We toured “The World’s Only Corn Palace,” a crop art–decorated expo hall built a century ago to promote local agriculture. We left the Twin Cities at dawn with the goal of powering 300 miles to Mitchell, South Dakota, by lunchtime. Mitchell Corn Palace Day 1 Mitchell Corn Palace So here it is: an urban cowgirl’s road-tested itinerary for the ultimate South Dakota experience. Of course, my family history influenced more than a few decisions, like opting for an air-conditioned cabin over a tent at Custer State Park. “Why didn’t you take us to South Dakota?!”Įverything went wonderfully right on this road trip, thanks to good planning (and low expectations). By the third day of texting snapshots to my mother at home in Edina, she and my father were miffed. The journey would be filled with natural wonder (the Badlands, breathtaking as they rise from the prairies, contain one of the world’s richest fossil beds), outdoor activity (hiking, horseback riding, camping), and, of course, American history.Īnd so, my family unit of four set out for lands unseen by our ancestors. But reading travelogues, I realized South Dakota offered more than a road to a monument. “We took you to Martha’s Vineyard!” she said. “Mom, why didn’t you ever take us to Mount Rushmore?” I asked one day in the throes of travel planning. It struck me as the American road trip I couldn’t believe I’d never taken, particularly as a native Midwesterner living within a day’s drive of Mount Rushmore.

(I barely cried!) So when my husband and I were thinking about options for an affordable summer trip with our boys, then ages 8 and 11, I looked westward, across the plains, to the Black Hills of South Dakota. I’ve whitewater rafted the Colorado River and ziplined through the rainforest in Costa Rica. I like to think of myself as somewhat more outdoorsy than my endearingly urbane parents. Road trips in the family Honda took us to desolate cities such as Madison and Chicago and once to Des Moines, where we stayed at a Hilton. Roughing it meant an ice cream cone consumed outside, near the Lake Harriet Band Shell. My Minnesota childhood was born of Dayton’s and the Lincoln Del restaurant.

Road to nowhere south dakota