I recently shared our visit to Badlands NP, and I mentioned Wall and the National Grasslands Visitor Center as spots to visit while in the area. We didn’t have a ton of time to explore the area, but we did visit Wall Drug and the National Grasslands VC. If you’re in the area, they are worth a visit.

What to do in Wall

Wall Drug

Now, I will be the first to admit that Wall Drug is a total tourist trap. But tourist traps can also be welcome stops after a long day of driving. Wall Drug offers more than just free ice water. There’s souvenirs, snacks, restaurants, art galleries, and more. If you take the kids to the Backyard, they can climb on a giant jackalope, sit in a covered wagon, play in the splash pad, or pan for gold. There’s lots more activities, and while some cost money (like panning for gold), others are free.

I remember stopping at Wall Drug when I was about 12 or so, during a cross country trip with my family. There’s not much I remember from the visit, but I do remember getting a bag of cinnamon salt water taffy. I was also fascinated by the jackalopes.

This was our first time stopping at the Wall Drug with the kiddos, and we had a fun time. The kids enjoyed exploring the Backyard, and we got some cute photo ops. We didn’t find any salt water taffy, but the doughnuts sure smelled good (celiac disease means I couldn’t sample them, unfortunately).

There weren’t as many jackalopes as I remember, but you can still find them. The boys even found a giant stuffed jackalope hanging out in the Backyard.

One thing to be aware of is the parking situation. There is a free parking lot across the street and over half a block or so, and there are designated pull through RV spots. However, if the parking lot is full, passenger vehicles will park in the RV spots. We may or may not have had to ask someone to move out of a designated RV spot that they’d just parked in. It was the last available RV spot, but they’d chosen to park their small SUV there rather than one of the several standard size parking spots available nearby.

National Grasslands Visitor Center

We didn’t have a lot of time to explore Wall since we needed to get back on the road. Before we left town though, we stopped at the National Grasslands Visitor Center. There are twenty national grasslands in the US, but this is the only visitor center.

I honestly wasn’t sure if it would be worth a stop, but they offer a Junior Ranger badge, so I thought it was worth stopping in. I’m glad we did! Sunshine said it was her favorite one so far. The variety of plants and animals in the grasslands is amazing. We learned a lot during our short visit, and I know there’s more we could have learned if we’d had a bit more time. We’ll be stopping in for another visit in the future.

2019 is Smokey Bear’s 75th Anniversary, so after the kiddos earned their junior ranger badges, they got goodie bags with some Smokey Bear and National Grasslands swag. Doesn’t the handkerchief we found in his bag make Ocean look like a cute little Junior Ranger Scout?

Have you been to Wall Drug or the National Grasslands Visitor Center? Do you have any favorite destinations in Wall that we can add to our list for when we return?