Visiting Friends and Finding More Mid-West Roadside Attractions

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Visiting Friends and Finding More Mid-West Roadside Attractions

I left off the last post as we arrived in Trempealeau, Wisconsin located just across the Minnesota border on the Mississippi River. I didn’t expect to find much to do in the area and thought we would just relax for 2 days and enjoy small river town life. Well, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that there were a couple of parks nearby, Perrot State Park and Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge, as well as a winery near Trempeleau. Plenty for us to fill a full day of activities.

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Roadside Attractions in Minnesota

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Roadside Attractions in Minnesota

As we left the Dakotas, we headed east into Minnesota. When we visit a new state, I do research online to select a few stops that we will enjoy. One of our goals is to see National Parks and Monuments as well as historical sites. I knew that I wanted to stop in Walnut Grove to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum so the goal was to find something along a route that would take us near there.

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Visiting the Land of Teddy Roosevelt

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Visiting the Land of Teddy Roosevelt

We enjoyed our time in South Dakota and didn’t really want to leave this magical place. So we decided to head northwest to North Dakota and visit Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This way we were staying in the Dakotas and Badlands. It was a beautiful day for a drive although it was probably the windiest day that we experienced on the trip. I was happy that the van was not a high top van during this drive. The wind was really pushing me but I was able to maintain it and enjoy the drive.

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Amazing South Dakota, part 2

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Amazing South Dakota, part 2

After 2 days of touring near Rapid City, SD, Tim needed a break. He decided to stay at the campground for a day with Trent and relax. Well, he did catch up on our laundry so it wasn’t total relaxation for him. While he did that, I decided to drive Needles Highway through Custer State Park. I knew that Tim would not like this drive with the tight hairpin turns, rock tunnels and lots of steep drop offs. I told him afterwards that the drive through Badlands National Park was kiddie land compared to this drive. Needles Highway is not for the faint of heart!

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Amazing South Dakota

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Amazing South Dakota

After our stops in Deadwood and Sturgis, we headed to Hart Ranch Camping Resort in Rapid City, SD for a 4 day stay. I picked this spot because it was part of our RPI membership and it appeared to be centrally located to the places we wanted to visit in South Dakota. It turned out to be the perfect place to stay in this amazing area and the price through RPI was fantastic - only $30 a night. There is so much to see near Rapid City and it was a perfect location for our bucket list stop: Mount Rushmore.

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Fun Times in the Wild West

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Fun Times in the Wild West

We had a great time visiting Deadwood and Sturgis over the Memorial Day weekend. Deadwood was very busy when we arrived early Saturday afternoon; filled with a mix of families, gamblers and many who just wanted to party. Definitely a great place to people watch.

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Time for More Unplanned Stops

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Time for More Unplanned Stops

As we prepared to leave Scotts Bluff, we had a decision to make, i.e. where to go??? I think that I had mentioned that the only reservation that I made in advance was for 4 nights at a campground in Rapid City, SD so that we could visit Mount Rushmore, which was our main destination for this trip. I didn’t want to go there over a holiday so we planned to get there on the Tuesday after Memorial Day. Well, it was only Friday, the start of the holiday weekend and we had no plans.

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Bison, Boots and the High Plains

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Bison, Boots and the High Plains

Initially, as we headed north out of Colorado towards Wyoming, the snow capped Rocky Mountains provided beautiful scenery until all of a sudden we were surrounded by the High Plains. It is hard to describe the beauty in the pastel greens and yellows of the rolling hills and large flat grazing lands of the plains. I know others who have said driving across the plains can get boring but I thought there was tremendous beauty all around us.

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