How do you know when you’re in South Dakota? The hotel in Sturgis has a box of rags to wipe down your motorcycle! But that’s not all, they also have a hose and special place to wash down your bike out back. I guess it’s to wash off all that Black Hills dust. We did a lot of things in South Dakota, but none of it included motorcycles.
Here are some highlights from South Dakota:
Most Beautiful Spot: The Badlands
. After seeing them, I’m still not sure I know what they are or how to describe them. They’re sort of like the Grand Canyon, but not as grand…and not really a canyon. Some are peaks, some mounds, some canyon-like. Whatever they are, they’re interesting and beautiful, and I loved the ones with vivid yellow stripes in the sand.Best Tourist Spot: Cosmos Mystery Area. The tour consisted of many different mind boggling demonstrations, some of which involved people on the tour appearing to change heights and others involved people appearing to defy the laws of gravity in a strange cabin. Much of the mystery can be solved with simple science and illusions, but there were some things we couldn’t explain. I wished we had a science teacher with us to debunk the mystery!
Worst Tourist Spot: Wall Drug. In all of our travels, we have not seen any place advertised as heavily as Wall Drug. I counted over 50 signs in the 50 some miles from Rapid City to Wall. The only place that even comes close to rivaling them in interstate advertisements is Lambert’s, the throwed roll restaurant off I55 in Missouri.
Wall Drug has been around since the 1930’s, when the entrepreneurial owner advertised free ice water and 5 cent coffee to travelers to get them to stop at his store. It worked, and the tourists still stop in droves; although, the water I had wasn’t exactly ice cold. I guess I expected better prices with free water and cheap coffee, but it seems that’s more of a marketing draw…and it works! For us, it was just a large, crowded store and restaurant, so we drank our lukewarm water and got back on the highway. It's a must stop because of its notoriety, though.
Best Meal: Culver’s. I’m ashamed to say a chain, but there was a Culver’s within walking distance of our hotel, and we were having a hard time finding affordable restaurants. We used to frequent Culver’s in our old town of Lincoln. It’s great for the budget because their kid’s meals are for any age, and to sweeten the deal, they come with a scoop of custard. Levi even discovered you can get a free topping as well!
Worst Meal: Picnic at the gas station, of all places. We ordered cheesesteak sandwiches to go, so we could take them to Memorial Park for a picnic. I had heard on the radio there was a concert in the park that evening. Do you realize how many Memorial Parks there are? Our GPS listed over 120 of them. To make matters worse, AT&T advertises that 97% of Americans have AT&T coverage, but apparently all 3% are in South Dakota because we couldn’t get data service to save our lives. We finally found a Memorial Park, but it was a campground in the middle of nowhere, not the park we were looking for.
Out of desperation, we stopped at a picnic table near a dinosaur. I thought maybe the dinosaur had to do with Dinosaur Park, a well known park in Rapid City with dinosaur statues you can climb on, but Mike pointed out that it was a Sinclair gas station whose symbol is a green dinosaur. As it if couldn’t get worse, the picnic table was so filthy we sat on a ledge, eating our now cold sandwiches.
Biggest Revelation: The infamous Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches are made with Cheese Whiz of all cheeses! Somehow we discovered this in South Dakota, not Philadelphia, which seems a little odd if you ask me.
While waiting at Ted’s Philly Cheesesteak & Subs for our sandwiches to go, I read the newspaper article about Ted framed on the wall. He fell in love with the Black Hills on vacation and moved out from Philadelphia to live near them. After not being able to find an authentic Philly Cheesesteak, he started his own shop. Good quality meat wasn’t a problem, but the cheese was – no one had Cheese Whiz! I have to admit we were a little deflated after finding out a good quality cheesesteak has Cheese Whiz of all things, but we applaud Ted for following his dream whatever kind of cheese he uses. Just eat them warm before the Cheese Whiz coagulates…
Biggest Surprise: The history behind Mt. Rushmore. It was built with the sole purpose of putting South Dakota on the map, and boy, did it ever! Tourists flock there like politicians to TV ads these final days before the election. We, of course, did too.
We paid our $10 parking fee, along with the 8 million other tourists on vacation there in the middle of summer. Our National Park pass didn’t qualify because the monument was free, but the parking was not. Nice technicality.
I’m glad we saw Mt. Rushmore. Let’s rephrase that: we HAD to see Mt. Rushmore. It’s four humungous presidents’ heads carved in stone on the side of a mountain, but it really was more of a checkmark on a bucket list than anything else. We were too early for the stirring lighting ceremony, and it was too hot for hiking. The whole experience was over and done in 30 minutes.
Biggest Twinge of Homesickness: A rowing machine. The Holiday Inn Holidome we were at was, well, old. (That is sad for me to admit because Holidomes were built when Mike and I were kids.) Their fitness center was so ancient they actually had a rickety rowing machine. It was great exercise, but it reminded me of when I used to row and work out with friends, and I missed them.
Worst Closures: Alpine Inn restaurant. Alpine Inn was highly recommended to us. We dropped “inn” for lunch on Sunday, not realizing they’re closed Sundays…Our loss!
Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. We arrived too late in the day, and they were already closed.
Best Drive: We drove Iron Mountain Road to Custer State Park. It was a thrilling drive with hairpin turns and one lane tunnels, but the views were lacking. In Custer, we saw a herd of buffalo and some baby Tatanka, which I guess are just called calves. With a name like Tatanka, it sure seems like they should have a more original name for their young.
Worst Drive: The one we didn’t go on. We were trying to return to our hotel via the Spearfish Scenic Canyon Drive, but Carmen (our van and GPS) was not very happy with this route. We were trying to defy her, but somehow she managed to trick us into missing the scenic drive. Once we realized it, we had spent too long in the van to back track.
Biggest Disappointment: Realizing we couldn’t drive to DeSmet to see the Little House on the Prairie house. I’ve been a big fan of Little House on the Prairie since I was a girl, and it killed me to “let go” of driving the family clear across the state simply to see it.
Funniest Memory: The quest for the Geographic Center of the US. We made the lonely drive from Spearfish north on a 2 lane highway in order to stand on the geographic center of the United States near Belle Fourche. We thought that road was lonely, and then the road sign pointed down a deserted dirt road. I hesitated since Carmen just had her first car wash of the trip, but hey, the geographic center only comes around once, right?!
Wrong! We saw a stack of rocks with a homemade sign saying “The True Center of the US,” but we never did see the official marker. Instead, we just got Carmen really dirty. Oh, and we were stopped by cows in the road! You should have seen the looks the cows were giving us, as if they knew we didn’t belong there.
Worst Memory: Embarrassing Chloe – on TV. The Fox News affiliate KEVN interviewed Mike about his transplant and our trip promoting organ donation. The interview went well, and then the reporter wanted to film us walking to our van. There was a little confusion when he motioned to start the van and drive off. Now, there’s a quirk in our 2005 minivan that when you start the vehicle, the automatic sliding door will open if it hasn’t closed completely. In the confusion, I didn’t wait to let Chloe’s door close completely before starting the van, so in the segment, you catch a glimpse of Chloe as her door pops open. It’s a little embarrassing if you’re a tweenage girl because no one knows it was my fault, not hers.
Best Memory: Playing with the kids in the Holidome pool. I’m noticing over and over again that my best memories are not seeing something monumental but rather just having fun with Mike, Levi, and Chloe. It’s time spent together that cements your relationship, and we’re getting plenty of that! Seriously, love the ones you’re with. Not like the song, but love the ones you’re “with” for life – your spouse, your kids, your family. Spend time doing fun things together.
My SD Hike: Nothing. I wanted to hike in the Badlands, but it was too hot. With temperatures over 100 degrees, I opted to stay in the nice, cool air conditioned van.
What We Did Miss: The whole eastern side of South Dakota, including the Ingalls Homestead. Mammoth Site, Minuteman Missile National Historic Site, Story Brook Island, and so much more all recommended to us.
In Summary: South Dakota, we had a fun time, but before we could move there, AT&T would have to increase its service area - and we should probably get a Hog…motorcycle, that is.
The Mom
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