We left Minneapolis early in the morning to try and maximize our time in the intriguing state of South Dakota. The trip would end up taking close to 10 hours, but there were some worthwhile stops along the way to keep us entertained.
Notably, in Sioux Falls, SD, we stopped by Bob's Cafe and Carry Out, a la recommendation from Road Food. Once again, the recommended place did not disappoint. Of course, we double checked it on the reliable Yelp before venturing in to the establishment. Once we were in, we were greeted by amiable people who engaged us in conversation throughout our whole meal. It was a nice, cozy diner with lots of character and a friendly staff. I would definitely recommend it to anyone in the area. Plus, the food was super delicious - broasted chicken and ribs. :) You can read more about it on my Yelp review.
Josh and I at
Bob's Cafe and Carry Out.
From Sioux Falls, we headed to Badlands National Park, named for its extreme temperatures, lack of water, and rugged terrain. We encountered some nice landscapes and wildlife as well.
Entrance to the Park.
Badlands.
Josh with some antelope (also known as pronghorn, thanks to some internet research).
That was day one in South Dakota. Wanting to have some time to relax and see some other sites, we decided to stay in Rapid City for two nights. A trip across South Dakota wouldn't be worth much without a visit to Mount Rushmore.
Entrance to Mount Rushmore.
Us and the Presidents. Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. Just in case you didn't know.
We then visited the Native American version of Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial. The memorial is still unfinished, but it was neat to see what they had already done and what they were planning on doing. I think when finished, it will be the largest rock-formation-statue in the world. I think they have a long ways to go, though.
The view from the visitor center of Crazy Horse Memorial. That's about as close as you could get without having to pay more for a bus ride to the base of the memorial.
We then ventured down to Custer State Park, since we had time to spare and it was such a nice day. There were nice views and it was a nice ride, but I think our favorite part of Custer were the donkeys. They were obviously conditioned to solicit food from the visitors, but at least that made for entertaining encounters with "wildlife." One donkey actually charged at Josh and he got really scared. It was funny.
Josh and the seemingly-friendly donkeys at Custer State Park.
Our stay in Rapid City was an interesting one, at least initially. We booked a room at the Holiday Inn, but when we arrived that night around 9pm, they told us that they had overbooked the hotel. Evidently it was a computer glitch where the rooms booked through Priceline (what we did) didn't get factored in to the total count for booked rooms. They put us up at another hotel (which wasn't as nice), paid for it, cancelled our room cost for that night, and said a big sorry. We just had the hassle of staying at a mediocre place (at least they had a water slide..) and moving our stuff the next day back to the Holiday Inn. Plus, it was getting late that night and nothing was really open for dinner by then. We ended up eating Papa John's and Subway. Nothing too crazy, but hopefully you found it to be a somewhat interesting story.
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