Exploring the American Landscape
Shannon 
Although we are in the high summer season, and the Black Hills were filled with tourists in the weeks just after Memorial Day, we managed to find many, many locations of relative solitude and incredible beauty in this large wilderness. Custer State Park The focal point of our visit to the Black Hills was Custer … Read more
Southwestern South Dakota — a place I had never visited and frankly never even considered as a vacation destination — has a dense concentration of places we have loved. Were it not for the thought of subzero winter conditions, I think Ken would be ready to move here in a heartbeat. After our awesome five … Read more
In addition to being completely blown away by the scenery in the Badlands, we also visited several sites that reminded us of the grim history of this wild and unpredictable place. One preserves the history of a massacre that actually occurred, while the other tells the story of the destruction of the human race that … Read more
After our stop in Sioux City, we took two days to travel across southern South Dakota in search of the Badlands. The first day fulfilled every stereotype of South Dakota — long, straight roads shooting through massive, perfectly level fields in various stages of cultivation. The land seemed to be without end, and the tasks … Read more
There are so many incredible accomplishments and “firsts” of the Lewis & Clark expedition. Over 28 months, the group traveled through 8,000 miles of unknown territory by water and by land. Captain Lewis recorded detailed descriptions in his journals of at least 120 mammals, birds, reptiles and fish, as well as at least 182 plant … Read more