It’s quite a goal to turn a mountain into a sculpture. The Black Hills have done it once, and 17 miles down the road, they are doing it a second time. Mount Rushmore was started in 1927. South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson wanted to attract visitors to the state and approached Gutzon Borglum to…
Sing with me… “Oh give me a home,where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play.” And the mountain goats. And the wild burro. And the elk. Good grief, there is a lot of wildlife in Custer State Park! We made three trips through Wildlife Loop Road, an 18-mile paved route through classic…
I like a dirt path. Too much time with city pavement under my boots makes me crabby, so it was good to hit the trails in Custer State Park. I’ve always thought the place deserved national park status with its varied geography and bountiful wildlife, but I guess if I were South Dakota, I would…
Scenic, South Dakota is not. Based on recent election results, Liberal, Kansas is decidedly conservative. My third grade geography teacher told me the Vikings named the inhospitable island Greenland and the lovely place Iceland as a bit of PR trickery so they could keep the good stuff all to themselves. We Minnesotans love to snicker…
When we pulled into Interior, South Dakota, we were stopped by a parade. Most places put their horses at the end of the parade. Here, they led it. A circle of trailers signaled the rodeo grounds and we found our spot in the bleachers next to a fella I’ll just call Fella. Apparently my denim…
We drove 672 miles to watch a movie. And it was a rerun. I’m not sure when I first learned that the KOA campground (or is it Kampground?) outside Devil’s Tower, Wyoming has nightly outdoor screenings of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But ever since, I’ve known that I would sit in the audience….
Sometimes when I start a trip I just want to get there. I want to pack food, dehydrate the children for a day to avoid the bathroom breaks, and just roll. The more time I can preserve for the final destination, the better. Other times, I prefer a lazy stroll. Leaving Laura’s Homestead, we were…
When Pa Ingalls made the journey from Walnut Grove, Minnesota to his homestead near what is now De Smet, South Dakota, it took him more than a week by horse and wagon. Friday evening we made the same trip in two hours. Back in his day, the settled lands had been hunted out. There was…
“Do you have a map?” I asked, as I bought the tickets. “Nah…just wander around and get lost. That’s the point,” he replied. It’s the sort of place that would give over-protective parents nightmares. It’s like Mad Max meets the jungle gym…or a creative genius and a mad scientist crash together the way that peanut…
“It’s out of your way,” he said. “There’s no such thing,” I replied. I don’t mind a little side trip of a hundred miles or two. It’s “The Arch.” And that was reason enough to detour on the way home from Nashville. Some stats from http://www.gatewayarch.com: It’s called the Gateway Arch It’s 7560 inches tall (630…
WideEyedRambler 