South Dakota

Pros: A fascinating and emotionally moving place to visit.
Cons: None.

History, Solemnity, and Reflection at Wounded Knee.

Wounded Knee, South Dakota, is the site of one of the most barbaric and tragic events ever to take place in United States History. It was here that the U. S. Seventh Cavalry(Custer’s old...

Pros: The awesome undertaking
Cons: Would like to see it more often

Review Topic:  Sights & Attractions



Most people know about Mount Rushmore and the faces of the four American Presidents there. Not as many people know about Crazy Horse Mountain and what spectacular work is...

Pros: Fun, historic, good place to stop on a long trip! Free water.
Cons: Tourist trap!

If you have every had the "thrill" of driving across South Dakota, you cannot miss the signs everywhere on the Interstate that says "Visit Wall Drug". Perhaps this is your first trip across this vast flatland which has it's special beauty, but you will...

Pros: Live performances by gifted artists, playing some of the world's most magnificent instruments
Cons: Think "remote." Then multiply that thought by 100!

If a tree fell down in a desert, would anybody hear it?

If a shrine was built in a cornfield, would anybody visit it?

The Shrine to Music, located on the University of South Dakota campus in Vermillion, is the kind of undiscovered...

Pros: Diverse trio of enjoyable 2-hour or less "pit stops" for the long drive across America.
Cons: See individual reviews within.

Traveling cross-country Griswold-style need not only be exciting because of the prospect at arriving at your final destination... be it the Black Hills, Yellowstone or Walley World. Here are three roadside attractions that will interest the kids while...

Pros: Just a fantastic area with a ton to do.
Cons: Too much to do in a week's time.

Wall: Wall Drug: Ok...so it's a tourist trap. At least you know what you're getting into! My kids (ages 7,9,11) absolutely loved all of the goofy props they could poke their head into or climb on (gorilla, horse, etc.) to get their picture taken. ...

Pros: A gem of a weekend trip, off the beaten track
Cons: It really is off the beaten track....

Every weekend in July, DeSmet, South Dakota holds its annual "Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant." Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the "Little House on the Prairie" book series, grew up in DeSmet, and, although she wrote her books as an...

Pros: Outstanding beauty and Native American history....a true spiritual experience
Cons: Tourist traps and some over-rated national monuments.

The best way to travel South Dakota is by car. The eastern part of the state is pretty dull but the minute you enter Badlands National Park, you've entered a true paradise. My recommendation is that you start your trip in the Badlands and head west....

Pros: beautiful scenery and abounding wildlife
Cons: none

Our Badlands tour was the longest vacation my family and I have ever taken. We had 8 people: two g ...

Pros: Lots to see
Cons: Hope you have more than a week to stay

My husband and I had the opportunity to spend our honeymoon in South Dakota. Whenever I tell people that we went to South Dakota for a week, they almost always say, "what's in South Dakota???!!?"

There's more in South Dakota than...

Pros: There's alot to see and do here!
Cons: None

South Dakota, the name even sounds flat and boring. It's not there are so many things to see and do in this area that everyone should vacation here for a week. A week? Yup, a week and you'll see why.

First is the most famous of all...

Pros: Good way to get away from the bright lights, big city
Cons: No bright lights, big city

I had a dream that I returned to the house I grew up in South Dakota. I could remember vividly each room, as I toured through my home. In this dream, I could also recall the houses I used to pass as I walked home from my best friends home to...

Pros: well it ain't poetry
Cons: glitter comes off t-shirts when you wash them

Four years ago two of my twenty-seven adult children and I drove across South Dakota on I-90 during the week between Christmas and New Year's. It seemed like a good idea. And it was, except for two things:

1. It was so cold that when I...

Pros: A Palace in the middle of Podunk is pretty funny
Cons: Its a huge building with corn stuck to it

You've seen the prevalent billboards along the highway.

You picked up a pamphlet about it on your way to the men's room at the rest area.

Your great aunt Mathilda simply adores it.

What is it? You guessed it--the...

Pros: Unique landscape with American history
Cons: Large state, boring drive

South Dakota is not known for its tourism industry nor is it a well-traveled state when compared to locations that have more to offer. However, should you find yourself in a car headed west (likely to Wyoming) across the dusty plains of South Dakota, you...