A Guide to South Dakota

This week, I would like to take the opportunity to talk about my home state of South Dakota. I know I don\’t have to convince too many people who live there about how great it is, but since 99% of the people I have talked to about SD here on the East Coast think there\’s nothing there, I thought I\’d take a moment to prove them wrong.

First of all, I\’d just like to clear the air on a couple of things: 1. Yes, I did learn to drive in SD, and yes we DO have cars; 2. No, I have never once ridden a buffalo to school, or anywhere for that matter; 3. We do know what cell phones are!; and 4. Yes, we have indoor plumbing, electricity, and of course, the internet. I\’ve been asked all these questions several times since moving to Virginia, and all\’s I can say is that just because there are more cows than people in our state, doesn\’t mean we are uncivilized! Go visit it yourself if you don\’t believe me and check out these cool places along the way:

Of course I have to start with my hometown, Watertown. We have two fantastic lakes, Kampeska and Pelican, for you to come enjoy outdoor activities year-round. You got ice fishing in the winter, and water activities in the summer (yes, it does get warm here if you were wondering). My family and friends and I have always enjoyed spending countless hours swimming in the lake and boating and tubing as well. I\’ve only been ice fishing once, so unfortunately I can\’t say much about it, but I always see tons of people out there in the winter so it must be good! However, the main attraction to Watertown might be the Terry Redlin Art Center, where you can find all of Terry Redlin\’s life work on display for you to enjoy. Art nerds will love this place, the building itself and the area surrounding it is very beautiful, and it\’s fascinating to see all of Terry\’s paintings. If you haven\’t heard of Terry Redlin, I suggest looking him up. He is a very gifted painter, and we have several copies of his paintings hanging up around our home. My favorite of his is called \”Building Our Community.\” My great uncle, Lawrence, was good friends with Terry Redlin and Terry painted this painting as a gift to him. Lawrence owned \”Larry\’s Lumber\” in Watertown which built a lot of our community, so the name of the painting was very fitting. If you find a copy of the painting, it says \”Larry\’s Lumber\” on it and also says \”Reiffenberger\” underneath it. My name is part of a famous piece of artwork, so why wouldn\’t I love it!? I do encourage you to check out his work though, as it is pretty amazing the things he could do with a paint brush. 

Also on the east side of the state, we have our largest city, Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls is always a fun city to go to because it has all the popular restaurants that we couldn\’t eat at in Watertown, has lots of shopping and just a lot to do in general. A fun place to visit in Sioux Falls is Falls Park, where they have some beautiful waterfalls that make for a very romantic setting. It\’s a great place to go for a stroll, or have a picnic and just enjoy the day. My sister also got engaged there, so there\’s no arguing it\’s a great date location! 

Moving further west, you\’ll run into the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. It\’s exactly what it sounds like: a giant palace-like building made of corn. Okay, it\’s not actually made of corn, it\’s a building made out of actual building materials; BUT! The outside of it is covered in a design that is entirely made of corn, and it is changed every year and has never had the same design twice. It actually is pretty impressive what they can create with the corn, and no one else in the world can say they have a corn palace, so go check it off your bucket list. Then take a step inside and purchase some of the best tasting popcorn balls I guarantee you\’ve ever had. It\’s worth the trip!

West river is where the real fun begins, and the possibilities are endless. I like to compare it to Washington DC, just because like DC, you don\’t have time to do it all in one trip. There actually is a lot to do out there despite what you may have heard. Of course there\’s Mount Rushmore, where you can take a hike around the mountain that has the president\’s faces carved in the side. There\’s also the Crazy Horse monument, which is similar to Mount Rushmore except it will be a carving of Crazy Horse going into battle, and unlike Mount Rushmore, it is nowhere near completion. When it is finished, it will be much, MUCH larger than Mount Rushmore, and will depict Crazy Horse riding his horse and pointing on into battle. Right now, all they have done is his face, and the upper part of his arm. The cool thing is that once a year, they have the Volks March where they let you walk up the side of the monument and get right up in Crazy Horse\’s face. My family and I did it once a few years ago, and it was so cool. I\’ll be honest, I don\’t know if the monument will be finished in my lifetime, but it is still really cool to go check out their progress.

There are also tons of awesome hiking places to explore like Spearfish Canyon, the Devil’s Bathtub, and my personal favorite: Harney Peak. Although, I heard they renamed Harney Peak to Black Elk Peak a few years ago, but you get what I mean. This hike is a full day hike up the mountain and back down. Of course you could probably do it in 3-4 hours if you move quickly, but once you reach the top, you’ll want to stay up there and soak in that view for as long as possible. It is absolutely breathtaking. And, it is also the highest point in the United States East of the Rocky Mountains! The more you know! It is hands down one of my favorite places to visit in SD.

A few other favorites of mine are Bear Country, Custer State Park, and Wall Drug. You may have heard of Wall Drug. I went back to Wall Drug a few years ago, and I remember it being much bigger as a child, but it is still a cool little spot to check out. It’s kind of an old timey Mid-Western themed little town with shops and cafes, and places to take those cool old fashioned family photos. You can also get all the coffee you want for 10 cents which is pretty cool for you caffeine addicts like myself. 😉 Bear country is probably my second favorite place in SD after Harney Peak. Bear Country and Custer State Park are pretty similar in that they are both wildlife parks that you drive through and see all the natural wildlife that lives in SD. Bear Country is a bit smaller than Custer, and has everything from bears (obviously), to Elk and Moose, to wolves, and almost anything you can think of. They walk right up to your car and you can see them up close and personal. Unlike Custer, Bear Country also has a separate area where you can get out and check out smaller exhibits, similar to a zoo I suppose. They have tons of babies in this section that are too little to be in the main part of the park, and it’s so fun to walk around and see all the cute little critters! I would absolutely recommend this place to all you animal lovers out there.

I feel like I could fill a few more pages full of fun places to visit in SD, but I think I’ll stop here before I go on forever. But this is only a taste of what SD can offer, and I didn’t even include any of the secret places that only South Dakotans know about. 😉 I hope I convinced you to consider a visit to SD sometime in your lifetime, and if not, next week I am going to dive into some personal trips my family has taken to places in SD and describe further the fun you could have there. South Dakota really is a beautiful state, and you’re missing out if you think there’s nothing there worth visiting. A fair bit of warning though, if you do plan a visit, go in the summer! It’s busier in the summertime, but you’ll freeze your booties off in the winter. We do live in a tundra after all. Happy travels!

Until Next Time 🙂

Megan Reiffenberger