Seeing massive carvings of former presidents is impressive, but there’s so much more to South Dakota than Mount Rushmore.
For example, I loved spending time in Custer State Park, which I believe offers some of the best views in all of the Black Hills. During our visit, we saw coyotes, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, and hundreds of bison (one even licked our car!)
Less than two hours away, we were treated to an entirely different landscape in Badlands National Park, which is dominated by buttes and towering rock spires.
There are also tiny museums and fascinating sites tucked away in small towns, making the drive across the state even more entertaining.
We stopped at the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs — an active excavation site where the remains of over 60 mammoths have been unearthed. I was amazed by the sheer scale of that many skeletons found in one place, and it was definitely worth the stop.