South Dakota 2014

Convinced my husband that we should take a vacation this year, since we enjoyed last year so much.  This year we went to South Dakota.  LOTS of driving, but still enjoyable.  First stop was De Smet, South Dakota, the land of Laura Ingalls.  Little girls as far as the eye can see.  We took our 9 year old so she fit right in.  We left on a Thursday and drove 9 hours counting eating and bathroom stops.  We arrived and checked into the Prairie Manor B&B, which I highly recommend.  Our room had an in-room Jacuzzi and it was wonderful!  We spent Friday doing the Laura Ingalls thing.  Toured the original homes, then went to the Homestead.  The Homestead is all replica, which has kinda better because then the girls could touch and play with the stuff.  They had hand clothes washing, rug making, etc.  Then we killed the afternoon doing nothing.  If you ever go, plan to leave after the Ingalls tours, cuz De Smet has very little to offer after that.  Saturday morning we traveled 5 hours to Deadwood with a stop in Wall.  Ya gotta stop in Wall Drug.  No real reason, you just do.  Did a little shopping then on to Deadwood.  Deadwood is kinda weird, but very cool.  It's like a tiny little Vegas, but with better stories.  The town has a lot of gambling, some saloons, shopping, re-enactments, shoot-outs, ghosts, tours, ghost tours, bikers everywhere; it's pretty dang cool.  That night we headed to our cabin in Keystone.  Spent Sunday seeing Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Iron Mountain, and the Mammoth Site.  Monday we spent 13 hours traveling home, stopping only in 1880 Town. Which you need to do if ever you get the chance.  It's as if in 1880 all the people were evaporated and left everything right where it was and then in 2014 you come along and find it.  If I could do it all again, I would leave De Smet after Ingalls and spend more time in Deadwood.  Then I would break up that nightmare drive home into two days and go through the Badlands.