Custer State Park- South Dakota

We spent a good amount of time in Custer State Park and I am so glad that we did.

I took a TON of photos and video of all sorts of critters in the area.  Here are just a few, but we were very excited about all that we saw.

They had a great visitor center with a great staff (almost all of the visitor centers we stopped at on this trip had great displays and great info with friendly staff).

We even stopped at a small general store where staff helped us a lot with things to look for and other secrets.

The Prairie Dogs were a big draw here, and there is a large section of the road where you can just pull over and watch them play and bark!

Patee House- St. Joseph, Missouri

Right next to the Jesse James House in St. Joseph Missouri is the Patee House!

Check out their official site for a history and description of the place.  We had an unbelievable time there!

The old hotel is huge, and it is crammed with great old relics, and store front set ups.

This is easily one of the best and most complete museums relating to the Old West.  It is set up nicely and well maintained.  The building is old, but you can tell they carefully keep the repairs up.  I saw no physical flaws in the place.

My favorite displays showed the old hotels very direct links to Lincoln and Booth both.

The building was an early part of the Pony Express too, and it seems the riders would actually ride their horses inside!  There is a great set up showing an early mail area, noting that a piece of mail postmarked from the Patee sold for $460,000!

Another interesting and odd exhibit  is a display showing actual weapons used in murders commited in the area.

I could easily go on and on about all of the weird and amazing displays in this museum...

http://www.ponyexpressjessejames.com/patee/

Wall Drug- South Dakota

ANOTHER of the great legendary roadside attractions in South Dakota is Wall Drug.

Reading about it, I assumed it was mostly just a big gift shop.  I guess I didn't realize just how big it is!

I would describe wall drug as a mix of gift shop, restaurant/mall/museum.

Instead of having a book or jewelry section, they have a separate shop area (I really enjoyed looking through their selection of books myself!).

We enjoyed a nice lunch in their restaurant.  I had to take advantage of their free ice water, which was appreciated.

Some of the anamatronics and other decorations reminded me of Showbiz Pizza, or Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati.  In fact, Jungle Jim's is a very good comparison!

National Frontiers Trail Museum- Independence Missouri

Keeneland

October means Keeneland is going again!  here are a few pictures I have taken there over the last few years.....