Well, we are finally back from our vacation trip to SOUTH DAKOTA. Yes I said South Dakota. We have never been there and have a habit of visiting states we have not visited before in the springtime before all the tourists invade the area after Memorial Day.
We were not disappointed. We stayed in a log cabin near the town of Keystone and radiated from there all over the state. We landed in Rapid City which is on the west side of the state (small airport) and Keystone was just an hour away in the Black Hills.
We knew we wanted to see Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial Mountain and maybe a trip to the town of Deadwood (an HBO special by the same name) all the rest was a pleasant discovery.
A few local observations; the state has more bikers on the roads than cars. I know there is a annual gathering of the Harley-Davidson crowd in Sturgis in the Fall but this was the month of May. It appears the helmet law is not enforced and the rides must be fantastic from a biker perspective but I don’t see what the fascination is of getting your body beat up by the constant wind and all that god-damn noise – how about enjoying the sounds of nature?
The history here is basically the fight between the Indians (Lakota & Dakota) and the U.S. Army trying to protect the gold miners that were trespassing on Indian land. I will have more to say on that issue later.
Also I will talk some about the Indians and their dependence on the buffalo which was basically exterminated by the marauding European Americans shooting millions for the fun of it.
Kevin Costner did his “Dancing with Wolves” movie here and is very involved with the plight of the Indians here. He even sponsored an Indian museum here documenting their history – very educational.
Buffalo are everywhere here. They roam freely and don’t bother the cars and the people staring at them. Actually, the whole state abounds with free roaming animals of all kinds and my wife had to snap a picture of every one of them.
The difference between the Black Hills in Custer State Park and the Badlands area of prairies is stunning and something to behold. I will post some pictures to share the vistas even though pictures cannot do justice to being there and either driving straight up mountains or across never-ending prairies.
Lots of issues are up for discussion since I last posted – hoping to have time to comment.
We were not disappointed. We stayed in a log cabin near the town of Keystone and radiated from there all over the state. We landed in Rapid City which is on the west side of the state (small airport) and Keystone was just an hour away in the Black Hills.
We knew we wanted to see Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial Mountain and maybe a trip to the town of Deadwood (an HBO special by the same name) all the rest was a pleasant discovery.
A few local observations; the state has more bikers on the roads than cars. I know there is a annual gathering of the Harley-Davidson crowd in Sturgis in the Fall but this was the month of May. It appears the helmet law is not enforced and the rides must be fantastic from a biker perspective but I don’t see what the fascination is of getting your body beat up by the constant wind and all that god-damn noise – how about enjoying the sounds of nature?
The history here is basically the fight between the Indians (Lakota & Dakota) and the U.S. Army trying to protect the gold miners that were trespassing on Indian land. I will have more to say on that issue later.
Also I will talk some about the Indians and their dependence on the buffalo which was basically exterminated by the marauding European Americans shooting millions for the fun of it.
Kevin Costner did his “Dancing with Wolves” movie here and is very involved with the plight of the Indians here. He even sponsored an Indian museum here documenting their history – very educational.
Buffalo are everywhere here. They roam freely and don’t bother the cars and the people staring at them. Actually, the whole state abounds with free roaming animals of all kinds and my wife had to snap a picture of every one of them.
The difference between the Black Hills in Custer State Park and the Badlands area of prairies is stunning and something to behold. I will post some pictures to share the vistas even though pictures cannot do justice to being there and either driving straight up mountains or across never-ending prairies.
Lots of issues are up for discussion since I last posted – hoping to have time to comment.
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