Hey Travel Bugs! How was your last full week of June? Did you get any day trips, staycations, or vacations in? Are you planning a trip right now?
Travel Planning:
This week I applied for my passport. 2025 is going to be the year of international travel. Right now I’m leaning toward Edinburgh, Scotland but I’ve also been obsessed with all things Tudor era this year and might choose England instead. Either way, the passport is the first step and I’m so excited to get it!
Exploring:
This week I visited two state parks and went hiking. Despite rainy conditions last weekend and earlier in the week I had a great time!
Hartman Creek State Park, Waupaca, Wisconsin
First up was Hartman Creek State Park, just outside Waupaca, Wisconsin. I hiked the Allen Lake Loop, about a mile total. It was a gorgeous, sunny day – although I did have to climb around a fallen tree.
High Cliff State Park, Sherwood, Wisconsin
Next up I went back to High Cliff State Park outside Sherwood, Wisconsin and hiked part of the Lime Kiln Trail. I hiked roughly two miles, checked out these amazing ruins, and admired the view. It was another gorgeous, sunny day and I didn’t even need any bug spray!
Next Up:
Weather permitting, next weekend I’m off for a day trip to Northern Michigan and a day of hiking at Rib Mountain State Park near Wausau, Wisconsin.
I have most of my travel planning done for my fall trip to New England but I’ll talk about it a little more next week!
Thank you for taking this journey with me! Safe travels!
Hey travel bugs! Long time no talk! It’s been a busy year of work, travel, working on my upcoming novel, and a medical procedure that gave me some time to rest and think about priorities.
Last year I got my driver’s license and this summer I’m determined to make the most of my days off by exploring places I haven’t been before and places I’ve been to in the past but haven’t been able to get to for one reason or another. I made myself a list for the “Summer of Exploration,” but my list really stretches far into the fall. Some of these I’ve already checked off, some are fun activities / movies and some are parks I’m planning to return to as I’ve also made exercise a priority…
1. High Cliff State Park, Sherwood, Wisconsin
High Cliff State Park
2. Iverson Park and Bound to Happen Books, Stevens Point, Wisconsin
Iverson Park
3. Firebrand (movie) – June 14, 2024
4. Mosquito Hill Nature Center, New London, Wisconsin
Mosquito Hill
5. Hayman Falls County Park, Shawano County, Wisconsin
Hayman Falls
6. Hartman Creek State Park, Waupaca, Wisconsin
7. Cherney Maribel Caves County Park (Manitowoc County, Wisconsin), Greenhouse Coffee Shop (Kohler, Wisconsin), Lottie Cooper Shipwreck (Sheboygan, Wisconsin)
8. Escanaba/Gladstone, Michigan
9. Navarino Nature Center, Navarino, Wisconsin
10. Devil’s Lake State Park, Baraboo, Wisconsin
11. Door County, Wisconsin (a favorite destination!)
12. Symco Weekender (Event), Symco, Wisconsin
13. Wiowash State Trail, Outagamie County, Wisconsin
14. Rib Mountain State Park, Wausau, Wisconsin
15. Fully Stocked Wine Bar, Shawano, Wisconsin
16. It Rose From the Ashes (my new book!) Releases September 13, 2024!
17. Two Lakes Supper Club, Almond, Wisconsin
18. Fall Trip: Portland Maine, Portsmouth New Hampshire, Salem Massachusetts, Providence Rhode Island, Mystic Connecticut
I’ll be sure to keep you updated on each adventure and catch you up on my spring trip to Charleston, South Carolina in April, a Door County weekend in May, and my travel planning for this fall and beyond! Thank you for taking this journey with me! Safe travels!
I just spent about a week in South Dakota with my mom. We saw a lot of interesting things, enjoyed beautiful scenery, and ate some great food. Here’s what we got up to and a few places you have to visit if you ever find yourselves in western South Dakota…
Day 1 – Saturday, June 11, 2022
If you’ve been following the blog so far, you know that initially my mom and I were planning to drive straight through to Deadwood in one go. We changed our mind and ended up staying in Mitchell the first night.
We reached the Minnesota/South Dakota state line around 6 PM
While we could have stopped in Sioux Falls, which is just a few miles over the border we decided to keep going and stopped for the night in Mitchell (yes the home of the Corn Palace). Seeing as we didn’t know we would be stopping in Mitchell specifically we arrived with no hotel reservation, figuring we would have no issue finding a room for the night. For some reason, I believe sports related, the first two hotels we tried had no vacancies. Calls to three more in the city garnered the same result. We finally found a room with one bed (not ideal, but a room at least) at a Day’s Inn just off I-90. Not only did the receptionist, an older woman, had a serious attitude problem but the hotel had no elevator although it could afford to put in a waterslide in the pool area. The room itself was definitely large enough for two double beds but half the room’s space was wasted with an arm chair and footstool. The room was clean enough, though the mirror over the small fridge and microwave looked like it was covered in what was possibly blood spatter. But it probably wasn’t, that’s just the true crime junkie in me’s observation.
Day 2 – Sunday, June 12, 2022
One of my favorite sights along the way was the Dignity statue in Chamberlain, South Dakota.
Starting out on Sunday, we had about a 4 to 4 1/2 hour drive left to get to our hotel in Deadwood. Along the way we stopped at the Dignity Statue outside Chamberlain, South Dakota, drove past Wall, South Dakota and the outskirts of the Badlands, took a brief stop in Rapid City, and saw Sturgis.
We arrived in Deadwood around 1:30 and checked into our hotel. The woman at the reception desk was a lot nicer in Deadwood and gave us tons of brochures and maps for the area. The room (below) was spacious, clean, and well decorated.
I only have two comments about our stay at the Super 8 in Deadwood: this hotel is not at all handicapped accessible. There are stairs to access the downstairs rooms as well as the upstairs rooms with no elevator in the building. Also, on our third night, we came back to the room around 2 PM to relax a little before dinner and the man working reception that afternoon told my mother, who has stage 4 cancer and a handicapped placard for her car, that she could not park in the handicapped spots off the lobby that were by the casino part of the hotel because that took a spot away from a casino patron. Instead she was instructed to park in the Veteran’s parking spot because no one cared who parked there. We did not, but the comments have definitely stuck with us.
Our first stop in town was actually to Mount Moriah Cemetery, the final resting place of Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Seth Bullock, and others. I wasn’t confident that we were going to get there and here’s why: I’m terrified of hills with steep grades! The road to the cemetery was like my worst fear, it’s like you’re on a 180-degree angle going straight up to the sky. Then you get to the cemetery and you have to walk up hill to see the graves. So we enjoyed some, but my mom and I both agreed that the ones at the top of the hill were beyond our skill set.
The Bullock Hotel
Next we did a little shopping on Historic Main Street Deadwood before having dinner at the Gem Steakhouse and Saloon inside the Mineral Palace Hotel. The food was delicious, probably one of my favorite meals of the trip!
Day 3 – Monday, June 13, 2022
We woke up on Monday morning and the forecast was a bit iffy so our first stop was to the Adams House Museum. The Adams House Museum is a gorgeously restored Queen Anne style home in the middle of town, just off the base of the road to Mount Moriah Cemetery. We decided to take a guided tour and learned so much about the two generations of the Franklin family that lived there before W.E. Adams bought it. The house has gorgeous woodwork as well as beautiful fireplaces, and furnishings. The Adams House is a must visit!
Next we drove through Spearfish Canyon and I took some beautiful pictures of the Bridal Veil Waterfall as well as some of the scenery.
The weather was clearing a bit (for the moment) and we were heading north anyway so my mom and I decided to head to Wyoming to see Devil’s Tower.
Along the way, we stopped at a small cafe in Hulett, Wyoming. The name escapes me now, though it was the Red *something* Cafe. The burger I ordered was fine but what put me off was when a table of four came in around two and the waitress came running out and told the people that they were closed and they’d have to leave. Now I checked the sign by the door on my way out and it said they were open until 8 PM and there was no sign on the door stating they were closing early. To make matters worse when the people asked where they could eat in the area the waitress said “well there’s the Country Club if you think you can afford it.” What a rude thing to say!
While I thought Devil’s Tower was beautiful and my mom and I ran into some people from Green Bay and we were discussing the hail damage we’d gotten to our car the night before, I honestly can’t recommend what I’ve seen of Wyoming as the people were so inhospitable. I’d hate to think the entire state is like the few that we encountered, but it’s enough to make me think I never want to go back to find out.
Day 4 – Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Tuesday was a busy day. It was a bit rainy again in the morning but I took some gorgeous, moody pictures at the Pactola Reservoir on the way to Hill City where we had breakfast at the Hill City Cafe.
We were on the way to Custer State Park but we decided to go toward Mount Rushmore first and came into Custer State Park from the north end. It’s definitely a touristy place to visit, but the views make it worth it! Recommendation: bring carrots with you to Custer State Park so you can feed the mules/donkeys. They couldn’t eat them fast enough!
For the brave, I also recommend the Needles Highway. It’s a curvy 14-mile road through the northwest section of Custer State Park with breathtaking views that will make you feel like you’re on the top of the world.
Once we left Custer State Park I took some pictures at the Crazy Horse Memorial then we went on to Rapid City for dinner at Olive Garden. The bookworm in me also demanded a stop at Books-A-Million where I picked up a few books I’ve been eyeing online.
Day 5 – Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Wednesday was going to be our Sturgis day, as I was debating getting a tattoo there, which I eventually decided against. We did visit the Harley-Davidson store there (we actually hit most of the HD stores in the area during our trip) and another store called Hot Leathers.
Outside of Sturgis we drove past Bear Butte State Park and saw an antelope that seemed to think I had snacks to give out. We were on the way to Full Throttle Saloon which is a really fun place to check out. My mom and I ended up talking to a guy from Kentucky who had ridden all the way with his young son on his Harley. I don’t think I’d be able to ride all that way on a motorcycle!
One of the things I definitely wanted to check out on our trip was The Pump House at Mind Blown Studio which is a coffee shop and glass blowing studio converted from an old Texaco station. It’s a Instagram-worthy spot, so be sure to check it out. The coffee was pretty good too!
Day 6 – Thursday, June 16, 2022
Thursday was our last full day before heading back east. We did some shopping at Sick Boys in Deadwood then drove down to Keystone where we had lunch on the balcony of a walkway of restaurants and shops.
We stopped at Prairie Berry Winery in Hill City for a wine-tasting, which is something I’ve never done before. It was fun, but it reaffirmed the fact that I’m more of a rum drinker than a wino.
My mom suggested stopping for ice cream and said she knew a place by Lead. So we spent about a half hour driving to a tiny town called Rochford only to find there wasn’t an ice cream place there. I got a burger at the Boar’s Nest in Lead as a consolation. Haha.
Days 7 & 8 – Friday and Saturday, June 17-18, 2022
I won’t bore you with the details of our drive back to Wisconsin. We stopped in Albert Lea, Minnesota on Friday night then made a stop in La Crosse once we got back to Wisconsin before continuing home where we had lunch in Waupaca at one of my favorite summer restaurants, Clear Water Harbor before driving the last 30 miles.
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Have you been to Deadwood and the other places I mentioned? What were some of your favorite memories from your trip?
Taylor Sees the World 