South Dakota: The Americana Extravaganza

As many of you know, I like to take trips that are a bit more "off the beaten path". Don't get me wrong - I love traveling so I will happily travel just about anywhere... but my favorite trips to-date have primarily been to those locations which people respond with a look of "Why did you decide to go THERE?".

While I have many goals in life, one major goal of mine is to visit all 50 states by the time I turn 50 years old. I actually think I'll be able to accomplish this before I turn 50, but there are definitely some states that will be visited solely for the intent and purpose of fulfilling this goal- nothing more, nothing less. I mean, please. Who would willingly go to North Dakota or Idaho (to list just a couple)? 

South Dakota started out as one of those states that I figured would be just like that - I mean, what is there REALLY to see in this state aside from Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands? 

Ah, welcome to my thoughts circa... well, just a few months ago.

Some of you may remember my trip to Maine last Fall - that was the advent of this whole "D List State Vacation List" that some friends and I had conjured up. Well, Maine totally took us by surprise, soaring itself from D List to straight up A List in the course of a single, lovely weekend. In fact, it's so A list (in my book), that I now have a new goal to purchase a Fall vacation home there at some point in my life.

But I digress.

In any event, after that highly successful trip, we decided to see what other gems the good ol' U.S. of A. had to offer.

And that, my friends, is how South Dakota was born. Initially, we were thinking that we'd actually be a little bored if we went for a long weekend - I mean, like I said before, what is there REALLY to do aside from Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands? But the more and more we discussed this with other people... the more and more input people surprisingly had to provide! Who knew so many people had visited this STATE??

Before we knew it, we had an overpacked agenda and were actually nixing things from the list because we didn't think we'd have time to cover it all.*

We had so much to cover, in fact, I had to divide this post up to make it easier on the eyes! So, without further ado... I present to you: South Dakota, The Americana Extravaganza:

Americana Extravaganza - Day One (Badlands, Wall Drug, Mt. Rushmore)
Americana Extravaganza - Day Two (Rough Lock Falls, Deadwood and SASKATCHEWAN!!)
Americana Extravaganza - Day Three (Buffalo and the Wild West Saloon)

*I'm saying "we" as though I were actively involved in the planning process - please. Special thanks to Purvi and Rina, yet again, for planning this entire trip... and incorporating recommended activities / content that I would just merely forward along with a "Just a friendly FYI..." disclaimer. :)

Americana Extravaganza - Day Two (Rough Lock Falls, Deadwood and SASKATCHEWAN!!)

Well, after an eventful Day One, I wasn't really holding out all that much hope for the rest of the trip. I mean, we'd covered what I'd wanted to cover (Badlands, Mt. Rushmore)... what more could there possibly be?

Enter... Day Two. Day Two started off with a visit to Rough Lock Falls, which is this gorgeous woods-y/forest-y area complete with... you guessed it - waterfalls. We ended up mainly just driving through the area, but we did end up stopping here and there for the occasional picture or two.

This picture, without fail, cracks me up... pretty standard, some might say. (And by "standard", I mean "Christie laughs maniacally at, clearly, nothing that anyone else finds all that entertaining.)

Oh well, it was too early in the morning to be fully sane...

But it's never too early on a Saturday morning to... well, be doing an Irish jig? (Hahah - this picture also, without fail, cracks me up.)

Actually, you know what... come to think of it - I completely forget if these pictures were taken en route to Rough Lock Falls or en route elsewhere. Whoops (this is what happens when you delay blogging about a trip for TWO MONTHS!) - oh well, for all intents and purposes, we are going to say that yes... yes, these pictures were taken en route to Rough Lock Falls.

However, I can 100% assure you - THIS was taken AT the Falls themselves...

Pretty, right?

After doing another hike gentle stroll through some pretty forestry, we headed back into the beast of a Suburban to head to Deadwood. Deadwood is this town in South Dakota that closely resembles a "Wild West" town. While we were going to visit to see the "Wild West" in all its glory, our primary activity in Deadwood was... that's right - seeing a rodeo!!

I can safely say that each and every one of us was at least slightly traumatized by the rodeo - I mean, these cowboys were a bit aggressive when lasso'ing their horses and TYING THEM DOWN??!?!? (I'm absolutely NOT posting pictures of that spectacle taking place - I can't bear the memory!)

After that traumatic event transpired, we decided to walk around the town for a bit... and what a great distraction! It was as we were walking around that I noticed that my birthplace was showcased on QUITE a few license plates in the area - who knew that so many Saskatchewanians would be vacationing in South Dakota, of all places?? I HAD to document accordingly...

And naturally, I HAD to befriend my fellow Saskatchewanian...

(Of course, the owner of the car HAD to come back to his car while I was shamelessly taking my picture with the license plate. Oh well, at least my people are friendly folks, I guess.)

Honestly, seeing all the Saskatchewan license plates (and meeting my fellow Saskatchewanian!) was truly one of the highlights of my trip. I really need to see about making a trip back to my birthplace... if I'm going to advertise it as much as I do (I mean, how can you NOT advertise a place called "Saskatoon, Saskatchewan"... doesn't it just sound MAGICAL?!?!), I should probably see how the place has changed in... I don't know... the past 30 years or so?

Ah, but I digress. Another trip for another time.

We ended up wandering and finding a little tour group of Deadwood, so we ended up hopping right on board.

Literally.

It was fun - the tour guides were nice (and very knowledgeable!). I mean, the fact that they openly judged us for how little we knew about South Dakota, let alone Deadwood itself, is a mere aside.

After we'd gotten our fill of Deadwood, we ended up piling back into the beast of a Suburban and headed back to the hotel for a little downtime before heading off to dinner. Downtime for Rina and myself consisted of wandering through downtown Rapid City, doing a self-guided tour of all the presidents which line the streets of Rapid City.

We are such nerds, but, quite frankly - I absolutely LOVED THIS PART OF OUR DAY!!! I mean, you have to admit - we've had some serious WINNERS to serve as our presidents... we're pretty lucky, America.

Ahh! Rina and her favorite president - Abraham Lincoln...

Ahh! JFK!!! AND I happened to have Ted Kennedy's autobiography (one of my favorite books ever) in my purse!! It was so just meant to be!!

And... naturally, I HAD to save the best for last.

God, Bill Clinton. I don't know how much more of a love someone can have for a president. (Ironically, for how much love I do have for him, he's actually my second favorite president... second only to FDR, in case you were curious.)

In any event! We ended up wandering up and down the streets a bit more before finally heading back to the hotel to meet the rest of the group for dinner at Everest Cuisine - which happened to have only some of the most amazing Indian / Nepalese cuisine I've ever experienced. Rapid City... who would've thought, huh?

*Special thanks to Purvi and Trang for allowing me to straight up steal borrow their pictures from this trip.