Hey Guys!
This post continues our 11 day trip through the Dakotas, Nebraska and Wyoming!
Read Day 1 here & see links to all of my blog posts here
Our dates of travel were June 26 – July 6, 2024.
As I mentioned in my first post, our first night was spent at the Cedar Pass Lodge inside the Badlands National Park.
This is the only lodging for the Badlands.
We started our morning with coffee on our small front porch.
The cabins provided a coffee pot and coffee so that’s always a plus!
Coffee is always better with views like this! 😉
A picture of the lodge
A picture of some of the cabins….I loved all of the trees surrounding the cabins!
At around 8 am, we headed to the lodge for breakfast.
They offered a very limited menu but it was enough to meet our needs. You’re not picky when you’re hungry. 😉
We sat at a table that gave us amazing views of the park!
My hubby ordered the biscuits and gravy with a side of bacon and I ordered the breakfast sandwich that came with fried potatoes.
The food was pretty good.
After breakfast, we headed back to our cabin to pack up and head out.
There were lots of magpies flying around….my hubby loves these birds lol!
After getting packed up, we checked out of the lodge and headed to our next stop.
As we were driving through the Badlands, we came to an overlook that gave us cool views of the Cedar Pass Lodge.
Driving through the park
We spotted another overlook that we hadn’t been to yet as we had not driven the entire loop. So, we made another quick stop.
This overlook was called the Big Badlands Overlook.
Tip: Click here for a list of the overlooks in the park
This overlook provides the opportunity to view the eastern portion of the Badlands wall, and erosional feature that expands from near the town of Kadoka to the town of Wall.
The “wall” is an intricately carved cliff that divides the upper from the lower prairie.
It is more than 60 miles long and is the geological feature in which the park boundaries were drawn. The loop road follows the “wall”.
The views here are incredible so make sure not to miss it!
We had a sweet couple offer to take our picture….we never turn down a “couples” picture since we don’t get that many! 😉
Tip: Make sure you wear good hiking shoes and stay away from the edges as they are very fragile and slick!
Our national parks are beautiful but can be very dangerous if you’re not careful. In 2022, a 21 yr old collapsed and died on a trail in the Badlands after he ran out of water.
Click here to read about the 10 deadliest national parks
Shortly after leaving this overlook, we exited out of the Northeast Entrance Station.
There are 3 entrances to the Badlands National Park.
Less than 5 minutes after exiting the park through this entrance, you will come to the historic Prairie Homestead.
The Prairie Homestead, an original sod home of Mr. & Mrs. Ed Brown, was built in 1909. It is typical of the homes and outbuildings that pioneers built.
This home is one of the last remaining original sod homes intact today. These pioneers played a very important part in settling the Great Plains.
This area of South Dakota was one of the last places to be homesteaded. These sod dugouts and shanties were common throughout the prairie. Today, almost all of these homes have disappeared.
There is a visitor center located here that has a gift shop & a snack bar.
We decided to just snap a few pics and continue our drive.
Less than 5 mins after leaving here, we came to the Giant Prairie Dog Statue!
The 6 ton, 12 ft tall concrete prairie dog is touted as the largest in the world!
The attraction is free, and for $1.00 you can buy peanuts at the nearby Ranch Store Gift Shop to feed the actual live prairie dogs that are located at this stop.
There were tons of prairie dogs in this area!
We couldn’t pass on having our picture taken with the giant prairie dog!
After this stop, we stopped at the nearby Minuteman Missile National Historic Site Visitor Center. It’s located 3 mins from the prairie dog statue.
During the Cold War, a vast arsenal of nuclear missiles were placed in the Great Plains. Hidden in plain sight, for thirty years 1,000 missiles were kept on constant alert; hundreds remain today.
The Minuteman Missile remains an iconic weapon in the American nuclear arsenal. It holds the power to destroy civilization, but is meant as a nuclear deterrent to maintain peace and prevent war.
There are two missile sites that you can visit in this area however, you will need to make reservations in order to do so.
Click here for an audio tour that you can do of the area
One of those is the Delta 09 Missile Silo and the other is the Delta 01 Missile Silo.
Neither of the silos are located at the visitor center but they are a short distance from the visitor center.
We didn’t purchase tickets to tour the silos so we just visited the visitor’s center.
Tip: The visitor center is closed on Sun and Mon & closed most federal holidays
The visitor center has lots of exhibits, films, and a bookstore that allows visitors to explore the story of the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile System and its role in the larger context of the Cold War.
We spent about 20 mins here going through the exhibits.
It was really interesting reading all about the missiles.
After leaving here, we continued our drive to our next stop.
Tip: Also located near this area is the Oglala Lakota Living History Village and the Circle 10 Campground
We passed the huge 80 ft dinosaur in Wall on the way to our next stop!
We couldn’t believe how green it was in South Dakota! We expected dry and brown landscapes but that definitely was not the case….it was a beautiful, green state!
As we neared our next stop, Keystone, SD, we drove through this cool tunnel!
Arriving to Keystone
Driving through the town 
Click here for all the sites in this area and click here for the best restaurants and here for the best hotels
Tip: 12 mins from Keystone is a very popular hike called the Stratobowl Rim. It’s 1.7 miles round trip
One of the main things we wanted to see in Keystone, was the Dahl’s Chainsaw Art.
The Dahl brothers are award-winning, internationally recognized chainsaw artists who use the backdrop of the beautiful Black Hills to create their chainsaw carvings.
We wanted to see the world’s largest bigfoot carving they had carved!
Once you arrive, you can drive and park right at Dahl’s so that’s what we did.
There is a $5 fee to park here. You can either pay cash or scan a QR code and pay with an app.
The bigfoot carving is 23 ft tall!
Bigfoot’s face, hands, and, of course, big feet are carved, while much of the structure is covered in round logs that emulate a thick outer coat. Three different types of wood, cedar, pine, and cottonwood, were utilized in the sculpture.
The brothers are super talented and had carved tons of unique pieces!
Of course we couldn’t leave without taking a picture with bigfoot!
And we couldn’t pass up having our picture taken in this huge rocking chair!
Just look at these cool pieces they have carved!
After leaving here, we decided to walk through the cute town of Keystone.
Once we spotted this statue of Abe Lincoln, my hubby insisted I take a picture of him sitting with Lincoln. 😉
Walking through town
After walking around for a while, we decided we were ready for lunch.
I had made a list of the best restaurants in each of the places we would be visiting so we decided to eat at one on my list.
It was called Ruby House.
Once we arrived, there was a wait so we put our name on the list.
However, shortly later, the host asked us if we wanted to sit outside instead of sitting inside and if so, we would be seated right away.
So, we decided to sit outside.
However, I don’t recommend it because the main reason you will want to eat here is to sit inside and enjoy the history of the building.
I clearly agreed to sit outside before thinking about what I was saying….it was my stomach speaking, not my brain! 😉
I walked inside the restaurant and snapped a few pics before going to our table outside.
The restaurant is full of old western memorabilia.
They had this picture hanging up that included many historical people like Teddy Roosevelt, Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and Butch Cassidy!
Tip: A devastating flood of June 9, 1972, demolished much of Keystone. The Ruby House was unsalvageable and had to be torn down. It was rebuilt but in 2003 it was destroyed by a fire.
The restaurant offered a variety of different foods on their lunch menu.
Waiting for our food
I ordered the club sandwich with pickle fries and the hubby ordered the spicy chicken sandwich with fries.
We thought the food was very cheap quality and not that good. We were very disappointed!
Maybe the dinner menu is better than the lunch menu but from our experience, I would not eat lunch here!
Read reviews here
After eating our cafeteria quality food, we continued our walk through the town.
We passed the entrance to the bar at Ruby’s so I snapped a couple of pics.
A few shots of the town
After spending about 1.5 hrs here, we headed to our next stop, Hill City.
Click here & here for things to see/do in Hill City, Click here for the best restaurants & here for the best hotels – Click here to see the best things to do in this area of the Black Hills
Hill City is approx. 20 mins from Keystone.
We liked this town better than Keystone.
One of the most popular hotels and restaurant (inside the Inn) is the historic Alpine Inn & Restaurant.
Read reviews for the restaurant here & click here for reviews for the Inn
Tip: They only take cash and it’s first come, first serve and stays very crowded
We didn’t eat here because their lunch menu is German food. However, their dinner menu is more diverse and includes steaks, pasta and more.
Hill City is another cute little western themed town.
One of the most popular things to do here, is to take the old historic 1880 train to Keystone.
There is another Dahl’s Chainsaw located here in Hill City.
This location has the largest Smokey the Bear wood carving.. so, of course, we had to see that one too!
The bear is 30 feet tall and 25 ft wide. It was built in only ten days by Jordan Dahl and six assistants in May 2021.
It is the world’s largest carved Smokey the Bear statue!
They also had the wooden rocking chair with the name of the town on it so, once again, we had to have our pictures taken in the chair!
They had lots of cool wood carvings here too!
Walking through the town
After spending about 45 mins here, we headed to our next stop, Sturgis!
Sturgis is located approx. 1 hr from Hill City.
Arriving to Sturgis
There was only a couple of things that I had on my list to do in Sturgis and that was the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and the Saab Heritage Museum.
We headed to the motorcycle museum first.
We arrived around 4:35 only to find out that they were closing at 5!
The employee made it clear that the doors would be shut at 5 and we basically would be asked to leave!
We decided to go ahead and rush through it since my hubby had really wanted to see it!
Tip: Take a virtual tour of the museum here or click here for a live view of the town near the museum
Admission is $14 for adults, $9 for children 9-15 and free for children ages 0-8.
The Museum’s home is the Old Post Office Building that was built in 1937. The museum is 10,000 sq.ft. and houses the collection of more than 75 distinctive motorcycles, historic displays and changing exhibits.
They also have a gift shop.
The museum has two floors to explore.
We rushed through it trying to take in as much as we could.
They had lots of really old motorcycles…it was actually a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be!
We couldn’t pass up having our picture taken in the “Sturgis” couch!
We actually got to see everything in the short 25 mins that we were there!
As we left the museum, we noticed all of these memorial stones that had been placed outside in memory of bikers who had passed away.
As most of you know, Sturgis is known for the Sturgis Rally where tens of thousands of motorcyclists take over the town!
DO NOT come here if you aren’t into that….we’ve heard it’s insane!!
After leaving the museum, we walked through the historic downtown area.
The place was dead! Hardly any cars were around!
We didn’t even bother trying to go to the Saab museum because we figured it closed at 5 as well.
Tip: The Saab Museum is open from 10-5 Mon – Sat & 12-4 on Sun. Admission is $15 for ages 16+
We spotted a mural on the side of a building and couldn’t miss having our picture taken in front of it! 😉
We then spotted this picture of one of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rallies hanging on the side of a building….I would never want to be here for that!
We walked past the historic Hotel Sturgis.
The original building, known as Benevolent Hall, was built in 1892. The Benevolent Hall succumbed to a fire in March of 1906 and was torn down.
The new cornerstone for the Benevolent Hall was laid later in 1906. Since completed it has been home to a hardware store, a JC Penney, and C & D Sales, and now the Hotel Sturgis.
My hubby was excited to visit this place as he had heard so much about it over the years!
After walking through the town, we decided to find somewhere to eat.
On my list of restaurants, I had the Knuckle Saloon down as one of the top restaurants in this area so that’s where we headed.
Click here for the best restaurants in Sturgis, here for best hotels & here for best things to do
After arriving and getting parked at the restaurant, we made our way inside.
There was no one to greet us so we stood around like little lost puppies not knowing what to do! 
My hubby finally went to the bar and asked one of the employees if we needed to seat ourselves or wait to be seated!
She told him we could sit anywhere.
The service here was definitely lacking and unprofessional.
After finding a table, we spent a few minutes looking over the menu.
My mind was quickly made up when I spotted the “world famous” steak tips! lol!
My hubby opted for his usual burger!
Ok, they redeemed themselves with the food….it was delicious!!
Read reviews here
After dinner, we headed to our final stop of the day which was our next hotel in Bowman, ND...it was a 2 hr 15 min drive from Sturgis!
On our drive to Bowman, we spotted Bear Butte State Park.
I had this place on our itinerary but we ran out of time.
From the 4,426 foot summit of Bear Butte, you can view four states. Bear Butte State Park is considered a sacred site to the Lakota and is a unique natural landmark in the Black Hills.
Read reviews here
We also passed this cute little campground called Ride & Rest…it was set up like an old western town!
Shortly after passing the campground, we passed the Full Throttle Saloon. It’s the world’s largest biker bar.
There wasn’t much around on this drive so I highly recommend that you have plenty of gas!!
However, we did see lots of pronghorn on our drive! 
And, we spotted a rainbow!
We drove for miles without seeing anything or even any other cars!
After about 1.5 hrs of driving, we drove through a small town called Buffalo.
The population was only 346 people!!
The one thing you will find in all of these small towns is a bar!
We spotted a vehicle following us!! 😉
We passed hundreds of bales of hay…they were in the median and on the sides of the road!
The drive was really peaceful and beautiful!
Later, we noticed the sun starting to set.
It became so beautiful, that we pulled over to the side of the road to watch it!
The sky looked like it was on fire!
My hubby was in a panic because his phone had died and he couldn’t take any pictures of the sunset!! Ha ha!!
Tip: I always take a portable phone charger with me on our trips in case we are out and our phones need charging.
No worries, I took enough for the both of us! 
Passing into North Dakota!!
We finally arrived to our hotel in Bowman around 9:30 pm.
We stayed at the Bowman Lodge & Convention Center.
Our room was nice with two queen beds and a large bathroom.
Read reviews here
There is a restaurant located inside the hotel called Grazers.
I had read that they have really good hamburgers but it never worked out for us to eat there.
Read reviews here
Click here for best restaurants in Bowman, here for activities and here for best hotels
Bowman was just a stop off point for us as we headed to Medora, ND to visit Teddy Roosevelt National Park.
Bowman is located approx. 1 hr from the South Unit of TRNP.
After getting checked into our room, we called it a night!
Well, actually I laid in bed for a while and read over the things to do in this area before calling it a night!
Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for Day 3!
Read Day 1 here & Click here to see links to all of my blog posts