This route is actually very flexible. Because all the point of interest locate closely together, it doesn't really matter which place to visit first. However, you must fly in and out of Rapid City, the closest major airport. There are no direct flight to Rapid City, and the tickets are usually more expensive than other major cities in U.S., but it's definitely worth the money and time to visit South Dakota.


Driving through Bear Country USA was quite of an experience. We saw a lot of bears and other animals throughout the park. Many walked closely around our car. Of course, it was very important to keep all the windows and doors shut when driving through the bear section. Wind Cave and Bad Lands National Parks offer interesting and weird cave/rock formation. It was kind of creepy when we arrived Bad Lands at dawn. The eroded buttes along the side of the road looked scary in the dark. Everytime we turned the corner, they seemed to suddenly appear in front of us to block our way. We also went a little farther out of the way to visit the funky Devil's Tower (see picture,) where Steven Spielberg filmed "Close Encounter of the 3rd Kind."