A Very Real National Treasure

  I’ve never been a big fan of Nicholas Cage, but after my weekend hike in the Black Hills of South Dakota, I have new respect for the actor. 

  In National Treasure - Book of Secrets, just released on DVD, he jaunts across the top of Mount Rushmore with less effort than I exert walking around the block.

   Now I don’t know how old Cage is - I could google it but I really don’t care - but in a few weeks, I’m going to have a significant birthday that ends in a big zero.

   And, I don’t know what the elevation is in Hollywood - I could google that too - but where we were in the Black Hills was about 5700 feet.  That’s about 5,000 feet higher than Kansas City’s 700 feet above sea level.

   And, I really don’t care how often Nicholas Cage works out, but I swipe the card at our fitness center a couple of times a week.  Yet, I was huffing and puffing on our hike at a very audible level.

   But I wasn’t alone in the heavy breathing department.  Bruce and I were in Rapid City for a conference of the Central States chapter of the Society of American Travel Writers, along with about 100 of our colleagues in the travel media business.

    Our hike, led by National Park Service rangers, took about 25 of us to remote locations and higher elevations than most travelers to the Black Hills experience.  But it was worth the huffing and puffing, along with a few scrapes and bruises accumulated by us all, to reach the heights of this range of mountains so sacred to the Native Americans. 

   The Black Hills of South Dakota are among our favorite destinations in the United States, and we’ve written about our journeys here in the past.  But now, we have new experiences and new reasons to share with readers about this beautiful area, where buffalo still roam, where beauty is literally around every turn, and where there is little humidity and fewer mosquitoes in the summer.

   So over the next few weeks, our colleagues and I will be sending story proposals to editors, posting on blogs and websites, and otherwise sharing with the world about our appreciation of the natural beauty here.  I’ll keep you updated on where my stories land, but in the coming months if you see anything in print about the Black Hills, it’s probably from one of our friends here.

   And if you’re looking for ideas for a memorable vacation this summer, don’t worry about being as fit as Nicholas Cage.  Come to the Black Hills and enjoy a very real national treasure.