South Dakota 2024 - Part I

After our fun time in Minnesota, we started a long drive to our next stop in Keystone, South Dakota. My friend Amy and her husband James had planned a South Dakota Trip too, so we figured we'd hang out with them for a few days before driving home. They flew in that morning, and we didn't arrive until late that evening, so we didn't get to see them until the next day.

After several hours of driving we made a pit stop at Sioux Falls Park. The waterfall was pretty, but it smelled awful. We joked around calling it "Sewage Falls." The internet tells me the smell is due to the nearby Smithfield meat packing plant combined with hot outdoor temperatures.

It churned up a TON of foam!. It was like root beer, but smellier.

We walked around to the other side of the falls and saw the remains of an unsuccessful mill built to harness the water.

We then went to the lookout tower for a great view of the falls and of the city. If you zoom in on the picture on the right, you can see the Smithfield plant. 

The kids wanted to play on the park playground before we hopped back in the car. 

We grabbed some lunch at a gas station then continued our drive across the Missouri river. I wish we'd had some more time to spend here and enjoy the view. 

It was a crazy hot day. 107! Tyler was so exhausted he fell asleep in the car. He almost never does that anymore. Usually Allison's the one to nod off on long drives, but she was wide awake and alert.

In spite of the heat, we got out of the car to view the beautiful Badlands! It was 108 degrees by then, but at least it was windy. That gave us a little relief.

We had the kids come out at the first lookout, but we stopped after that. It was too hot, they were exhausted, and they just wanted to stay in the air conditioned car.

We didn't do any hikes or long walks that would take us out of site of the car, but there was were still plenty of amazing views to see.

We got to see a little wildlife too - lots of prairie dogs and a goat. They were so cute! I was sad to see so many of them run over on the road. I wonder why there aren't "watch for prairie dogs" signs near these areas where they're clearly building their mounds.

We need to come back some time when it's not so hot and explore the park more thoroughly. I'd love to do some hiking here.

After exiting the badlands we stopped in Wall, SD at Wall Drug. In the "backyard" area there's a splash pad and a mini Mt Rushmore. It was nice to have a place to cool off after such a hot day.

We also got some yummy treats. We bought fudge, ice cream, and donuts. I'd never seen a maple cake donut before (usually maple bars are yeasty donuts). It was top notch!

We took the kids in to see the T-Rex animatronic. It "feeds" every 12 minutes, meaning it moves and roars with strobe lighting. 

We then grabbed dinner at a nearby Dairy Queen before starting our final hour drive to Keystone.

Unfortunately our hotel in Keystone was terrible! The air conditioning would only blow cool for a minute or so before it went back to just blowing the outdoor air, which was still in the high 80's. They told me it was just overworked from such a hot day and they gave us a fan to help, but I slept like garbage. Thankfully the rest of the family was tired enough that they were able to sleep. The next morning the outside air had cooled down considerably, but the air conditioning was still having issues. It would blow cool a little bit longer, but then it would go back to blowing outside air. I talked to the front desk, and since all they did was offer us more fans, we checked out and found new accommodations in Rapid City. I was not going to stay there another night. The only benefit to having stayed there is that it was close to Mt Rushmore, which is where we went next.

After getting great pictures at the main lookout, we took the small hike that takes you down to another visitor's center and eventually leads you as close to the monument as you're allowed to go.

In the second visitor's center they have the model that the mountain carving was based off of. It was originally meant to have their torsos, but they ran out of funding, finished with the heads, and called it good. Personally I think it's fine as it is. The amount of time, money, and work it would take to add their torsos wouldn't add much to it in my opinion. 

We then continued the loop hike. It's interesting to see them from that close, but it doesn't make for very good pictures. 

Amy and James had stayed down in Hot Springs, and they still had some time before they could meet up with us at Crazy Horse, so we grabbed some lunch at the Purple Pie Place. I had to get a Purple Cow at the Purple Pie Place!

After lunch we drove to Crazy Horse, arriving about 20 minutes before Amy and James did. Work started on it in 1948, and there's no knowing how long it will take to finish. The original estimate was 30 years! You can see in the picture on the top right what it's intended to look like when it's completed, along with a full community and schooling for the local indigenous peoples. 

Amy and James met up with us just in time for the bus tour that takes you up to the main lookout. 

I'm glad we got to see his face since those of us in our 40's may not be alive whenever they complete the whole thing. The face wasn't even completed until 1998, years after the original sculptor had passed away in 1982. His wife and children have continued the project since then.

This YouTube video gives some good background on the monument and why it's taking so long to complete. The government had offered to fund it, but he refused to accept federal aid. He wanted to make sure it fully honored the native American tribes and not the government that had displaced them, and he didn't trust the government to complete it since they'd stopped funding Mt Rushmore. The family continues to fund the project through admission fees to view Crazy Horse and their museums.

We then explored the museum and saw the model sculpture the carving is based on. I like how you can see the mountain carving just behind the model.

From there we took a scenic drive along the Needles Highway.

We stopped off at this pretty lake for a few minutes, mostly so I could talk to Amy and James since our phones didn't have any service and they were following us. They could have turned off there and made it back to their AirBNB much sooner, but they wanted to keep hanging out with us. We stopped off to see our new accommodations and met the owner of the bungalow we were staying in. He recommended the Colonial House restaurant, which is where we had a yummy dinner that evening. Our bungalow was so roomy, the air conditioner worked well, the TV had streaming services, and we were all so much more comfortable there. Often I avoid AirBNB's because they charge exorbitant room cleaning fees even if you only stay there for one day, but this one didn't have any extra charge. It was worth every penny we spent, and I'd gladly stay there again.