In September, we decided to take a road trip to a place we
hadn’t visited in awhile—the Dakotas. On Friday, we left right after work and
went straight to our first hotel, the Home2 Suites by Hilton Eau Claire South.
On Saturday morning, we set out for Watertown, SD. We basically had a straight
shot across the state of Minnesota on HWY 7, stopping for lunch at Taco John’s
in Hutchinson. When we hit the city of Montevideo, we crossed the Minnesota
River, entering Yellow Medicine County. We were only in the county for a few
seconds before we crossed into Lac Qui Parle County. A little while later, we
crossed into South Dakota and Deuel County. 15 miles later, we crossed into
Codington County, where the Hampton Inn & Suites Watertown awaited. But
before we checked in, we turned left on HWY 81, traveled six miles to the
Hamlin County border, then turned around and went back. That evening, we walked
to Applebee’s for dinner.
On Sunday, our destination was Bismarck, ND. We started out heading both north and west through the backroads of the Dakotas. We went through Clark and Marshall Counties before crossing into North Dakota and Sargent County. When we reached the small town of Geneseo, we drove east one mile on HWY 11 so we could cross into Richland County. We then traveled west, picked up Dickey County, then went north on HWY 1 into LaMoure County. A few miles later, we turned down a dirt road for a couple miles so we could pick up Ransom County. Near the county line, we stopped for a giant snapping turtle crossing the road.
We continued west on HWY 13, stopping at The Freeze in
Edgeley for lunch. The cheeseburgers were delicious! After lunch, we continued
west, picking up Logan, McIntosh, and Emmons Counties before heading north to
our hotel, the Hampton Inn Bismarck. After checking in, we decided to take
a little bonus county collecting trip to save time on a future trip. We headed
north into McLean County. At the city of Washburn, we crossed the Missouri
River on HWY 200 and entered Oliver County. As the sun was setting, we then
continued west until we picked up both Mercer and Dunn Counties. From there, we
turned around and went back to our hotel, just in time to watch the Packers
beat the Bears on Sunday Night Football. We ordered Domino’s Pizza, which was
waiting for us upon our return.
On Monday we set out for our first sightseeing
destination - Devils Tower National Monument. On the way there, we picked up
Grant and Hettinger Counties in North Dakota. Once we were back in South
Dakota, we stopped at the No. 3 Saloon in Buffalo. The food was fantastic! If
you’re ever in this remote area, be sure to stop in. Try the beef tips!
Since we were so close to the border of Montana, we decided
to take an alternate route to Devils Tower. We ended up on a winding gravel
road for maybe 25 miles. We didn’t anticipate that. However it was still
slightly quicker than the route on the paved roads. We crossed into
northeastern Wyoming from Montana, and drove straight to Devils Tower. When we
left, we went back into South Dakota to our hotel, the Hampton Inn Spearfish.
For dinner, our first restaurant of choice had a one-hour wait, so we went back
to the hotel, crossed the street, and ate at Culver’s.
On Tuesday, our first stop was Mount Rushmore. Since it was
around lunch time when we arrived, we decided to eat there. Upon leaving, we
went south and viewed the Crazy Horse Monument. We then drove on to Jewel Cave
National Monument, where we toured one of the caves. Our next stop was Wind
Cave National Park. We stopped on the side of the road to watch a herd of wild
bison. We also saw a coyote and hundreds of prairie dogs.
Since we were relatively close to the Nebraska state line,
we drove southeast and crossed over into the city of Whiteclay. From there, we
drove to Martin and ate dinner at the local Dairy Queen. After dinner, we drove
straight to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express Pierre-Fort Pierre.
On Wednesday, we drove north to pick up a couple of remote
counties we needed. We crossed the Missouri River and headed north on HWY 81.
We drove through Sully and Potter Counties. We then wormed through a few
backroads to enter both Campbell and McPherson Counties—the latter being the
least-visited county by county collectors in the lower 48 states. We then
stopped in the city of Roscoe and had a great lunch at Ricky’s Restaurant &
Lounge.
After lunch, we worked our way south and east. We went south
on HWY 45 to pick up Faulk and Hand Counties. We then went east on HWY 212 to
Redfield, picking up Spink County. At Redfield, we went south on HWY 281 into
Beadle County before hitting HWY 14 and heading east. When we got to the city
of De Smet (in Kingsbury County), we stopped in the cemetery to view the graves
of the Ingalls family of Little House on the Prairie fame. We also visited one
of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s former homes, as well as one of the schools she
attended. From there, we picked up Brookings County (our last county to collect
in South Dakota) to the east and checked into our hotel, the Hampton Inn &
Suites Brookings. For dinner, we stopped at the local Buffalo Wild Wings.
On Thursday, we traveled east on HWY 14 from our South
Dakota hotel nearly all the way to our hotel in Minnesota. In one straight
shot, we picked up Lincoln, Lyon, Redwood, and Brown Counties, the latter of
which completed the state of Minnesota for us. We even passed through Walnut
Grove, the setting for TV's "Little House On The Prairie." In Mankato we stopped for a late lunch at McDonald’s. From there, we had one final
tourist stop - the Spam Museum in Austin. It’s a free museum, and it's definitely
one of the most quirky places you’ll ever visit. We highly recommend it! After
the museum, we drove right to our hotel, the Home2 Suites by Hilton
Rochester Mayo Clinic Area. For dinner, we ate at a nearby Red Lobster.
On Friday, we drove back home. We had no new counties to
collect, so it was a straight shot all the way. When it was all said and done,
we had picked up 35 new counties and finished two states. So, what’s next? We
have a weekend getaway in Kansas and Missouri planned for next month, so stay
tuned!
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