I just booked a trip !

[PcflEZFlng]

So glad you got to enjoy this trip! Like everyone else, was looking forward to hear how it went. I know it did you and your daughter a world of good!

 

[PcflEZFlng]

Also just had to add a comment about traffic since it was mentioned upthread. From anedoctal evidence, at least, it seems it's still pretty light in most places. I don't go out much, so out of curiosity I checked the traffic online at 4:50 PM on Friday, which would normally mean jammed freeways everywhere here in San Diego. All the roads were wide open!

 

[b2bailey]

yes - but restaurants and hair salons are now open everywhere ..... well, almost

Nope, not here in Palm Springs area.

 

[nerodog]

Wow, beautiful picture and soubda like a lovely trip!!! Thanks for sharing...it makes me want to visit.

 

[dago]

Also just had to add a comment about traffic since it was mentioned upthread. From anedoctal evidence, at least, it seems it's still pretty light in most places. I don't go out much, so out of curiosity I checked the traffic online at 4:50 PM on Friday, which would normally mean jammed freeways everywhere here in San Diego. All the roads were wide open!

Regarding the traffic... you may be right. My neighbor just drove back from Fla to here in Ohio last week and he told me he breezed thru Atlanta, which is usually a traffic nightmare similar to Chicago. First time that's ever happened. He said it was like a ghost town.

 

[SandyPGravel]

Just stumbled upon this thread. A couple years ago we did a driving vacation to Avon, CO. Since we were driving and I wanted to see Mt Rushmore we drove through SD. Our first night we stayed in Sioux Falls. Very beautiful if you ever get a chance check out the falls. Then we drove to Keystone for the next night. I "discovered" the Badlands shortly before our trip and we did a little detour through the park. It happened to be on the centennial or bicentennial weekend of the park service so we got in free. WOW is that a spectacular park. I would love to experience it at sunset. I would definitely do another driving trip to SD.

I know you have a few more hours on each end of the trip than we did to drive to SD, but it was worth it. Like @DaveNW mentioned speed limit is 80 on the bigger roads.

Glad you enjoyed your trip, now you will have to check out the eastern section you missed.

 

[dago]

Just stumbled upon this thread. A couple years ago we did a driving vacation to Avon, CO. Since we were driving and I wanted to see Mt Rushmore we drove through SD. Our first night we stayed in Sioux Falls. Very beautiful if you ever get a chance check out the falls. Then we drove to Keystone for the next night. I "discovered" the Badlands shortly before our trip and we did a little detour through the park. It happened to be on the centennial or bicentennial weekend of the park service so we got in free. WOW is that a spectacular park. I would love to experience it at sunset. I would definitely do another driving trip to SD.

I know you have a few more hours on each end of the trip than we did to drive to SD, but it was worth it. Like @DaveNW mentioned speed limit is 80 on the bigger roads.

Glad you enjoyed your trip, now you will have to check out the eastern section you missed.

I agree Sioux Falls is definitely worth a visit, as is a drive along the Missouri River to the Lower Brule Indian Reservation to St Joseph Indian School. Lots of things to see in the Eastern section of the State, along I 90.

 

[Cornell]

@dago @SandyPGravel I'm very interested in hearing more about Sioux Falls . Online it looks to be a nice small city. I mentioned it to some of the western SD locals and they had a look of distaste and said "boring farm land". I gathered there is a west vs. east side SD thing going on .

 

[dago]

@dago @SandyPGravel I'm very interested in hearing more about Sioux Falls . Online it looks to be a nice small city. I mentioned it to some of the western SD locals and they had a look of distaste and said "boring farm land". I gathered there is a west vs. east side SD thing going on .

I am talking about just the falls. I didn't go to the city itself. The falls are awesome. I think the city would be a worth while visit. My schedule didn't allow for it when I visited the falls , but if I ever get back in that area it will be on my to do list. Eastern SD IS basically farmland, but, still lots of interesting things to see along I 90.

 

[susieq]

So glad you enjoyed your trip ~ I knew you would!!!

 

[Sugarcubesea]

I am limit up with this whole SIP thing and decided I need to get the heck out of Illinois before I lose my mind. Decided that S. Dakota looks about as "free" and welcoming as anywhere in the US right now. I have never had a desire to visit S. Dakota, but now I am going and am excited. Just going for a long weekend in 2 weeks. Me & my daughter. Staying in Deadwood. Lodging is open. State parks are open. Scenery looks beautiful and I hope to see a bison or two.

Oh -- my daughter does NOT want to look at any colleges while we are there.

I have been meaning to ask, How was your trip? I went to S. Dakota once right before I got out of college for a job interview in January...I turned that job offer down...too much snow for me...LOL

 

[rapmarks]

My daughter lived in Sioux Falls for a few years, it really is a nice city, and home values are similar to other cities in midwest

 

[dago]

Just stumbled upon this thread. A couple years ago we did a driving vacation to Avon, CO. Since we were driving and I wanted to see Mt Rushmore we drove through SD. Our first night we stayed in Sioux Falls. Very beautiful if you ever get a chance check out the falls. Then we drove to Keystone for the next night. I "discovered" the Badlands shortly before our trip and we did a little detour through the park. It happened to be on the centennial or bicentennial weekend of the park service so we got in free. WOW is that a spectacular park. I would love to experience it at sunset. I would definitely do another driving trip to SD.

I know you have a few more hours on each end of the trip than we did to drive to SD, but it was worth it. Like @DaveNW mentioned speed limit is 80 on the bigger roads.

Glad you enjoyed your trip, now you will have to check out the eastern section you missed.

@SandyPGravel I noticed that you live not too far from Janesville, WI. I love Janesville. I made a special trip to Rotary Botanical Gardens to see the Christmas lights. It was a spur of the moment trip. We live in the Cleveland Ohio area. Whenever I am in that area, I make it a point to stop at the Botanical Gardens.

 

[Pathways]

Saw bison (and babies which were leaping and running around), bighorn sheep, cows and more cows (including darling calves)

OK - So weird ? here. Kittens are cute, piglets are cute, calves are cute, and so on. Does anyone think a baby bison is cute? My DW thinks they are U**Y! (I tend to agree)

 

[bbodb1]

@Cornell - glad you enjoyed your trip!
As an aside, how are the future plans playing out for your daughter?

 

[Cornell]

OK - So weird ? here. Kittens are cute, piglets are cute, calves are cute, and so on. Does anyone think a baby bison is cute? My DW thinks they are U**Y! (I tend to agree)

Oh no!!! The baby bison we saw were leaping and frolicking. Maybe we are so desperate for joy and happiness that we found them particularly cute.

 

[Cornell]

@Cornell - glad you enjoyed your trip!
As an aside, how are the future plans playing out for your daughter?

It's like a roller coaster around here. She has concluded she does NOT want to go to college in S Dakota , despite her enjoyment of our trip.

Things are looking very bleak here for school this fall (not reopening). One of my sisters lives in suburban Milwaukee. We are discussing that my daughter might live with my sister for the upcoming school year and attend school up there -- if schools fully reopen in Wisconsin this fall. Sounds radical, but some of the ideas that have been floated with how school might shake out here in IL are pretty bleak. The high school for my sister's neighborhood is an excellent one.

My daughter could come home on the weekends which would be nice.

Hopefully it won't get to that. But I did see that the top high school football player in IL is moving to FL this summer so he can finish high school there as there will be no fall sports in IL. It blows my mind that it's getting to the point where we are shipping kids out of state to finish up their high school educations.

 

[Monykalyn]

Ah so sorry I didn't catch this thread before your trip but sounds like a great time!! It's funny because I just finished planning a 10 day trip end of June/first week of July. I was born in and grew up in North Dakota and family trips were South Dakota,Wyoming, Montana, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In fact I was digging through my childhood albums looking for old pictures-Missing an album or two, sister may have it-as I was specifically looking for the pic of the car looking like it was "stuck" in the tunnel on Iron mountain road (ooh I remember mom being so mad dad stopped in middle of road to take a picture!) and Crazy Horse monument-really want that one as it's been 35 years since I've been back. We decided we needed to do something this summer and well-what better way to physical distance than South Dakota? I booked us residential hotels or apartment suites so we wouldn't even be sharing much common space (if any) with others too LOL. Probably last time all 5 of us together before the budding geologist goes off to grad school and the HS grad goes off to college. Going to torture the kids by making them see all the kitchy roadside stuff-Corn Palace, Wall Drug (should be open by then), prairie dogs, hikes in the parks, Devil's Tower etc. Oldest kiddo has to wear masks at work (restaurant) so she has scoped out a couple places to get them made to see what fits/feels best as she's ordered a couple different kinds. We will all have a couple by time we travel, even though we are driving.
Hope school works out for your kiddo! I think(HOPE) we will have effective treatments by late summer/early fall that will at least allow those who get severely ill to have a much better recovery chance!

 

[dago]

Hello friends . I love all of your comments. I must confess ignorance that I did not fully appreciate all that SD had to offer until I started looking into this. I love nature and natural beauty so I think this is going to be a good trip. And @geekette -- I honestly wish we were staying a bit longer now that I'm digging into this some more!

We are staying at a B&B in Deadwood. I am NOT a B&B kind of person. I told my daughter where we were staying and I thought she'd make some snide comment but she said "Sounds nice, might be good to have some other people to talk to". HAHAHAHA - love it. And she's right.

One of my all time favorite movies is "The Rider" which was filmed in the Badlands, so now that has piqued my interest. If any of you are looking for a great movie to watch during all of this , I highly recommend.

And I thought about checking out De Smet (who out there knows why I might want to see that?) - but way on the other side of the state.

@T_R_Oglodyte Thank you for your comments. I am not ignoring you! Your story about your dad touched me. My mother has dementia and lives in an assisted living facility, 5 mins from my house. It's killing me that no one other than staff has seen her for 8 weeks now. And God knows when that will end. I am bracing myself our first visit. I'm so angry that my mother is in the sunset years of her life and am prevented from seeing her. I'm not angry at her facility. I understand and respect it. Just angry at the whole situation, if that makes sense. I am now interested in checking out Wounded Knee when we go through the Badlands. Thank you!

De Smet - Laura Ingalls Little House on the Prairie. Too far off the beaten path for me while I was in SD. But I did consider it