fall asleep in a cheese factory. 

It makes me wonder how many times this happened they had to make a rule about it. Do we have a lot of cheese factories in South Dakota? I can only think of one. But then again, I’m not a huge fan of cheese, so I wouldn’t know. 🤷🏻‍♀️

3. In the 1890’s, Sioux Falls was crowned the “Divorce Capitol of the Plains.” 

Something to be proud of, I guess! 

4. NBC anchor Tom Brokaw graduated from Yankton High school and went to college at the University of South Dakota. 

That’s actually pretty cool! I didn’t know that one. Learn something new everyday. 

5. Pierre, South Dakota is the only combination of state and Capitol in the U.S. that doesn’t share any letters. 

This fact is definitely pretty useless, but hey, you never know what might come up at trivia night. 

6. In South Dakota, a person is required to have a license in order to hunt with a raptor. 

This one had a note beneath it saying: important question: the dinosaur or the bird? It made me laugh. 😂 Fair question! 

7. In Sisseton, using a throwing star is illegal. 

So, what they’re saying is we can use one everywhere else, right? …better not risk it, just to be safe. 

8. South Dakota is home to a prairie dog settlement measuring 100 by 250 miles, and contains an estimated 400 MILLION prairie dogs. 

That’s a lot of prairie dogs!! I wonder if this is the settlement by the badlands? Either way, I need to visit this place. I love prairie dogs. 

9. The state fossil is the triceratops. 

Is this actually a thing?? Does every state have a “state fossil?” Now I’m curious. 

10. Black Elk Peak (formerly Harney Peak) is the highest point in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. 

I already knew this one, but I still think it’s a neat fact. Plus, Black Elk Peak is one of my absolute favorite places. 

I hope you learned something this week! And maybe got a little chuckle in as well. 

Hope everyone has a fabulous week ahead and enjoys the little bit cooler weather we should have. And I hope everyone gets some much needed rain this weekend! 

Until next time! 🙂 

Megan Reiffenberger