featured South Dakota – Oh, the Places We See . . .

Recap: Four top sites to see in the Black Hills — plus one!

If traveling in the good ol’ US of A is in your future, take it from us: It doesn’t get much better than the Black Hills of South Dakota — and beyond! We’ve spent the last month or so writing about great places to see in the Black Hills and a little bit into Wyoming […]

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Stumbling upon greatness: Vore Buffalo Jump

one of the most important archeological sites of the Late-Prehistoric Plains Indians Brochure for Vore Buffalo Jump One of the reasons we travel is to discover new places, new ideas, and new paths to understanding nature’s creatures. So, when we saw a sign in Wyoming showing us an exit to Vore Buffalo Jump, we simultaneously […]

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Take the detour, for sure: Scenic, South Dakota

The really happy person is the one who can enjoy the scenery, even when they have to take a detour. ― Sir James Jeans With an extra day in South Dakota, we reveled in the delight of taking a second look at The Badlands. We didn’t plan a detour. But then again, we never do. Sometimes […]

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Spectacular Black Hills scenery: Spearfish Canyon

If driving past 1000-foot walls of canyon rock on an old rail bed flanked by pristine lakes makes your heart spin, you need to take the 20-mile road from Spearfish to Cheyenne Crossing in South Dakota’s Black Hills. It’s a drive for wildlife enthusiasts, hikers, photographers, and dreamers — filled with history and natural beauty. […]

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Center of the nation in South Dakota? Yes. Yes, it is!

If you’d asked us the location of the geographic center of our nation before we went to South Dakota, we might have answered Kansas or Missouri, maybe even Iowa or Nebraska. But we’d be wrong. The official Geographic Center of the Nation is in Belle Fourche , South Dakota. It really is! The center of […]

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Ride like the wind (real or pretend) in Sturgis, SD!

We’ve never been motorcyclists. Bert says he rode once, but I’m at dead zero on motorcycle rides or even sitting on a Hog, an Indian, or a Yamaha. So, when we left Deadwood, South Dakota, I wanted to at least pass through Sturgis, home of the now-famous rally that began in 1938 and, in 2019, […]

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Looming large in South Dakota: Crazy Horse Memorial

My lands are where my dead lie buried. Crazy Horse, 1877 Between Hill City and Custer, South Dakota, travelers can see an unfinished yet amazing carving of Lakota leader, Crazy Horse, even from the highway. But as you approach the complex known as the Crazy Horse Memorial, the completed 87-foot-tall head of Crazy Horse looms […]

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Life is short, take the curves: Needles Highway, SD

South Dakota’s Custer State Park may be on your list of best places to visit for a chance sighting of buffalo in the Wildlife Scenic Loop. But for sheer scenery you don’t want to miss Needles Highway. Needles is part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway named for former SD Governor Peter Norbeck who mapped […]

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Rush hour: Custer State Park

“Sometimes the only way to ever find yourself is to get completely lost.” Kellie Elmore You’ve seen the pictures in brochures, but until you experience it, you may not understand the rush that comes from at afternoon herd movement in SouthDakota’s Custer State Park. Even though we’d seen pictures of massive buffalo roaming freely in […]

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Kickin’ it in South Dakota: the journey begins!

Two events got me to thinking about what to write next: 1) National Travel & Tourism Week 2020 and 2) our coronavirus shelter-in-place mandates. If Bert and I go anywhere right now, it will be within the continental U. S. and probably near a national park. So, with that in mind, I’m sharing a trip […]