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August 29, 2022

Travel Blog USA: Chicago, Marquette, Culver and South Dakota

The vagabond tour for this travel blog USA series continued this week mainly in Illinois, but with several side trips along the way and some attractions in South Dakota. We of course had to stop in my husband’s home town of Saginaw to see his mom before continuing on to stay with his brother in Chicago. We both love Chicago and it's been a few years since we’ve spent time there.

It was great to catch up with Peter’s brother although we only go to see one of our nephews briefly. With everyone headed back to school the house was quite empty. They’ve lived in the Lincoln Park area for a while and it’s a great neighborhood. There were plenty of restaurants to walk to within a mile and at night we would take an Uber for a few miles to enjoy the downtown area. We checked out a few new restaurants while we were there as well as visiting and old favorite rooftop bar at the Park Hyatt. We also took a sunset cruise on the Chicago river which gave us a great view of the Chicago skyline. 

Kids at School

On Friday, we drove to Milwaukee to see our oldest at Marquette. If you know anything about how teenagers communicate, you’ll understand why we didn’t really get to see him for more than two minutes on Friday. However, we did get to check out the Third Ward area of Milwaukee while we were there, which was full of good bars and restaurants.

Travel Blog USA

Also on Friday, we drove back through Chicago and down to Culver to see our youngest in his second game as starting quarterback. Although they didn’t win we were glad to see him play again before heading west. Fortunately, we can watch on YouTube while we’re away. Then it was back to Chicago for the night for a total of about 6 hours driving on Friday just to end up back where we started. 

Saturday morning began with a trip back up to Milwaukee so we could actually see the oldest before we started the “real” drive for the day. After a diner breakfast at a Marquette classic, we finally started the trek west. About seven hours later we were in Sioux Fall, SD. Neither of us have ever been in South Dakota before so now that can be checked off our list. It depends on how you track your states, but I keep my “states visited” list to ones I’ve actually spent a day in, so now I have about 12 left. 


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Attractions in South Dakota

There were some interesting oddities to see along the way. We missed the Spam Museum, but did stop in Blue Earth to see the Jolly Green Giant. I don’t ever remember seeing as many signs for roadside attractions as in South Dakota. No USA travel blog would be complete without seeing at least some roadside oddities! Once in Sioux Fall, we of course had to briefly go see its namesake before heading to the hotel. The Sioux River was looking a bit low so the falls weren’t as full as you see in pictures.

After a night in a hotel we got back on the road this morning. Somehow we missed the Corn Palace along the way. This would have been another silly roadside attraction to check off the list. We were quite focused on the main attractions today though which are Badlands National Park and Mount Rushmore. I’m quite obsessed with national parks.

Part of the way I entertain myself on the road is to look up facts about what we’re about to visit. If you’ve ever wondered how the Badlands got its name, it was dubbed that by the Lakota who called it “mako sica” which translates to “bad lands.” The terrain is rocky and dry which made it difficult for them to travel the land.

Mount Rushmore

Our second stop, Mount Rushmore, was completed in 1941 and has a tumultuous history. It located on land that the Lakota Sioux consider sacred. It was conceived as an idea to bring tourists to South Dakota.

Although we enjoyed seeing both of these, my favorite was definitely the Badlands. After a long day of driving we ended up in Deadwood, SD. This is an old west town where Wild Bill Hickok was killed on August 2, 1876. He was in in Nuttal & Mann’s Saloon playing poker when Jack McCall shot him from behind. There's no killing on Sundays, so yesterday was just visiting some of the saloons and having dinner at Maverick's Steakhouse.

Today all the killing is back with three gunfights throughout the day, so you know where I'll be this afternoon. Gotta take in all the kitsch while you can! I'll definitely share more about that later.

Read about how and why the vagabond tour started and about the first leg of it here.

Author

  • Cheryl McColgan

    Cheryl McColgan is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Heal Nourish Grow, where she has published evidence-based health and nutrition content since 2018.

    With over 30 years of experience in fitness, nutrition, and healthy living, and nearly 20 years of professional editorial and journalism experience, she brings both subject-matter depth and trained editorial judgment to everything on the site.

    Cheryl holds a degree in Psychology with a minor in Addictions Studies, completed graduate training in Clinical Psychology, and is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and E-RYT Certified Yoga Instructor.
    She is the author of 21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart, Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight, The Grain Free Cookbook for Beginners, and Easy Weeknight Keto.

    Read more about Cheryl and the journey that created Heal Nourish Grow <a href="https://healnourishgrow.com/about">on the about page</a>.
    Cheryl McColgan is the founder of Heal Nourish Grow, where she writes about protein, body composition, healthy aging, and evidence-based nutrition, along with the everyday habits that actually make those things work in real life.

    With a background in psychology and graduate training in clinical psychology, plus nearly 20 years of experience in editorial and publishing, Cheryl approaches health from both a research and real-world perspective. She’s also been immersed in fitness and nutrition for more than 25 years, which gives her a practical lens most purely academic content tends to miss.

    Her work today focuses heavily on protein intake (especially for women), muscle retention, metabolic health, and sustainable fat loss, along with topics like sleep, recovery, and wearable health tech. You’ll also find a mix of high-protein, low-carb recipes designed to make hitting those goals easier without overcomplicating things.

    Cheryl’s interest in health and nutrition became more personal after navigating her own autoimmune challenges, which pushed her to dig deeper into how lifestyle, diet, and daily habits impact long-term health. That experience continues to shape how she approaches everything on this site: practical, realistic, and focused on what actually works over time.

    What Cheryl Covers

    Most of the content here falls into a few core areas:

    Protein & Muscle Health: how much you actually need, especially for women and how to use protein to support strength, body composition, and aging
    Fat Loss & Metabolic Health: sustainable approaches that prioritize muscle retention and long-term results
    Healthy Habits & Lifestyle: sleep, movement, strength training, consistency, and the small things that compound over time
    Wearables & Recovery: real-world testing and comparisons of tools like Oura, Whoop and others
    High-Protein & Low-Carb Recipes: simple, realistic meals that support your goals without feeling restrictive
    Travel & Lifestyle: wellness-focused travel, outdoor experiences, and a slightly more elevated take on healthy living

    If you're new, here are a few good places to begin:

Cheryl McColgan

Cheryl McColgan

Cheryl McColgan is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Heal Nourish Grow, where she has published evidence-based health and nutrition content since 2018.

With over 30 years of experience in fitness, nutrition, and healthy living, and nearly 20 years of professional editorial and journalism experience, she brings both subject-matter depth and trained editorial judgment to everything on the site.

Cheryl holds a degree in Psychology with a minor in Addictions Studies, completed graduate training in Clinical Psychology, and is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and E-RYT Certified Yoga Instructor.
She is the author of 21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart, Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight, The Grain Free Cookbook for Beginners, and Easy Weeknight Keto.

Read more about Cheryl and the journey that created Heal Nourish Grow <a href="https://healnourishgrow.com/about">on the about page</a>.
Cheryl McColgan is the founder of Heal Nourish Grow, where she writes about protein, body composition, healthy aging, and evidence-based nutrition, along with the everyday habits that actually make those things work in real life.

With a background in psychology and graduate training in clinical psychology, plus nearly 20 years of experience in editorial and publishing, Cheryl approaches health from both a research and real-world perspective. She’s also been immersed in fitness and nutrition for more than 25 years, which gives her a practical lens most purely academic content tends to miss.

Her work today focuses heavily on protein intake (especially for women), muscle retention, metabolic health, and sustainable fat loss, along with topics like sleep, recovery, and wearable health tech. You’ll also find a mix of high-protein, low-carb recipes designed to make hitting those goals easier without overcomplicating things.

Cheryl’s interest in health and nutrition became more personal after navigating her own autoimmune challenges, which pushed her to dig deeper into how lifestyle, diet, and daily habits impact long-term health. That experience continues to shape how she approaches everything on this site: practical, realistic, and focused on what actually works over time.

What Cheryl Covers

Most of the content here falls into a few core areas:

Protein & Muscle Health: how much you actually need, especially for women and how to use protein to support strength, body composition, and aging
Fat Loss & Metabolic Health: sustainable approaches that prioritize muscle retention and long-term results
Healthy Habits & Lifestyle: sleep, movement, strength training, consistency, and the small things that compound over time
Wearables & Recovery: real-world testing and comparisons of tools like Oura, Whoop and others
High-Protein & Low-Carb Recipes: simple, realistic meals that support your goals without feeling restrictive
Travel & Lifestyle: wellness-focused travel, outdoor experiences, and a slightly more elevated take on healthy living

If you're new, here are a few good places to begin:

See all posts by Cheryl

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