I'm excited to launch six new episodes of the Travel South Dakota Stories podcast series. It was so much fun travelling around South Dakota making these and I had some truly amazing experiences, from digging for T-rex teeth to joining the Union Army to riding across the Badlands
You can find them on all the usual podcast platforms: Spotify, Apple, Audible Here's one of the trailers for the series that I shot and edited:
And here are the six new episodes:
The Land of the Giants In Africa, people go on safari in search of the Big Five: the Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant and Buffalo. But in South Dakota, you can go in search of the huge five: Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Raptor and Mammoth.South Dakota is a major hub for paleontology and in the past three decades alone some of the most famous dinosaurs in history have been unearthed here.
Join us as we head out with Paleo Adventures in the northern Black Hills on a dig for 67-million-year-old T-Rex teeth and Stegosaurus bones. We then head down the road from Custer State Park, which was home to something wilder and woolier than bison: mammoths. In 1974 a mass graveyard of mammoths was found here and today it’s now a museum built over an active dig site. We join the dig, work on mammoth bones in the fossil preparation lab and find a whole lot of mammoth dung in the archives. LISTEN HERE
The Greatest Show in the West
Rodeo in the United States is a pure reflection of the spirit of the American West, and it’s a tradition rooted in the folklore and culture of the country. And in South Dakota, it’s not only the official sport - it’s a way of life.
Join us as we go on a wild ride at the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo where over 300,000 people from all over the world descend on Rapid City to watch over 120 different events. We join a father and son team at the ranch rodeo, cheer on Gill the border collie at the sheep dog trials, take part in a bachelor cattle auction and watch seven-year-old Kreed hang on to a sheep for dear life in mutton bustin’.
Little Town on the Prairie
In the winter of 1879, a man by the name of Charles Ingalls brought his family to South Dakota, fell in love with the area and filed for a formal homestead in the small community of De Smet. Charles Ingalls was the father of Laura Ingalls, the author of The Little House on the Prairie series.
Join us as we roll across the prairie in a horse-drawn cart to Laura’s homestead, take part in a spelling bee in the 1889 Little Prairie School, drop into rehearsals for the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant and uncover treasures in the archive room at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society Museum. LISTEN HERE Here is the second trailer:
Marching Back in Time
As soon as we walked into the barracks at Fort Sisseton, we were handed muskets - heavy Springfield 63s from the Civil war era.
That’s because we enlisted in the army. The Union Army that is.
Join us as we march back in time to 1864 at the annual Sisseton historical festival, where calvary, artillery and infantry reenactors come together and bring the camp to life for a weekend, with period accurate food and music, military demonstrations, dances and much more.
But we aren’t just there to watch the festival. We are in it. Listen as we take part in marching drills and then perform them in front of a big crowd, join some old-timers from the cavalry regiment for some tales around a blazing fire, sleep in the haunted military hospital and step on toes at the Military Ball.
Where Bad is Good
The Lakota people called it Mako Sica. It means bad lands. It’s probably not a name that a tourism office would come up with. It sounds more like a desolate and forbidding landscape. So, is it a fitting name?
Join us as we hike through a colorful geological tapestry of sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles, and spires in Badlands National Park in search of ancient fossils, become an unwelcome visitor in a prairie town, and go horseback riding through an endless sea of grass under the shadows of rocky buttes straight out of a western movie.
South Dakota on a Plate The South Dakota culinary scene is heavily influenced by Native Americans, Scandinavians, Germans, Russians, farmers, hunters… and even church basement ladies. From all those sources the state has a smorgasbord of local specialties with names as exotic as some of the dishes themselves.
Join us as we go on a four-course road trip around South Dakota. Our appetizer is the state’s ‘official nosh’ chislic, followed by a James Beard winning restaurant in a town of 1,800 people, and finish up with some world-famous donuts from Wall Drug for dessert. Then of course we need a digestif. Although the one we try is… just dangerous. LISTEN HERE
Find out more at www.travelsouthdakota.com where you'll find lots of inspiration, ideas and everything else you need to know to plan your great South Dakota adventure.
Produced by Armchair Productions, the audio experts for the travel industry: www.armchair-productions.com
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