A travel blog for a long-term expat, backpacker, traveler, ESL teacher, and photographer. Rapid City, South Dakota. It is a place I did not know existed until my sister moved there. In fact, I didn't even know where South Dakota was on a map until she moved there. Although, as it seems, people from South Dakota can't label the East Coast states either so it is a mutual thing I asked someone.
I remember when my plane was landing, I looked out the plane and saw black and nothing. I thought to myself, "fuck, this is middle of nowhere, not Virginia. The city takes pride in its proximity to Mount Rushmore and to show it, it has a statue of every president of the USA on its downtown street corners minus Obama.
It has bars, restaurants, bookshops, and basically everything you need in walking distance. It is really a sight to see. The entire street, from trash cans to doors to roofs are lit up by every color imaginable. Various types of art exist. Take a look below to see the beauty of it. It also is very close to a Native American reservation - something I've never experienced before and it was very interesting for me to see the native shops and people around town as I'm not used to it. I wish I had had more time to visit a reservation and actually meet somebody of Native American descent.
Next trip! There were flags of the 50 states in a straight line leading up to the presidential mountain. I found Mount Rushmore to be much smaller than expected - probably from films like National Treasure 2 that set you up for disappointment since it is filmed right next to it. Like close enough to pick George's nose close. Rushmore is quite a distance from the viewing point. Near Mount Rushmore is an abandoned western, ghost town called Rockerville. Apparently it had one working restaurant that burned down last month due to ghosts - or so they say.
There were two sides to it, probably the more original side and one makeshift replication of it. The photo on the right is a photo of the real ruins. After, we went up into the Black Hills National Forest. Many trees were grounded by previous forest fires.
