Flying into Rapid City, the second-largest city in South Dakota, I was stunned by how level the landscape looked from my plane window. Being from California, I’m used to rocky cliffs cradling sapphire coasts. Now, living in New York, it’s all metallic gleam and skyscrapers with little reprieve. This startlingly placid evenness was something new altogether.

My parents didn't take me on a lot of trips within the US as a kid. And even after moving to New York as an adult, I widely traveled internationally and often between the coasts of the US, but never in between. I had no friends in the Midwest to show me around, and no occasion ever presented itself to warrant a visit. So when I was given the chance to lay eyes on Mount Rushmore, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore a small part of the American Midwest.

But I would soon come to find much more depth to Western South Dakota than its great expanse of grasslands and ranchlands. Complex, rich layers of history build upon one another beneath the region, revealing cultural paradoxes, geological majesties, incredible food and beer, and folks who put real elbow grease into their community — all centered around small but bustling Rapid City.

