Iconic Sights of South Dakota…

Continuing our journey heading east, we spent a few days in the Rapid City vicinity of South Dakota. This is a great centralized area to venture out to see some of this states amazing sites. Our first place to visit was Mount Rushmore. The National Park had some construction going on and we were unable to get right under the monument. From a distance, the enormity of the Presidents was still an awe struck site to see.

We then headed to the Crazy Horse Monument located in the Black Hills of South Dakota. This memorial is a giant in-progress monument (started in 1948 without any federal funding) of the famous Native American hero who was a Lakota warrior. He fought the United States attempts to take away their lands in 1876, with the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Our next adventure was to the Badlands National Park. We hiked the Notch Trail that led us up a rope ladder, through the strange terrain of the Badlands to an awesome view of the valley below. This striking landscape boasts a maze of buttes, canyons, pinnacles and spires.The weirdest looking formations resulting from wind and rain and erosion over thousands of years. Traveling through the Badlands reminds one of possibly being on another planet?

Just across from the Badlands NP entrance is the town of Wall, South Dakota. Famous for Wall Drug… a huge tourist trap cowboy themed shopping mall. Billboards are everywhere advertising a 5 cent cup of coffee and a free cup of ice water. Sallie was in heaven, checking out all the different eclectic stuff (junk, in some opinions), throughout all the interconnected stores.

The final stop back in the Black Hills was Custer State Park, where we saw a very diverse range of wildlife, like prairie dogs and the infamous “begging burros”. It was also awesome to see one of the largest free roaming buffalo herds in the nation, and then encountering a “Buffalo Jam”, as they definitely have the right of way when crossing the road!