Adventures of Tin Can Lulu

The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range in western South Dakota. American Indian tribes have a long history in the Black Hills and consider it a sacred site. In 1776 the Lakota took the area and it became the center of their culture. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 exempted the Black Hills from all non-indigenous settlements forever. But the discovery of gold in 1874, as a result of George Armstrong Custer’s Black Hills Expedition, changed the area and the US government cancelled the Black Hills treaty and relocated the Lakota. 

As the economy shifted away from mining and timber, the hospitality and tourism industries have grown to take its place. Locals divide the Black Hills into two areas the Southern and Northern Hills. The name Black Hills is established from the evergreen trees that cover the hills and appear black when viewed from the distance.

This was our fourth visit to the Black Hills and it’s an area that we have grown enchanted with. We based out of Custer in the Southern Hills for 18 days. There are so many things to see and do here…so away we go.

In the northern hills, we ventured to the South Dakota Space and Air Museum located outside Ellsworth Air Force Base. The museum had reopened a two months before our visit, having been closed for two years. This museum is an extensive collection of Cold War aircraft, artifacts and documents related to Ellsworth AFB and the Cold War era in South Dakota. The museum includes examples of the B-29, B-52, B-1 bombers, and the Titan I and Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. 

We drove to the Minuteman National Historic Site located near Wall, SD. This historic site was established in 1999 and illustrates the history and significance of the Cold War, the nuclear arms race and intercontinental ballistic development. We did a guided tour of the underground Launch Control Center. It was like a time capsule from the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. At one time there were over 1000 Minuteman missiles located in South and North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. The 1991 START Treaty with Russia has left 450 Minuteman missiles but none are in South Dakota. Hopefully the two countries will take that treaty more seriously than the US government did with the Lakota treaty.

Have you heard of Wall Drug, where coffee is five cents and ice water is free? This tourist attraction has been around since 1938 when Ted Hustead bought the local pharmacy. From the moment you are in South Dakota you see road sign messages about Wall Drug. The best part of this tourist attraction are the donuts made fresh daily … they are yummy!

Badlands National Park is a 100-mile drive from Custer and was a second visit for us. This striking South Dakota landscape boasts a maze of buttes, canyons, pinnacles and spires. It is barren and desolate but the beauty is breathtaking.