
Palisades State Park is a state park of South Dakota, USA, featuring cliffs and rock formations eroded out of pink Sioux Quartzite. The park is located just south of Garretson, 10 miles off Interstate 90. At only 157 acres, it is South Dakota's second-smallest state park. The Sioux Quartzite rocks are 1.2 billion years old and up to 50 feet high. They are exposed on either side of Split Rock Creek

Below: Lee Duquette got his first look at Chimney Rock in Palisades State Park (this is not the same as Chimney Rock in North Carolina)



Below: Patten's Mill


Below: Lee and Karen Duquette explored the Balancing Rock Trail at Palisades State Park.



Below: When Lee and Karen Duquette walked around the corner, Balancing Rock took on an entirely different look.



Below: Lee Duquette realized that the view changed from wonderfully shaped rocks to flatness, so he decided not to walk any further on the trail. Karen Duquette was willing to walk a bit more, but not alone.

Below: Just a few minutes later, Lee and Karen Duquette got back in their truck and drove across the 1908 Historic bridge. Karen snapped one more photo as they drove across the bridge.

Below: Karen Duquette got out of the truck and took a photo from each side of the 1908 Historic Bridge at Palisades State Park.


Below: Lee and Karen Duquette explored the King and Queen Trail at Palisades State Park.

After a short walk down the trail, Lee and Karen Duquette reached the King and Queen formation, but they could not figure out which was the Queen and which was the King. The trail continued on for views of Split Rock Creek, but the two RV Gypsies did not go any further on this trail because this was the end of the rock formation area.

Later, Lee and Karen Duquette stopped at The Terry Redlin Art Center in Watertown, South Dakota. Although photos were not allowed to be taken inside the art gallery, this is a place that the two RV Gypsies highly recommend. It is more than just looking at fantastic paintings. It is a chance to see paintings come to life. Terry Redlin is known for his use of light, whether a campfire, a lamppost or a blazing sunset. Terry Redlin is a world famous artist and Watertown is his hometown. This art center is his way of thanking the City and the State for a scholarship he received after a brief ride on a motorcycle resulted in a life-changing injury. After visiting this art center, the two RV Gypsies are proud to claim Terry Redlin as their favorite artist.

Lee and Karen Duquette returned to Palisades State Park in 2016. If you wish to see those photos, click here. There will be a link there to take you back here.

Menu for The two RV Gypsies in South Dakota. You may view these three sites in any order you choose. And more choices below.
Falls Park in Sioux Falls	Sculpture Walk
Palisades State Park and Terry Redlin Art Center (this page

After you have seen the three sections above, please continue on to Winnebago, Nebraska and learn some Indian history (this has nothing to do with Winnebago RV's).

After you have seen all of the above, Continue Navigation in any year, any place, in the order of your choice via the alphabetical or category buttons below





OR Click here to see travels by the year (not the best way)

Before driving to Palisades State Park, Lee and Karen Duquette, the two RV Gypsies stopped at Glacial Lakes Rest Stop in New Effington, South Dakota and learned a bit about the state. The historical marker shown below is located on the southbound rest area along I-29 south of the North Dakota/South Dakota border. Its text is quoted below the photo of the historical marker. Scroll down to learn some of South Dakota's history, then continue scrolling to explore Palisades State Park and its glorious rock formations

South Dakota eastern heritage has been remembered along the Interstate highway system at safety rest areas and tourist information centers. "The eight pillars which thrust skyward here merge in the framework of a teepee, the Plains Indian home. The one-by-one-and-a-half foot concrete lodge poles rise fifty-six feet in the air and weigh six-and-one-half tons each. The structures were executed in an architectural manner reflecting the spiritual lifestyle of the nomadic Lakota (Sioux) Nation. "The Coteau des Prairie country to the south of this rest area was one of the parts of South Dakota first settled by the Lakota tribes. The Coteau country was formed by the last great glacier which reached across South Dakota as far as the Missouri River. As it melted, thousands of ground-out potholes became glacial lakes. To the southeast, Lakes Traverse and Big Stone represent remnants of a mighty river which drained archaic Lake Agassiz in Canada. "Fur traders and voyageurs found this lake country to be prime trapping and trading territory: they may have arrived in the area as early as 1679. At that time the Santee Sioux consisting of the Wahpeton, Sisseton, Mdewakanton, and Wahpekute tribes were moving into the lakes region. Nearly two centuries later the Santees ceded this part of South Dakota to the United States in Treaty of Traverse des Sioux. 1851. "The U.S. Army established one of the earliest military posts in South Dakota in 1864 at Fort Sisseton, 36 miles (57 kilometers) southwest of here. That post was abandoned by the army in 1889, and is now a South Dakota state park. Actual white settlement did not begin until the reservation area of the Sisseton-Wahpeton was open in 1892.
	As quoted above: The eight pillars which thrust skyward here merge in the framework of a teepee, the Plains Indian home. The one-by-one-and-a-half foot concrete lodge poles rise fifty-six feet in the air and weigh six-and-one-half tons each. The structures were executed in an architectural manner reflecting the spiritual lifestyle of the nomadic Lakota (Sioux) Nation.
Below: Looking skyward on a gloomy day from below the pillars.



Driving along in South Dakota, Karen Duquette saw a semi-truck hauling a windmill turbo blade.	Below: A Water tower - Dakota Magic

Lee and Karen Duquette,
The Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers
entered South Dakota and explored Palisades State Park
and The Terry Redlin Art Center
June 18, 2012

Below: Looking skyward on a gloomy day from below the pillars.

Driving along in South Dakota, Karen Duquette saw a semi-truck hauling a windmill turbo blade.

Below: A Water tower - Dakota Magic

Below: Lee Duquette got his first look at Chimney Rock in Palisades State Park (this is not the same as Chimney Rock in North Carolina)

Below: Patten's Mill

Below: Lee and Karen Duquette explored the Balancing Rock Trail at Palisades State Park.

Below: When Lee and Karen Duquette walked around the corner, Balancing Rock took on an entirely different look.

Below: Lee Duquette realized that the view changed from wonderfully shaped rocks to flatness, so he decided not to walk any further on the trail. Karen Duquette was willing to walk a bit more, but not alone.

Below: Just a few minutes later, Lee and Karen Duquette got back in their truck and drove across the 1908 Historic bridge. Karen snapped one more photo as they drove across the bridge.

Below: Lee and Karen Duquette explored the King and Queen Trail at Palisades State Park.

Lee and Karen Duquette returned to Palisades State Park in 2016. If you wish to see those photos, click here. There will be a link there to take you back here.

After you have seen the three sections above, please continue on to Winnebago, Nebraska and learn some Indian history (this has nothing to do with Winnebago RV's).

After you have seen all of the above,

Continue Navigation in any year, any place, in the order of your choice
via the alphabetical or category buttons below

OR Click here to see travels by the year (not the best way)

Lee and Karen Duquette, The Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers entered South Dakota and explored Palisades State Park and The Terry Redlin Art Center June 18, 2012

Below: Looking skyward on a gloomy day from below the pillars.

Driving along in South Dakota, Karen Duquette saw a semi-truck hauling a windmill turbo blade.

Below: A Water tower - Dakota Magic

Below: Lee Duquette got his first look at Chimney Rock in Palisades State Park (this is not the same as Chimney Rock in North Carolina)

Below: Patten's Mill

Below: Lee and Karen Duquette explored the Balancing Rock Trail at Palisades State Park.

Below: When Lee and Karen Duquette walked around the corner, Balancing Rock took on an entirely different look.

Below: Lee Duquette realized that the view changed from wonderfully shaped rocks to flatness, so he decided not to walk any further on the trail. Karen Duquette was willing to walk a bit more, but not alone.

Below: Just a few minutes later, Lee and Karen Duquette got back in their truck and drove across the 1908 Historic bridge. Karen snapped one more photo as they drove across the bridge.

Below: Lee and Karen Duquette explored the King and Queen Trail at Palisades State Park.

Lee and Karen Duquette returned to Palisades State Park in 2016. If you wish to see those photos, click here. There will be a link there to take you back here.

After you have seen the three sections above, please continue on to Winnebago, Nebraska and learn some Indian history (this has nothing to do with Winnebago RV's).

After you have seen all of the above,

Continue Navigation in any year, any place, in the order of your choice via the alphabetical or category buttons below

OR Click here to see travels by the year (not the best way)

Lee and Karen Duquette,
The Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers
entered South Dakota and explored Palisades State Park
and The Terry Redlin Art Center
June 18, 2012

Continue Navigation in any year, any place, in the order of your choice
via the alphabetical or category buttons below