The Explore All 50 States Project
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Visiting The National Buffalo Museum and Frontier Village was a memorable and moving experience. Before entering the museum there is a small frontier village with a few shops that sell arts and crafts made by the local tribes of the Sioux and the Lakota. I got a really great pair of handmade buckskin moccasins that I love so much I am afraid to wear them for fear of ruining them. Isaac got a little drum that … [Read more...]
The Valley City Fish Hatchery was one of those places where we needed a stop to break up a long car ride and there wasn't much else to see or do in the area. We checked it out and were really surprised at how unexpectedly cool, interesting, and educational it was. Apparently, fish hatcheries like this one grow baby fish to release into the lakes and rivers in the surrounding areas to help the ecosystem and to … [Read more...]
Driving up from South Dakota up to Fargo, we stopped at Bonanzaville, a pioneer village with 12 acres, 43 historic buildings, 400,000 artifacts, and millions of memories. It is the region’s largest historical attraction. Bonanzaville is kind of a museum whose exhibits are old buildings. We found out that most of these buildings were not here originally but were painstakingly moved here to create this sort of … [Read more...]
The Crazy Horse Memorial was an absolutely complete disappointment. This is the mother of all tourist traps. My suggestion is to keep your fanny pack zipped, and pass on this waste of time. It’s a “work in progress” that hasn’t progressed in the last 20 years. When we approached in the car and were told the price and saw the memorial carving, I turned my car around and left. There are far more interesting … [Read more...]
The Ingalls Family Homestead in De Smet is the original homestead where the Ingalls family settled after coming out west and was the inspiration for many of the stories in the Little House On The Prairie series written by Laura Ingalls Wilder who lived here as a young girl. You need not have read any of her books to appreciate this stop-though my daughter Lilia had and she gave us a running commentary through our … [Read more...]
The Badlands National Park is incredibly beautiful. I have never seen rock formations with so many gorgeous colors. The striations of greens and blues, reds and golds were just breathtaking. What is so strange is that the surrounding landscape is totally flat prairie and then all of a sudden there is this incredible rock canyon that looks like it was carved out by millions of years of rushing water. How did it … [Read more...]
The Prairie Homestead was one of my favorite places on the whole trip and is the original sod home of Mr. & Mrs. Ed Brown built in 1909. It is typical of the homes and outbuildings that pioneers built and is one of the last remaining original sod homes intact today. These pioneers played a very important part in settling the Great Plains and the kids and I learned all about them. Go inside the home and you … [Read more...]
Driving up the hill to Mt. Rushmore, the anticipation was killing me. I just could not wait to see those iconic faces carved into the stone face in the Black Hills. Walking up to the viewing area between the flags of all 50 states I glanced up my first reaction was ...oh, they're a lot smaller than I thought. We stood there for a few moments taking it all in and after recalibrating after my initial reaction, … [Read more...]
Just at the gateway to Mount Rushmore is the town of Keystone, a true frontier town with lots to see and do. It’s a great place to have lunch, explore some interesting shops and trading posts and engage in some fun activities at some quirky little tourist traps like the National Presidential Wax Museum. While we were having lunch at the local pizza parlor we were startled by some shouting coming from the street. … [Read more...]
Every guide book said that the Corn Palace was an absolutely do not miss, so we couldn't wait to get there. When we arrived, we checked out the outside of the building which is a collection of mosaics of various scenes made from different shades of dried corn kernels. The mosaics we saw all had a cowboy and rodeo theme but we found out that every year the designs change. After all the kernels are painstakingly … [Read more...]
