Well, I had a post planned, detailing our drive from Indiana, through Iowa and South Dakota, and into the mountains of Wyoming at Yellowstone. WHO KNEW?! We are presently in South Dakota, camping at what may be the best campsite we’ve ever had, and I want to stay here forever.
Suffice it to say we enjoyed our three days of driving across the midwest, listening to fun music and our current book-on-tape, Outlander. Following are a few pictures from that portion of our trip. But I’ve just got to keep room for THE BADLANDS and SPEARFISH CANYON. I have been completely blown away by what we found, because although I had been told these areas were beautiful, I truly didn’t expect to be quite so amazed.
Here are a few photos from our journey out to South Dakota, and then the most amazing photos of all time from The Badlands and Spearfish Canyon!!
The biggest KOA campground we’ve ever seen. Waterpark, casino, and lots of space. It made for a nice stop-over.
The Little Brown Church in the Vale
The “World’s Only Corn Palace” – As Bob said, when you see it, you’ll understand why it’s the WORLD’S ONLY CORN PALACE!
Sioux Falls, SD – We had no idea the falls were so gorgeous, and spent some time snapping photos before jumping back on the highway.
When we were almost to the Missouri River (near Chamberlain), we decided to stop at the rest area and got SUPER LUCKY again. A brand new statue had just been finished and dedicated that morning. In fact, there was a lighting ceremony that was to take place at 7:30 pm and over 500 people were to be there. We snapped some beautiful pictures and high-tailed it out of there before we got stuck. It’s worth a stop to see this gorgeous statue overlooking the river. Plus, it’s truly one of the nicest rest areas we’ve ever seen.
The beautiful statue entitled “Dignity”
Oops! Don’t go down in the woods…
If you can believe it, we actually considered skipping The Badlands because we were in a hurry to get to Spearfish so we could set up and watch our beloved Colts play at 2:30 local time. HAHA! We decided at literally the last second to take the exit for the Badlands National Park, and were immediately blown away. We took the drive through the park and were so thrilled we did. Click the photos below to view them larger:
Spearfish, South Dakota has a city park that is quite lovely, with a nice campground. I was bummed out to discover that the “waterfront” campsite I reserved months ago was actually across the little street from the river and crowded in with all the other campers. We had a nice view if we walked out of our campsite, but it wasn’t our cup of tea to be so packed in with all the other RVs. There are paved walking trails along the river and the park is very nice, with full hook-ups available.
Bob took the opportunity to practice his moving water photography
In another stroke of luck, we left early in the morning and drove down Spearfish Canyon to the Rod and Gun Campground in the Black Hills National Forest. And that brought us to the most beautiful, isolated campsite we’ve ever enjoyed. More on that in the next post!! Stay tuned…
p.s. After much consternation and frustration with some gear, we were able to watch the Colts game. You can tell by the expression on Vera and Opie’s faces that it did not go well for our team.
The Black Hills are an awesome vacation, been there many times, but not enough.
In 1976 I had the pleasure of riding a motorcycle through the Badlands on a full moon night. Quite an impressive view but I wouldn’t recommend that for a first time visit. The helicopter ride over the Badlands the next morning was also spectacular.
Great to see your adventures are off to a good start.
Have fun Bob and Becky.
Jim Naden
Wow. I can only imagine how it must be to ride a motorcycle through The Badlands. It was amazing in a truck!! I wish we had known ahead of time so we could spend even more time in there.
In all my years that moonlight ride through the Badlands was one of the most awesome nights I ever experienced. With my clothes on.
Okay, that’s hilarious!
Oh,,,I just love these pics. They bring back so many memories…How could I forget the badlands and the corn palace! Ha, I may still have a teacup from there. I am so trying not to be jealous of your adventures…thank you for posting. They sure make me wistful.
Hugs,
cindy
Get your dang selves an Airstream and just get to it, Cindy!
Spearfish Canyon is easily one of the most beautiful places I’ve been. Was there for the rally in 88 but no motorcycle. Went back in ’07 and rode the canyon with a smile a mile wide. Tip; The river water makes awesome coffee!! You guys are awesome!
That’s a great story! We also had smiles a mile wide, but we weren’t lucky enough to be on motorcycles.