South Dakota

Year of First Visit – 2009

Point of Entry – I-90 near Rapid City

My life changed the instant I crossed into South Dakota.  My wife had visited more states than I.  I'd been catching up for years and even took some business trips to states she hadn't been.  When we touched down in Denver earlier that week we'd come to a tie in the number of states visited.  And she'd been to South Dakota before but I hadn't.

So as we rolled into the state I officially became the member of the family who'd visited the most states.  When I told the kids, they rolled their eyes and got back to the books they were reading.

We only visited South Dakota a couple days and wasn't be able to see everything we wanted.  We did Mount Rushmore (I liked the mountain but the displays around it would have fit better on the National Mall in DC and seemed out of place in the Black Hills), Jewel Cave, and the Badlands.

We'd seen on NPS.gov about the Minuteman Missile sited.  It seemed out of the zone for the kind of places we like to see but thought that, since we were staying very near it and not knowing if we'd be back in the area, we should reserve tickets for the tour.  It ended up being one of the most fascenating tours we've taken.

And of course we stopped in at Wall Drug.  This capitol of roadside attractions was surprisingly well done and was actually worth poking around for a while.  The buffalo burgers and "Free Ice Water" were a treat as well.

My being the king of the state count only lasted a couple of years as my wife and I had to share the title after our summer trip two years later.  But for a while, at least, I was king of the hill.  It seems appropriate that a place famous for men's faces carved in a mountaintop bestowed that title on me.