Vacation: In July of 2018, we took a road trip to South Dakota. Along the way we made a few stops in Wisconsin and Minnesota, Wyoming, and North Dakota.

We drove 3,111 miles in 11 days (10 nights). We averaged 20.4 mpg and premium gas was approximately $3.50/gallon.

Start Here: Click on the Category or Event in the left-hand frame to view the corresponding photos.

Click here to start at the beginning, or click here to view all of the thumbnails on a single page. Scroll down to view videos from the road trip.

To enlarge a photo or thumbnail, click on it. Each photo is named in the following format: YMD-HMS. Hover over a photo to view this information.

Summary: South Dakota was absolutely beautiful. Not only were the Badlands and Black Hills amazing, but even driving the interstate was gorgeous.

Wyoming was similarly beautiful. Minnesota, however, was more like Wisconsin.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park (South Unit & Painted Canyon) in N.D. was very impressive and diverse. It's out of the way, but I highly recommend going if you can.

Favorites: My favorite parts of the road trip were climbing in the Badlands, driving the scenic roads, and swimming at the hotels.

Rosanne's favorite part was taking photos of birds, animals, and natural wonders with the camera.

Elliot's favorite parts were the Cosmos Mystery Area and the Waterpark in Rapid City. Ephraim's favorite parts were all of the water slides.

Other Notes: The House on the Rock elicited a wide range of emotions, such as confusion, anger, hatred, and fear. Haha, but it was pretty interesting.

Ephraim was snoring so loud that on the first night, he had to sleep in the bathroom of the hotel room. Poor outcast Ephraim.

In the Badlands, Elliot ran outside without shoes on and stepped on a cactus. His pain led to the new country single, "I Left My Socks In The Badlands"

Much of the Black Hills are at a higher elevation than Denver is, which I didn't realize until we got there.

We saw approximately zero police cars the entire trip. And there was almost no road construction... until we got back into Wisconsin.

We spotted license plates of all U.S. States except: Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Washington D.C.

Videos: Watch home videos from our road trip by clicking on these YouTube links:

July 6	Cave of the Mounds House on the Rock		July 12	Devils Tower Spearfish Canyon Deadwood Shootouts
July 7	Grandad Bluff The Mall of America		July 13	Painted Canyon Theodore Roosevelt Wild Horses & Skyline Vista
July 8	Badlands (After Sunset)		July 14	Car Rides & Story Time
July 9	Prairie Homestead Minuteman Missile NHS Badlands National Park		July 15	Big Manitou Falls
July 10	Iron Mountain Road Mount Rushmore	Not Filmed		Mitchell Corn Palace Wall Drug WaTiki Water Park Crazy Horse Leiney's Lodge
July 11	Jewel Cave Sylvan Lake, Needles, Wildlife Loop Cosmos Mystery Area		July 10	1880 Steam Train Ride

Total Running Time: 1 hour, 56 minutes [Playlist]

Destinations:

Car Rides:

Swimming:

Other Links: