Vacation Idea - South Dakota

**Derfel** · August 28th, 2009, 07:46 AM

Howdy folks,

Coming off my great trip to Kelowna, we decided to take a shorter trip south to visit South Dakota. Well, when I say "we", I mean my wife and her father and step-mother and grandfather decided to. I wasn't really sure what to expect, and to be honest I was figuring we'd go, look at the faces carved in the side of some mountain, shrug and head home.

Well, it was a GREAT trip. The drive down took two days, but we took our time and stopped along the way for a picnic each day. I was a bit on edge, because I really don't like following others schedules when vacationing, and my wife's family are really, REALLY disorganized when travelling... but just the same, it really was a fantastic trip.

Rushmore was really "shrug worthy", but the area around Rushmore was a great hike and the weather was fabulous. The best area to walk around were the Badlands though. This is such an unique area, almost desert-like with some views that can't be replicated anywhere else. We also hit Custer park, and happened across a huge herd of wild buffalo. Now, I'm used to seeing Bison (same as Buffalo) up here in Manitoba, but these guys were RIGHT BESIDE THE CAR, and a few followed us when we got out to hike... which was unnerving and dangerous, but exciting just the same.

We also hit a few great restaurants and bars while we were down there... surprisngly several of the "hole in the wall" type places were the best for food and value.

Overall, if you're looking for something "off the beaten track"... try South Dakota.