South Dakota Resolutions

Jan 20, 2021

By Katie Hunhoff

Editor Katie Hunhoff and other South Dakota Magazine staffers share resolutions to explore the state in 2021.

We have a New Year’s tradition at South Dakota Magazine to make resolutions on traveling South Dakota. As you can imagine, our staff knows the state pretty well. The resolutions are a fun way to challenge ourselves to try new places and activities.

This year the resolutions are different because of the pandemic; we are all looking for travel opportunities that can be accomplished with safety and health in mind. Maybe our resolutions will give you some ideas.

Hannah Schaefer, our photography and editorial assistant, plans on reading books she collected at the South Dakota Book Festival. On her list is Unfollow by Megan Phelps-Roper (the South Dakota Humanities Council’s One Book South Dakota for 2020), Murder on the Red River and Girl Gone Missing by Marcie Rendon and According to Kate by Chris Enss. (On a side note, our managing editor put together a collection of South Dakota books that are must reads. You’ll find his suggestions in our Nov/Dec 2020).

Departments Editor Laura Johnson Andrews has a couple of day trips planned. “I have been holed up for most of 2020 due to COVID concerns, so at this point, a trip to Toby’s Lounge in Meckling would be a nearly unbearable thrill,” she says. Toby’s is about a 10-minute drive east of Yankton and is known for delicious broasted chicken. Laura also wants to venture a little further to the town of Colome. “I’d love a tour of the Colome area with our food columnist, Fran Hill. I haven’t been there since the South Dakota Outhouse Museum moved to town, so I feel like I’m overdue.” 

John Andrews, our managing editor, is planning a trip around some magazine stories he wants to write. “I’m writing a story on Peter Norbeck to coincide with the holiday in his honor, which I don’t think many South Dakotans know about. I think the story of how his house ended up in Geddes and that small town’s own resolve to save it is pretty inspiring.” 

Bernie Hunhoff, our editor at large, also wants to visit an historic place. “In all my travels of South Dakota, I have never visited the site of Sitting Bull’s death along the Grand River in Corson County. I hope to get there in 2021. By about any standard, he must rank as the greatest and most influential person to have lived in our region over the last 200 years.” 

My resolution is to hike a new peak every time I visit the Black Hills, starting with Black Elk Peak, which I am ashamed to say I have never climbed. But I think all of us probably have a similar destination that we never took the time to experience. That’s part of why we love printing the magazine — to remind people what we have in our own backyard and spark the desire to start exploring.