Most travelers who visit the southern Black Hills treat Hot Springs as a logistics hub — a place to sleep and fuel up between Wind Cave and Custer State Park. That’s understandable, and it means the downtown tends to get about twenty minutes of attention before people head back to the campground. Give it an … Read more
On May 31, 1834, William Sublette laid the foundation log for a trading post at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers, then left his partner Robert Campbell behind with thirteen men to finish building it while he pushed on to that year’s rendezvous. Passing the same spot days later, a missionary named … Read more
Independence, Missouri sits about 30 minutes east of Kansas City, and for most visitors it reads as a suburb. Spend a morning at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and an afternoon at the Truman Home and it becomes something else entirely — one of the most quietly affecting presidential history stops in the country, … Read more
We took it with Gracie and Loki — both in the car, which is the right arrangement regardless of your dogs’ temperament — and saw bison close enough that stopping felt involuntary rather than optional. The road winds through open grassland and rolling pine hills, and the wildlife doesn’t observe any particular schedule about when … Read more
Wind Cave National Park sits about twenty-five minutes north of Hot Springs, and it does something most cave systems don’t: it gives you two completely separate experiences for the price of one. Above ground, there’s a mixed-grass prairie with bison, elk, and prairie dog towns. Below ground, there’s one of the most complex cave systems … Read more
There are museums where the bones are mounted on walls, lit from below, and labeled with placards. The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota is not that kind of place. You walk in from a parking lot off the main road through town, pay admission, and within a few minutes you’re standing on an … Read more
