South Dakota isn’t the usual choice of holiday destination for people travelling from England as it’s a long way to go to a quite remote area of the USA, writes former Shropshire Star reporter Rebecca Lawrence who now lives in Canada.

But while living in Moose Jaw, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to make the trip south across the border to the Black Hills region.

We booked a campsite for four nights at Lake Park Campground and Cottages at Rapid City, which was very clean and quiet.

The drive was 10 hours but it didn’t actually feel that long. We drove through Montana, which had had some interesting rock formations, into North Dakota and then to South Dakota.

Rebecca at Mt Rushmore

After putting up our tent, we went for a cycle ride to stretch our legs before heading into Rapid City, which we were very impressed with.

The city was bustling as there was live entertainment with an event called Summer Nights, which is held every Thursday in the summer.

There was a large choice of restaurants and we opted for the Corn Exchange Restaurant and Bistro, which offered delicious fresh food.

For dessert, we went to their bakery next door and chose two pastries to enjoy while we soaked up the atmosphere in the town.

On our first day we woke up to temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius. We opted for a hike in the morning to avoid the midday sun and went to Custer State Park, where we climbed Harney Peak.

It is the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Pyrenees and offered spectacular views of the area and other rock formations.

Crazy horse: What the sculpture will look like when it is eventually completed. The actual sculpture is in the background.

Later that day we also visited the Crazy Horse Memorial, which is certainly an interesting story.

It is an immense sculpture representing Crazy Horse, a Lakota warrior, which was officially started on June 3, 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski at the request of Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear.

The memorial is to honour the culture, tradition and heritage of North American Indians.

The face was unveiled at the 50th anniversary in 1998 and there is still a long way to go. While it is very impressive, I don’t see it being finished in my life time.

The other famous sculpture in South Dakota, whose motto is Great Faces, Great Places, is Mt Rushmore, which is a spectacular sight.

It’s a lot smaller than the Crazy Horse Memorial, which will be 641 feet long by 563 feet high when finished, but is equally impressive.

The national monument was built between 1927 and 1941 by sculptor Gutzon Borglum and had 400 workers. They sculpted the 60 foot busts of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln to represent the first 150 years of American history.

The visitor centre is very informative and the walk up to the monument is quite powerful as you walk past flags of all the states of America.

During our trip, we also went Deadwood, which is the most Western looking town I’ve ever visited.

A television show called Deadwood, screened from 2004 to 200, revolves  around the town’s corruption and crime. The entire town is now a national historic landmark.

It was an interesting place to visit and we stood at the spot where Wild Bill Hickok was shot in 1876. He had a reputation as a gunman and lawman. He was killed while playing a game of poker.

Wild Bill's gravestone at Mount Moriah Cemetery

We visited his grave at Mount Moriah Cemetery, which is next to the grave of Calamity Jane.

It would have been nice to walk around but by then it was about 38 degrees Celsius so we retreated to a lake for a rest in some shade.

We spent quite a bit of time swimming in various lakes as it was so hot. One of the nicest was Cascade Falls, just outside Hot Springs, which had a large lagoon to swim in.

On the drive home, we went a slightly different way avoiding Montana and staying in North Dakota as we had been stuck in some road works before.

The flooding in North Dakota

However, this drive meant we witnessed some of the horrendous flooding experienced by the state this year.

Driving along you could just see water for miles and miles and the abundance of water has caused much devastation in the area.

Camping in such lovely weather made a wonderful change to our usual trips in England and we’re hoping to pack up again before the end of summer.