The Wonders of South Dakota & The Black Hills

Imagine seeing the largest sculpture in the world and the vision of seeing four past presidents carved into the granite on the side of a mountain! Put this vacation on your wish list, as it is truly a remarkable place to visit.

Stay in Rapid City for a few days and enjoy the many restaurants, art galleries, museums and the great entertainment from music to theatre. You will even find the state’s largest movie theatre screen at the restored Elks Theatre. The Main Street Square is a fun-filled public space that features live concerts, seasonal ice skating and generally fun for the whole family. Visitors to downtown are greeted by the City of Presidents, a series of life- size bronze statues of the USA past presidents along the city’s streets and sidewalks.

Deadwood is a city in South Dakota, known to be one of the smallest in the world. It began in 1876 during the Black Hills gold rush. The city has managed to oversee the restoration of historic buildings by the lure of gaming and the town’s unique colorful history. It is well worth a visit just to see these buildings plus the entertainment value of this remarkable little city.

Custer State Park is one of the remaining wild places in the country as it spans 71,000 acres of wildlife and magnificent scenery. Wild bison, elk, mountain goats and curious burros are often seen up close and personal on the 18-mile Wildlife Loop Road that winds around the southern edge of the park. Burros are seen with their heads in car windows looking for treats! This second largest state park is an awe-inspiring vista of granite peaks, lodges and campgrounds.

Visit the Badlands National Park covering 244,000 acres of mixed-grass prairies which has been carved out of millions of years of wind, water and erosion. It contains the world’s richest deposits of fossils and prehistoric animals.

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The popular Needles Highway offers seventy miles of breathtaking views, tunnels and hairpin curves. Three granite tunnels on Iron Mountain Road perfectly frame the faces of Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the distance. These awe-inspiring carvings in the granite mountainside are of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. It took fourteen years and $1million to complete the monuments. It is a “must-see” on your vacation. Visit the museum and see how the models were transferred from paper to the side of a mountain!

The slow carving of the Crazy Horse Monument will dwarf the four presidents when completed. It is the carving of a Lakota warrior Chief Crazy Horse astride a stallion with his arm and pointed hand stretched out over the horse’s mane. It is taller than the Washington Monument and well over two football fields wide. It has been 64years in the making and far from completed due to the shortage of money, manpower and the credulity of just about anyone who heard the sculptures plans. It is known as one of the top tourist attractions in the state, so a visit is a must on your itinerary.

Another attraction is the “Corn Palace” near Mitchell, South Dakota. The world’s only Corn Palace is an outstanding structure which stands as a tribute to the agricultural heritage of South Dakota. The Corn Palace comes to life as it is redecorated each year with new corn, grain and grass to showcase a new theme. It is used as a venue for concerts, sports events, exhibits and other community events.

It is a popular destination, visited by more than 500,000 people each year.

A town that you should put on your itinerary is called “Wall” on the edge of the South Dakota Badlands. It is home to the famous Walls Drug Store founded in 1931. Their success was founded on giving out “free” ice cold water to the people traveling over that hot prairie highway. This worked and they have never really been lonely for customers since then. Wall Drug Store draws up to twenty thousand people a day over the hot summers. It is now a sprawling tourist mall that occupies most of the downtown and employs nearly a third of its population. The success of Wall Drug Store is quite the story that will inspire you to succeed in life and not to give up too easily on life’s tribulations and challenges.

Put South Dakota on your bucket list of adventures in the form of a motor coach tour or try a nice leisurely drive through the wonderful scenery and history of this amazing state. Either way you are sure to enjoy the experience.

Lynda Spriggs / Lobstick Tours.