This is a guest blog post.

Checking out Mount Rushmore or the Crazy Horse Memorial are good reasons to visit South Dakota. The Badlands National Park is most definitely worth a visit out, too. And, truly, there’s nothing remotely resembling the Corn Palace anywhere else in the States, or even the world. But here are the five ultimate best reasons why Canadians should visit South Dakota.

Because the Landscapes Are Incredibly Diversified

Granted, Canada’s are too. Mountains, prairies, valleys, deserts… But South Dakota’s landscapes have all of this, only within a territory that’s about 50 times smaller than Canada’s. You can climb up a mountain, then get lost in deep, dark, wild forests; you can wander around the desert-like rock formations of the Badlands, and end your day by swimming in a pristine lake. South Dakota’s landscapes are so incredibly diversified for a state of this size, Canadians, known for their love of nature, will just dig it.

Because It’s a Great Place for Road Trips

Many Canadians cherish the dream of doing the infamous road trip across the States, from East through the iconic rock formations of the Midwest and all the way to the Pacific Ocean. While that whole trip would take a while, road tripping across South Dakota is shorter, simpler and real satisfying: Amazing “wild-westish” scenery, breathtaking landscapes and one-of-a-kind pit stops along the way, such as the Wall Drug.

Because It’s the Geographical Center of the States

When you want to discover a country, what best place to start with than its center? The small city of Belle Fourche, South Dakota, was designated as the geographical center of the United States in 1959 – that’s when, of course, you include Hawaii and Alaska. A monument called “Stone Johnnie” has been set up there to honor that fact.

Because It’s Packed With Wild West and Gold Rush History

From the historic town of Deadwood – where notorious wild west figures, such as Calamity Jane, Wyatt Earp or Madame Moustache, lived and died – to the unmarked burial site of Jack McCall or the Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota is full of fascinating history.

Because of Its Many Natural Wonders

You think South Dakota and you think “the Badlands”. But there are many others natural wonders in that state. The glittering and shimmering Jewel Cave, for instance, is the third longest cave in the world, with over 100 miles of paths and passages within it. There is also the unique Lemmon Petrified Wood Forest, where you’ll see petrified wood formations like no other in the world. And last but not least, the Black Hills National Forest is of stunning beauty, and includes Harney Peak, the highest peak in the States east of the Rockies.

Mireille is a travel, music and theater enthusiast. She wrote for the stage and television, and is now working as a freelance blogger for Via Rail, Canada’s leading railroad transporter, offering unique packages for visiting Toronto.

By Rhea Landholm, office coordinator at Main Street Square and Destination Rapid City

The Main Street Square ice skating rink is one of the newest places to visit in Rapid City, and was even voted the best “first date” place in Rapid City.

Did you come see us last year? If you did, you would see that the rink is in an oval shape, and is bigger than New York City’s Rockefeller Center. There are plenty of places where people can sit and enjoy the sights and sounds of the season. There’s even a fire pit where you can warm up.

If you’ve only seen Main Street Square during the summer, you know that the distinct oval shape is there, circling a lawn and the interactive fountain area. Main Street Square staff has been working hard the past couple of weeks to erect dasher boards, and to lie down glycol matting in that oval (right over the green grass).

This week, staff has been spraying water on the mats with the hose, and the chiller, a large refrigeration system that is set up in the alley, is pumping glycol underground to those mats, to freeze the ice.

The ice should be ready and glistening by Saturday morning, when the rink will open at 10 a.m. When you arrive, be sure to visit the Skate Shack to pay for a wristband that allows you onto the ice (and sign a waiver, or have an adult sign for you). We also rent ice skates if you don’t have your own. Helmets are free!

Once you have a wristband, you may skate the entire day. So, skate for an hour, then visit local shops and restaurants, and return to the rink later for more skating.

I can’t wait to glide across the fresh ice, and watch the mini-Zamboni drive in circles cleaning the ice.

Join us at Main Street Square in Downtown Rapid City for [FUN]²!

Check out Main Street Square’s Facebook page too – just search for Main Street Square!

guest blog post by Josh Morrison

Growing up on a farm in eastern South Dakota I have some pretty strong memories about summer trips to the Black Hills. I clearly recall the dry pine scented air, the red dirt in the Spearfish area, and Friendship Monument on Mount Roosevelt.

As a kid I was fascinated with the almost castle-like structure out in the forest. The 32-foot tower in the woods was proposed by Seth Bullock as a memorial to Theodore Roosevelt. The Society of Black Hills Pioneers built the tower and dedicated it on July 4th, 1919. And, recent restoration and preservation efforts ensure that Friendship Monument will there for many years to come.

Friendship Tower - photo by Josh Morrison

The loop trail to the Tower is located at the Black Hills National Forest Mount Roosevelt Picnic Area. The trail is about 3/4 of a mile long, with an elevation gain of 180 feet from the parking lot to the monument. Even if Friendship Tower didn’t exist, this is worthwhile hike. There are amazing view of the plains and surrounding peaks. From the viewing platform near the tower you can see nearby Spearfish, plus the Bearlodge Mountains in Wyoming and views of the plains all the way to North Dakota. From other parts of the trail Bear Butte, Terry Peak, Custer Peak, Harney Peak and the cities of Lead and Deadwood are all visible.

Today, I enjoy taking visitors and my own children up to Mount Roosevelt. This is the perfect hike for people of all ages. The trail is short and easy, but the vistas are spectacular. It is a memorable hike that everyone is sure to enjoy (and it is free). You can make and afternoon out of the visit and pack a lunch to enjoy at the picnic area. There is a vault toilet available, but no fresh water.

Getting to the picnic area is pretty simple. From Deadwood head North on Highway 85 for just over a mile and then turn left on Mount Roosevelt Road (also the turn for the Lodge at Deadwood). Continue on the road for about two miles to the parking area. The first portion of the road is paved, the second part gravel. The gravel road is not plowed in the winter, so save this for the summertime.

If you feel like doing a bit more hiking, visit the grave of Seth Bullock. It is located just across the gulch above Deadwood’s Mount Moriah. Seth requested to be buried above the cemetery with a view to Mount Roosevelt.

For a video driving tour from Deadwood to Mount Roosevelt, check out this link http://youtu.be/qs84Poznd_Q.

Author Bio
Josh Morrison grew up on a farm near Mitchell. He and his family have called Deadwood home for over a decade now. They love to get out and enjoy the Black Hills whenever they can.

This post was written by a student from Wisconsin, Ben K., who wrote this piece about their family road trip to South Dakota for a reader/writer class. Thanks for sharing with us Ben! We added a few photos to help illustrate Ben’s trip.

RV’s are for Cowards

“We’re here!” Our road trip from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin to South Dakota was a blast. We drove a 30′ long RV into the wilderness crawling with bus-wide spiders. In spite of that, it’s probably the most amazing state out of the 50 of them. Parking the RV was no problem, but the cranky neighbors were. The driving days were long and dreary, but stopping at the expensive treasure shops along the side of the road made up for all the sleeping up in the 5″ long bed above the cockpit.

“Wall Drug” was one of the hundreds of stores we stopped at. Excitement burst in me when I ventured through the front door of that enormous, old, and decorated district. This was way better than the large RV we risked our lives in every second with the problems like gas leaks set us back. The walls of this amazing place were covered in toy guns and Indian/cowboy weapons from the 1800′s – everything a kid under 10 dreamed of. As I walked to the next room, I could see many animal decorations that you would put on your porch or hang outside. “Boring!!!” said my brother, Max. Obviously, Max and I each had to get a gun or else our trip would be ruined.

Wall Drug - SD Dept. Tourism

Later that day I shouted, “Hey Mom, were here,” as we pulled up to a short shack that a huge man with a beard, probably didn’t have anything else to do, was working. “Welcome to Custer’s Park Camping Grounds. Now give me my 50 bucks,” said the man. Soon I learned his name was Stevie Realens. That was my favorite part of the trip; just kidding. There were far more exciting parts to the trip.

As we were driving towards the main building at our campground, Max and I spotted a tiny room with original Atari games like “Pac-man” and “Asteroids”. Once our parents deposited all of the “unnecessary fluids and solids,” we rushed as fast as our 12 year-old legs would take us. We spent about a total of about 50 dollars on a game called “Stacker.” You had to stack one virtual block on top of each other while they moved faster and faster across the screen. I wish we could have this game in the RV, I thought. That would brighten up the long days. As a prize, I got a camera that had horrible pixilation when you took the picture. “Best prize ever,” I said sarcastically.

Bear Country U.S.A. was one of our many destinations. We left our heavy RV at our campground and took a rental car. You could drive through the small park with bears scratching themselves against the side of your car. The most amazing sight to see was the bear who was sitting on a log just like a human would. It was hilarious. Max and I would take our fake guns, that we had snuck in, and would pretend the bears where monstrous beasts that we had to kill. Then we took so many pictures. I thought my smile would stay forever.

Sylvan Lake - SD Dept. Tourism

Custer State Park was a goal we had planned to reach while soaring through South Dakota. At amazing heights, we could see everything. I felt as if I were closer to God or heaven. Puh Puh Puh. “You had to bring that gun, Max!!!” Puh Puh Puh. “You just ruined the most beautiful moment of my life,” I screamed. I could hear my echo go miles and miles farther away from me. It took it away my energy for the hike we would have to go through next. The mountains in the distance looked like small hills from where we were standing. After hiking down; tripping and falling, we took a dive in a crystal clear Lake Sylvan. There were rocks out in the middle of the lake which we could rest upon. Custer State Park was the journey of a lifetime.

While we were heading home, we saw a couple with an RV. It started to pour rain. A few minutes later, hail fell down from the sky and made dents in our car. We really wanted to help the poor people, but we had a schedule we were on. The whole rest of the night, we though and made up stories about how the couple we had met earlier were doing.

After our treacherous adventure up to the top of the mountain unknowingly driving in our RV, we have learned never to drive an RV up a narrow road to Custer State Park when it is muddy… or moist… or if you riding along with dangerous spiders.

Needles Highway - SD Dept. Tourism

 By Ben K., student from Wisconsin

This is a guest blogger post written by Tony Barlow (@tonybarlow03), a member of the KELOLAND Storm Chasing team. This is the second post of a two part series, you can find the first post here.

When it comes to a chase day we typically are able to see the parameters lining up a few days out. The real forecasting though comes the day of the event. That is when we look at a number of parameters and decided first if a chase is warranted and second where we will target for that storm chase. Picking the target is challenging; however, if you are accurate it will save you a lot of driving!

KELOLAND Storm Chasing near Fort Randall (click to enlarage this great picture!)

We usually leave the station in our storm chase vehicle, Dorothy, sometime during the late morning or early afternoon depending on how far we have to go. We then closely watch the radar, and severe weather parameters to see if we need to modify our plan. Once we get to the target we are often left watching the skies and radar while waiting for the storms to fire. Once they fire we jump on the road and follow the storms. Most of the time we follow the storms until either they aren’t severe anymore, they leave our area, or darkness falls. Chasing storms at night can be very dangerous so we typically try to avoid it.

KELOLAND's Storm Chase Vehicle, "Dorothy"

Our chase vehicle is outfitted with a couple of computers, some cell phone boosters and a webcam. Using the webcam and a cell phone signal we can stream live video back to the TV station and to the internet. We also bring along another camera for shooting high quality video of the storms. To keep the people of South Dakota up to date we do frequent live phone up dates, to go along with our live video. Here’s a quick tour of our storm chase vehicle, Dorothy:

The chase itself can often be long and grueling and sometimes we don’t pull back into the station until after midnight. We then work to put together some video footage of our chase for use during the newscasts the next day. While the chasing can bring about long days and a lot of driving it is definitely worth it for the coverage we are able to provide for our viewers.

I should also mention that it is best to leave storm chasing to the professionals. Storms are extremely unpredictable and you can get in to trouble in a hurry. The best place to be during a tornado is in the basement or an interior room without windows.

KELOLAND Storm Chasing a SD Storm

If you would like to follow us this severe weather season in the KELOLAND Storm Center you can do so on Twitter, just follow @kelostormcenter. You can also follow our chase team at @dorothychase. We also have a great facebook page where we will post updates, just search KELOLAND News and “LIKE” our page. Lastly, we have created a web page where you can keep up to date and view our live chase camera and GPS as we follow the storms. You can also watch the live storm coverage on KELO-TV, view our radars, and follow the twitter streams. Here is the link for that resource: http://www.keloland.com/_flash/weather/severewx/index.html

This is a guest blogger post written by Tony Barlow (@tonybarlow03), a member of the KELOLAND Storm Chasing team. We hope you enjoy this post about storm chasing in South Dakota, a thrilling adventure!

While many people may think of South Dakota as a summer tourist destination because of things like Mount Rushmore National Memorial, the Badlands National Park or the Missouri River there is a very different group of people that visit the Rushmore State during the summer months… Storm Chasers!

While South Dakota is officially on the northern edge of tornado alley many chasers love to chase in the state because of a few factors. The first is our road network; eastern South Dakota has a great road network for chasing because for the most part it is on a grid. That means that you know you can drive 1 mile and have an east-west or north-south road. This is a big deal when you are trying to follow a tornado or trying to stay out of a tornadoes way! As a chaser you want to know that you have a lot of travel options. It is also popular because of our terrain. Most of South Dakota is very flat, without a lot of trees. That means that you can be several miles away from a tornado and still have a good visual of the storm. The terrain factor was huge for me and the KELO team last year during the Bowdle, South Dakota tornado. We were expecting storms to fire in south central South Dakota. However, as is pretty typical the storms didn’t follow the rules and fired in north central South Dakota. From Chamberlain we were able to see the storm clouds all the way in northern South Dakota. These visual clues gave us a nice head start on catching up with the storms.

One of the reasons I love chasing in South Dakota is because it is such a diverse state as far as terrain and topography. While chasing I have seen everything from the Glacial Lakes area in the northeast to the Badlands in the west. My favorite area is the Missouri River corridor around and south of Chamberlain. Oftentimes while following storms we will cover several hundred miles and see most of South Dakota’s natural beauty in one day!

SD Storm Chasing - KELOLAND

SD Storm Chasing - KELOLAND

In recent years storm chasing has become a very big deal. Just a few years ago we would only see a couple of vehicles out on the road when storm chasing. These days because of television shows and media attention to compelling video there can be hundreds of chasers out during an event. I know there were a couple of events last year that brought chasers up from Oklahoma and Texas to chase storms in South Dakota. This of course can be good and bad, the chasers need to eat and get gas so there likely is some boost to the economy, however, from a chasing perspective the more people following a storm the more dangerous it can be. You can just imagine a traffic jam on a tiny South Dakota dirt road when there is a tornado in the area! As a part of the KELO chase team we do our best to keep our distance from the storms and try to stay away from the crowds.

KELOLAND Storm Team Chasing in SD

Learn more about the tools and processes that the KELOLAND team uses when out storm chasing in a future blog post here on Tuesday, June 24.

If you would like to follow us this severe weather season in the KELOLAND Storm Center you can do so on Twitter, just follow @kelostormcenter. You can also follow our chase team at @dorothychase. We also have a great facebook page where we will post updates, just search KELOLAND News and “LIKE” our page. Lastly, we have created a web page where you can keep up to date and view our live chase camera and GPS as we follow the storms. You can also watch the live storm coverage on KELO-TV, view our radars, and follow the twitter streams. Here is the link for that resource: http://www.keloland.com/_flash/weather/severewx/index.html