On to South Dakota

​SOUTH DAKOTA                 
Jer 5:3b …they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return
Any clue as to why I’d pick this verse to go with South Dakota? … well….Does the word “Mt. Rushmore” mean anything to you? If you have the chance, you really need to run through this area of South Dakota. It’s one thing to see a postcard of the famous 4 faces, but when you get there and walk under them, the immenseness of it hits you. It gives you a glimpse of the scope of imagination the sculptor must have had to be able to design such a huge face that has a beauty from a distance. Working in the rock up close he’d not see what we see miles away. That gave me a healthy respect for his artistry as I meandered along the half mile pathway that gave me different views of the faces.
Anyone who likes the “Wild West” would also want to go to Deadwood. It’s only about 50 miles from Mt. Rushmore, and gives you a feel of what life was like as this country was settled. The Boot Hill Cemetery has the graves of Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok and I enjoyed walking around there.
You do (or at least I do!) need to be careful – there’s a lot of twisty, winding roads and canyons out there. I was lost for over an hour trying to get out of there! :0(
For book lovers, you’ll want to head to De Smet, SD. We spent a day there touring the Laura Ingalls Wilder place. Having grown up on those books, Mom, Julie & I all wanted to see that place! (There’s also another house in Mansfield, Missouri, where Laura wrote her books. The De Smet house was where they lived during the time of “By the Shores of Silver Lake”.)
There’s many places of interest in South Dakota – it’s one state you need time if you want to explore a lot of the sites!