North Dakota & South Dakota

Sioux Falls, SD | Mount Rushmore National Monument | Wind Cave National Park | Crazy Horse Memorial

In 2022, we visited North and South Dakota. We made a trip to Mount Rushmore National Monument, which is huge and much bigger than I imagined.

We also visited the Crazy Horse Memorial, which is still under construction, but is impressive. The monument and museum was really interesting and they had a Lakota woman to present some historical background and there were native dancers. It was probably my favorite part of the trip.

We also visited the Badlands National Park, which was beautiful and desolate. There were lots of prairie dogs running around. It took everything in me not to want to take one home with me! There were also wild horses, which was fun to see.

We visited Wind Cave National Park, which was a neat experience. There were several different cave tour options for different ability levels.

Tip: Get there in the morning. They offer tours throughout the day, but you have to book your tour at the park and it’s first come, first served. If you show up after 10 a.m. or so, you’re likely not going to get a tour that day. We showed up when the park opened and we were able to book two tours – one shorter, family-friendly tour and a longer one later in the day.