South Dakota – Family Travel Blog

Every Tuesday until we run out of states, I plan to post about family-friendly vacation ideas, attractions and events in each one of the US states, taking input mostly from Twitter and Facebook.

Yes, I know how to search for travel ideas on a destination or attraction Web site, but a tweet or a Facebook Wall recommendation is a much more engaging and public way to spread the word.

Please don’t email suggestions to me; that’s nice but it is one-to-one communication. Tweet me and/or Facebook me, so that all of our networks can see what’s cool about your state.

We’re going in alphabetical order but started with the end, so our first state for the series was Wyoming, then we investigated Wisconsin , West Virginia , Washington, Virginia, Vermont, Utah, Texas, Tennessee and now we’re moving on to….South Dakota!

Their state tourism organization is on Twitter at @travelsd, and you can Fan them at the South Dakota tourism page on Facebook.

When I asked for ideas, here’s what came in….

Twitter Travel Tips for South Dakota

*** From South Dakota tourism on Twitter – As a kid, I loved the classics-Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, Storybook Land in Aberdeen, Corn Palace, Wall Drug, Badlands, Rushmore.

*** From Robert Reid (the Lonely Planet US travel editor) via @reidontravel on Twitter – While in SD, take bizarre two-lane PINK roads (made of quartzite.) Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD = totally hoke.

*** From Nancy Nally via @NancyNally on Twitter – https://www.ingallshomestead.com – I visited in high school…she’s a hero of mine! [the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead, or claim, in De Smet – I love the Little House books too!]

3 surprising US travel destinations (and an honorable mention)

Travel fun for me is having no particular opinion about or knowledge of a place, and then suddenly learning that it is pretty darned cool, and deciding that I must go there!

I’m still sorting through the mounds of information, photos, links and brochures from the recent Travel Media Showcase conference in Kansas City, but I wanted to note that after quick interviews with dozens of representatives from various tourist bureaus, there were 3 places that surprised me.

They were not what I’d expected, although how that can be possible when I had zero knowledge of them anyway, I do not know.

Ready?

South Dakota — All I knew about it was the Corn Palace, but there is also Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial (still under construction,) the Black Hills, the Badlands, the town of Deadwood and famous people like Custer, Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok plus the Laura Ingalls Wilder home in De Smet.

Madison, Wisconsin — everything you might enjoy in a college town, but even better, in a pretty natural setting on five lakes. There’s a reason that writer Penelope Trunk specifically chose to move her family there.

Columbia, Missouri and nearby Lake of the Ozarks — Another interesting, culturally-rich college town (with significant ties to Lewis and Clark expedition history) and a lake that is one of the biggest tourist destinations in the Midwest.

I must give an honorable mention to Boise, Idaho, for their active Basque community. Yes, as in the Basques in Spain.

Who knew?

Hopefully I’ll be able to visit all of them someday, to see if they are as surprisingly great as they appear. I welcome comments from any readers who have first-hand knowledge of these travel destinations; please leave a comment below.

Surprise me!