Tag Archives: South Dakota

Travels

2 Replies

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine

Last summer my husband, Roger, and I completed our goal of visiting all 50 states together in the nearly 30 years of our marriage. An acquaintance asked which states I liked best and which I considered the worst. Because the last two states we visited were South Dakota and Wyoming, I talked about the wonderful sights of those states first. I then mentioned the attributes of some of the other states. I never said which states I consider the worst. I believe there is something good about each of our 50 states.

In South Dakota we photographed Mt. Rushmore where we saw the carved faces of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. We visited the museum which displayed pictorial information about the construction of that phenomenal monument. Fascinating! We were also in South Dakota just in time to see the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally which lasted about 10 days. Last year an estimated half a million bikers attended the annual rally. The noises of the many motorcycles drove the bison toward the hills making us miss seeing the animals.

We drove from there to Jackson, Wyoming, the last state on our list. Jackson is a small city in the Jackson Hole Valley of Teton County. One of the best restaurants in Jackson is The Bunnery Bakery & Restaurant which serves traditional American breakfasts, sandwiches, and delicious baked goods and desserts. While Roger and I were discussing the successful completion of our state visits, several of the customers overheard us. We were congratulated by several of the them. One man sent a large cinnamon roll, The Bunnery’s specialty, to our table as a gift for our accomplishment.

During a walking tour of the city, we saw an impressively huge arch made of shed elk antlers collected by local children. We walked the boardwalk to a local museum which detailed how people in the past lived. While we were there, we saw one woman demonstrate the loom to weave yarn. We also took a short ride in a horse drawn stage coach to see the rest of the city.

In Yellowstone Park we saw Old Faithful, one of the most famous geysers in the world. This area has more geysers than any geyser field anywhere. We also saw elk, moose, and some friendly donkeys being fed by tourists which was forbidden. Just before exiting the park, we finally saw herds of bison in the fields. Some of the bison stopped on the two-lane road blocking the traffic for some time. It is illegal, and dangerous, to try to move the bison. Of course, there were some impatient people who tried or got too close to those huge, wild animals. Foolish! I’ll write more about some of our statewide trips in future blogs. Have you traveled to many of the 50 states? What did you find interesting about them?

In Yellowstone Park we saw Old Faithful, one of the most famous geysers in the world. This area has more geysers than any geyser field anywhere. We also saw elk, moose, and some friendly donkeys being fed by tourists which was forbidden. Just before exiting the park, we finally saw herds of bison in the fields. Some of the bison stopped on the two-lane road blocking the traffic for some time. It is illegal, and dangerous, to try to move the bison. Of course, there were some impatient people who tried or got too close to those huge, wild animals. Foolish!

I’ll write more about some of our statewide trips in future blogs. Have you traveled to many of the 50 states? What did you find interesting about them?

The Joys of Travel

4 Replies

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” – Unknown

“You only have a few magnets on your U. S.  map,” my boyfriend, Roger, said to me after one of our dates. “We’ll have to fill in the rest.”

He captured my heart with that statement. We married soon afterward and enjoyed traveling every year. I removed all the magnets that represented my solo trips because the map now chronicled our lives together. Our travels included visiting family members, often returning to the same states multiple times. We’ve joyed trips to Canada, cruises to the Caribbean, the Bahamas and a trip to Australia and New Zealand. However, our main goal was to visit all 50 states. During the ensuing years, we managed to add new states to the map.

On our most recent trip, Roger and I planned to fly from Missouri to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to spend one night and part of a day and then drive to Rapid City, South Dakota. Our late evening flight was delayed causing us to miss our connection in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Delta Airlines gave us a voucher to stay at a hotel in Minneapolis. We each received an emergency pouch containing a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, and a few other essentials. In addition, we were given stand-by boarding passes for a flight out the next morning. One catch-all the flights were completely booked giving us an almost nil chance of flying out the next day.

We returned to the airport early the next morning with hopes of taking the first flight out. Passengers arrived at the gate taking their rightful place in line. With only about six minutes left to board, our names were called. With a sigh of relief, we boarded the plane. We landed in Sioux Falls around noon and immediately began our five-hour drive to Rapid City. When we arrived, we were surprised to see thousands of motorcyclists.

One of the residents explained that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is held annually in Sturgis, South Dakota for ten days during the first full week of August. More than a half million people were in attendance.

Our goal was to visit the Mt. Rushmore National Memorial and Custer State Park the next morning. The massive sculpture at Mt. Rushmore of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln is impressive. In Custer’s State Park, we saw a bison lumbering along on the side of the road. I got a great picture.

To stay on schedule, we left for our nearly nine-hour drive to Jackson, Wyoming hoping to arrive before the check-in desk closed at midnight. Hotel key retrieval arrangements were made just in case. On our long drive, we missed a deer by about four feet. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture because I was too startled.

We saw a bull elk which was too far away to get a decent picture. We arrived at our hotel with ten minutes to spare and collapsed for a long, comfortable night sleeping.

The next day, we toured the city of Jackson in Wyoming’s Jackson Hole valley taking in the charming western style features. One of the most interesting sights was the Jackson Hole’s Elk Antler Arch which presents a perfect selfie-photo op. I toured the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum, and we took a stagecoach ride during our visit. We drove through the Grand Teton National Park. The Grand Tetons, known as fault-rock mountains, occupy a majority of the Jackson Hole valley where people enjoy mountaineering, camping, and fishing.

Our drive through Yellowstone National Park, the first national park in the world seemed disappointing at first because we didn’t see any bison. We saw elk, donkeys, and shortly before the end of our journey, we finally we saw bison, thousands of bison. We took pictures of them running in the distance, fighting over a female, and nursing baby bison called red calves. The bison crossed the road, sometimes stopping and causing an hour and a half traffic jam. Drivers were warned to stay away from the wildlife, but sometimes the wildlife came to them. We took pictures of the bison, some up close and too personal.

There is a difference between bison and buffalo. Although we use the terms interchangeably, the American bison is native to North and South American and Europe while the buffalo resides in Africa and Asia.

Our trip to South Dakota and Wyoming completed our bucket list of visiting all 50 states. Our map is now complete. Perhaps we should add to our bucket list, “Fill in a world map.” What do you think?