south dakota

Roadside Attractions and Our First Emergency

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After leaving Devils Tower, we pointed our rig toward Theodore Roosevelt National Park in western North Dakota. Driving across the Dakotas is notoriously boring, so I was pretty excited to find a few different points of interest to visit along the way. Geographic Center of the Nation Our route northeast from Devils Tower brought us … Read more

Finding the Wild in the Black Hills

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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

Mandatory Visits in the Black Hills

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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

Annihilation in the Badlands, Actual and Potential

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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

Awed by the Rugged Grandeur of the Badlands

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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