56 www. ReadMPM. com | www.MountPl easantMagaz i ne. com | www. ShemCreekRes taurant s . com She established our home base at a rustic cabin nestled in the foothills of Mount Rushmore on the outskirts of Keystone, South Dakota. It’s a tiny tourist town sporting a kitschy Old West façade redolent of Myrtle Beach tackiness, but it served as the ideal location for our purposes as we explored areas in and around the Black Hills. The scenery and vistas were stunning, the wildlife sightings epic and abundant. Nothing quite compares to beholding the towering monolith of Devil’s Tower rising from the prairie landscape in the distance as you approach from the road or the stark, rugged beauty of Badlands National Park. Throughout the journey we glimpsed the mighty bison, bustling prairie dog towns, pronghorn (the fastest land mammal in North America), bighorn sheep, a coyote and plenty of black-billed magpies that felt perfectly comfortable loitering around humans. But back to the main goal of setting foot in North Dakota. Our biggest travel day involved a threehour drive to Bowman, North Dakota, the first town of note you encounter after crossing the border from South Dakota (and when I say “of note,” I mean they have gas stations and a couple restaurants). First, we stopped to snap a couple pictures in front of the North Dakota welcome sign to provide visual evidence that mom had indeed secured her final piece of the state puzzle. Then we headed into Bowman and paid a visit to the Pioneer Trails Regional Museum, which provided a nice overview of the local and regional natural history. Afterwards we ate lunch at a greasy spoon diner and, having done all that we could in North Dakota, went due west from Bowman to Montana, then turned south and proceeded to the remote Medicine Rocks State Park, our final destination for the afternoon. Although it’s not really on the way to anything, I would highly recommend Medicine Rocks to anyone who happens to be in the vicinity or needs to cross into North Dakota via Bowman to collect their 50th state. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, its natural sandstone rock formations dotted with Swiss cheese-like holes have been shaped and weathered by the elements over time to create a surreal, almost mystical landscape. Maybe it feels mystical because it’s considered sacred to Native Americans, a hallowed meeting spot where hunting and scouting parties gathered. It was definitely worth the extra driving time we tacked on to detour there and loop back to Keystone and seemed a fitting way to mark such a significant event: venturing a bit off the beaten path to discover an underrated gem. Sometimes a little wandering makes for the best travel stories. Now thanks to this trip I don’t have that far to go myself until I log all 50 states. I need Iowa, Michigan, Idaho, Rhode Island and Hawaii. And possibly Arkansas. For some reason, I can’t seem to confirm whether I’ve been there or not. But hey, at least Arkansas has the Ozarks. feature A Stand-Alone Memory Care Community. Come see what makes us different! Serving those with Alzheimer’s and other related conditions. We are a member of the JEA Senior Living family of assisted living communities. JEA is committed to being the leader in providing quality personal services for our residents while honoring the experience of aging. 843.216.1001 1025 Hungryneck Blvd., Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464 jeaseniorliving.com Call for a free tour! ®
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