Carved In Stone

My parents took my sister and me on a trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota in summer of 2004, here’s why it was great and what a kid (like myself at the time) can learn from this kind of trip.

Before this trip, we hadn’t really taken long family road trips. We had done weekend camping trips, numerous trips across the state to my grandparents home, and maybe a couple of local adventures. But this was big, we brought the pop-up camper my parents had at the time and started driving.

One of our first stops to my knowledge was Wall Drug, the best tourist trap in South Dakota. It’s a must-see, but it’s also kind of ridiculous.

One of the other things I remember from this trip was going to a cave, it was a little bit cheesy but exploring such a unique space was fascinating to me as a kid, and honestly still is. I had never seen anything like a cave before as a kid but tried to learn everything I could from the tour guide. Plus I got a postcard, so I’m pretty sure this is where my postcard collection started.

Obviously, the most memorable part of the trip was Mount Rushmore. It was so cool to see the monument and its history. I love learning about history, especially of the USA, and I thought it was super cool to see this.

Maybe it’s because I used to be homeschooled, but my whole family enjoys trips that include a lot of museum visiting. I love that we’ve made trips fun and that I’ve learned to look for museums and explore them. I also love doing this in other countries as well such as Canada, France, England, and other countries I’ve visited. Often museums give an interesting perspective to an area whether they’re about science, architecture, history, art, literature or something else.

When you’re on a trip, if you get the chance, I’d encourage you to visit at least one museum. You’ll probably learn something about the area or something new about an interesting field of study, or maybe you’ll find you’re new favorite artist, or something else. Let me know what you find! @katherineglader