South Dakota, You’re So Sweet!

So I just got back from South Dakota for a family friend’s wedding, and let me tell you, South Dakota is so much fun! I really enjoyed getting to travel and more specifically, I enjoyed being able to go on a road trip again and get to spend time with so many wonderful people in such a fun part of the country for the past three days. Like it says on the South Dakota license plate: Great faces, great places!

South Dakota

We left on Friday for Spearfish, South Dakota which is a little over six hours of driving from Denver. We made that drive much longer however, which was totally fine, because we had plans to visit Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse on our way into town. Crazy Horse was impressive, but it was somewhat disappointing to see that only the head of Crazy Horse is really complete. The land is privately owned and so the only funding that the massive project receives is by donation. No wonder there has been so little progress. I really enjoyed getting to visit Crazy Horse though and I hope that some very generous people out there are able to contribute in the near future and push for the incredible vision of Crazy Horse to be completed.

South Dakota

Next stop: Mount Rushmore. It was nice that Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore were only about 30 minutes apart. It made our travels a bit easier especially with us trying to get into Spearfish eventually. I think Mount Rushmore was my favorite part of the trip. It was MAGNIFICENT. Yes, it was definitely smaller than I thought it was going to be, but oh my goodness was it incredible. As you walk in, the flags of all 50 states hang along the path and then you look up to see the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. My dad, sister, and I spent a good amount of time taking pictures around Mount Rushmore. On our way out, I ran into the gift shop and grabbed a South Dakota keychain (I collect state keychains for those of you who don’t know!!), we went in and got some ice cream (which was also SO good and SO much ice cream by the way), and then we were on our way out of there.

On the drive into Spearfish, we drove through a fun town called Deadwood which we would later come to spend a bit more time in. Definitely a tourist trap, but it was still fun to see! And then we arrived in Spearfish! I think it was a little past dinner time when we arrived. While we could have stayed in a hotel, Boo, my sweet little dog, came along with us on this trip which made things interesting, but all in a good way! It was important to us that he had a comfortable place to stay as well where we didn’t disrupt too many people around us if he was to bark and howl a bunch, but thank God that wasn’t too much of an issue. We stayed in an AirBnB for the first time and it was honestly so comfortable and so much fun. We had an entire house to ourselves, which was pet-friendly of course, and it was wonderful to be able to control everything in our own space and eat from the kitchen we had at the house. The house we stayed at was in a pretty isolated spot too which was really nice and peaceful. Loved it.

Deadwood, South Dakota

Saturday was wedding day! The wedding wasn’t until 1:30 in the afternoon, so we had the morning to ourselves. We decided to trek back to Deadwood to experience the fun little tourist town for ourselves and I will tell you, it is such a fun little town. We didn’t do any of the bus tours or super touristy things that the town has to offer, but we did really enjoy walking around and seeing everything. Boo came with us too and he really enjoyed getting to experience so many new things and smell all the new smells. He actually came with us for a lot of our little South Dakota excursions not including Mount Rushmore. He had to stay in the car for that one but thank goodness for sheltered parking so that the car could stay cooler for him! After our little walk around Deadwood, we stopped back at the house for lunch, got ready for the wedding, and then we were off to the chapel in Sturgis. Sturgis is another interesting town in South Dakota and it’s famous for hosting a huge motorcycle rally every year. And when I say huge, I mean that they’re expecting over A MILLION bikes for this upcoming rally. WOW.

South Dakota

Anyway, back to the wedding. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful and I feel so honored to have been able to share that special day with my friend and her family. For those of you who don’t know me personally, I’ll just let you know that I am a pretty emotional person. Like I might hear a song a certain way and that will make me cry. So you can probably imagine how I was with the wedding. Before my friend had even started walking down the aisle, I was crying. Weddings are just such a blessed and happy time. 🙂 After the ceremony was over, we had about an hour before the reception which was back in Spearfish so we went back to the house to check on Boo and make sure he was doing ok. When it was time for the reception, we headed back out and to the beautiful barn the reception was held at. While we didn’t stay too too long at the reception, it was great to celebrate my friend and her family and spend time with some of the other people that we knew there. The food was great and the venue was incredible. I just wish all the best to the bride and groom now. 🙂 They deserve all the best! <3

South Dakota and Red Water Kitchen

And now here we are with today. Today has been quite the day, let me tell you. We hit the road about eight this morning but we left Spearfish, we had to stop at this one restaurant we all had our eyes on the entire trip, Red Water Kitchen. It had always been busy as we drove past it, but this morning, we got there right when it opened so there were no problems getting in. The food was incredible. I had what I think was the best quiche I’ve ever had in my entire life and I know for a fact that the rest of my family also really enjoyed their food. If you’re looking for great food and even better people, please visit Red Water Kitchen in Spearfish, South Dakota when you visit!! With full bellies, we were on the road. The trip was pretty uneventful until we decided to stop at Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.

Area 18. If you aren’t familiar with the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Devil’s Tower is featured in the movie in a scene where the alien mothership descends upon the massive monument. Devil’s Tower is also considered the first national monument in the United States, so it’s a pretty cool spot. To me, it kind of looked like a giant tree trunk with all of the vertical cracks in the formation. We hiked around Devil’s Tower a bit, stopped at the gift shop (always a must for me haha) and then we were on the road again.

And this was when things became exciting, but I mean that in a not-so-good way. We were about three hours away from home when the air conditioning in my mom’s car cut out. And get this, it was between 92-96 degrees the entire rest of our drive. It. Was. HOT. We just drove the rest of the way home with the windows down for as long as we could handle and then stopped for food, ice cream, and a break in a nice, air-conditioned restaurant when we were about an hour out. And then we pushed to get home as fast as possible. Getting home has never felt SO GOOD. As much fun as we had on our trip, it felt really nice to be in a familiar, comfortable, and AIR-CONDITIONED house in the end.

Reflecting on South Dakota, I would definitely go back. In the future, I would love to visit Rapid City and the Badlands. I had a lot of fun and I think that South Dakota is a really special state that has a lot of good things going for it. Until next time, South Dakota!

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