The Badlands offers so many things to see and do, and is home to some of our nations most stunning monuments and historical sights. Because of circumstances beyond our control, we didn’t get to go to as many places as we were hoping to, but what we saw was enough for us to take note of places yet to see. Some were repeats but worth visiting again.
One of the perks afforded us at DC Booth Historical Fish Hatchery was an all day tour in Keystone, SD which included breakfast at Ft Hays, a visit to Mt Rushmore, Custer State Park, Crazy Horse, lunch at Custer State Park Lodge, and because we were in a small bus (10 passengers), we were able to ride the Needles highway, go through the 3 tunnels and visit the Wildlife Loop before we headed back to Ft Hays for an awesome Chuckwagon dinner and entertainment that left us wanting more. It was a long day but so worth it.
There were so many “moments” but many were repeats from a few years ago so I won’t bore you with more photos. What was new to us was the special comradery we had at the Volunteer Village. In all, there we 10 sites, most of which were filled for various lengths of time, from 2 months to the end of September. Folks from all walks of life and that makes for interesting times and provided us with many fun nights of competitive corn hole games, adult beverages and those mesmerizing fires we all love. There were many nights we had to forego the fire though because it was a very warm summer with evenings too warm for a fire.
In general the weather was good…but very warm. We did have the misfortune of experiencing 2 tornado watches with one turning into a warning. We saw it overhead as we were batting down the hatches. Rob has gotten pretty good at doing this since winds and weather seem to come out of nowhere. Luckily, the worst damage at the park was a very large tree being damaged. Did I mention South Dakota gets a lot of hail? Wow. From sunshine to hail in a flash! We experienced big and little hail but luckily, no damage. Unfortunately, Belle Fourche, a small town 12 miles away, wasn’t so lucky. They got hit pretty had twice.
I had the pleasure of reading a 2 book series by a local author titled Honoring Anna. It was based on the journals his wife’s grandmother kept while traveling from Norway to the US in a ship. He was so impressed with the journey she made he wrote the series. It references a house in book 2 that was built for Anna in Reva, SD, about 80 miles north of Spearfish. The books made the round of the Volunteer Village ladies so 3 of us decided it called for a road trip before we all parted ways. One delightful Saturday we set out for Reva in search of this infamous house. Of course, we made a few stops along the way to check out the scenery before we found the dirt road that would lead us to her house. After traveling 6 miles on a long, winding, dirt road, we realized the house we passed 51/2 miles back was “the” house we were looking for! After a few laughs, I turned the car around and proceeded to put the wipers on so I could at least see my way back. Luckily I didn’t try to use wiper fluid because it probably would have turned to mud and we’d still be in Reva.
Reva, SD is so small we had already stopped at the one and only building when we got into town, so we continued on our way taking a different route back. Our stomachs were reminding us that we had not eaten in a long time and it was our plan to head on down the road about 25 miles to the only place in the area to eat. It was worth the trip as it had a pleasant environment and the food was quite tasty. But on our way there we got a surprise There appeared to be what looked like huge sandstone “castles” off in the distance. Not believing what we were seeing, I pulled off the road to get a better look. These formations seem to go on forever. We needed to get closer so we found a State Forrest campground up the road and climbed up to the lookout. It was absolutely breathtaking, almost like a fairy tale. After climbing to the top for a better view and taking pictures, we came back to the car to continue our journey. We felt like this was an added bonus to an already awesome day. With our eyes and bellies full, it was time to head back home feeling pleased that we accomplished what we set out to do, and didn’t even get lost. Thank you Bonnie and Bonnie K for sharing this memorable day with me.
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