Italy was our big trip this year, but before we planned out Italy, we booked a trip to The Black Hills with my husband and his parents. While I live in Minnesota and South Dakota is a bordering state, I have never been to The Black Hills. My husband’s mom is from South Dakota and wanted to book a trip, so I could experience The Black Hills for the first time. I have been to South Dakota before, but the farthest I have been is Mitchell where the Corn Palace is. I had no expectations for this trip and one of the biggest takeaways was how beautiful this area of South Dakota truly is.

We were in The Black Hills for two full days and were able to cram in a lot. On our first day, we went to Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, and Needles Highway. While driving to Mount Rushmore, all the roads were uphill and you end up driving through the hills to get to it. As we parked and walked up, there’s a walkway taking you straight to the scuplture. Lining the bridge are all the U.S. state flags. My mother in law was sharing how much Mount Rushmore has been built up since she was a little girl. There are several walkways to get closer to the presidents and plaques with the history of how Mount Rushmore was built. It was more extravagant than I thought it was going to be since I thought it would be Mount Rushmore and nothing else there.

After Mount Rushmore, we went to Custer State Park. There’s a loop within Custer State Park called Wildlife Loop where you’re the most likely to see buffalo. We saw plenty of prairie dogs and a few antelope. It wasn’t until we took a detour that we saw buffalo up close. By up close, I mean they were a few steps away from our vehicle. I have seen buffalo before when I went to Wyoming last year, but nothing like this. There are many signs that state to not approach the buffalo which makes me laugh because it wouldn’t surprise me if there was someone who rushes the buffalo for a picture. Buffalo are aggressive animals and that would end poorly.

To finish off our first day, we drove on Needles Highway. Needles Highway is a scenic drive and the roads are so narrow. There are tunnels that only have room for one car to pass at a time. Thank goodness I wasn’t driving because that would have stressed me out. You would have to look ahead to see if a car was already in a tunnel before making your way through. There are these rock formations that are narrow and tall that are nicknamed needles hence the name Needles Highway. I’m glad I wasn’t driving because I could look out the window and take it all in.

On our second day we went to Crazy Horse and The Mammoth Site. Crazy Horse is a cooler version of Mount Rushmore. It’s a sculpture dedicated to indigenous tribes, but what’s unique about Crazy Horse is that it didn’t take government funds to build. It’s entirely self funded. They started Crazy Horse in 1948 and as of 2025, they aren’t finished yet. However, they have the face all carved and parts of the fingers. It’s estimated that they could be completed in 10 – 20 years from now. They also have a bin of rocks that they collected from sculpting Crazy Horse that are free to take. We now have a portion of Crazy Horse in our garden.

After Crazy Horse, I wanted to go to The Mammoth Site. The Mammoth Site is a live excavation where palentologists are still finding preserved Mammoth bones. As you walk in, there’s a big dig area and each portion has audio recordings, so you can listen and match what you’re looking at. There are several walkways and plaques describing what was occurring. Interestingly enough, the mammoth is a relative to the elephant, so sometimes scientists will reference elephant anatomy if needed. Isn’t that neat? Once you exit the dig area, there are several stations where they tell you about this time period, what happened to the mammoths since they are extinct, and the different areas in the world and what was going on there. It was like a mini science museum devoted to mammoths.

While we did a lot in two days, this could easily have been a week long trip. We didn’t have time to do Devil’s Tower in Wyoming or Wind Cave. This would be a fun trip to do with kids since there’s enough going on to keep them interested. The Black Hills was fun to visit and I want to go back. As far as the rest of my travel plans for this year, this should be the last trip. I’m looking forward to being home for the rest of the year and planning out trips for 2026.