Day Trip to Lemmon, SD

 We did the three hour drive to Lemmon with a stop in Belle Fourche.  We thought the Tri-State Museum and Visitor Center in BF was worth the stop.  It’s a history of pioneers and ranching in the area.  Be sure you have fuel for the remainder of the drive to Lemmon.  I think the only place along the way with a gas station and eatery is in Bison.  We stopped there for burgers at the K Bar T.  Good burgers.  First stop in Lemmon was the John Lopez Sculpture Gallery. He does an amazing job of sculpting life size animals from welded scrap metal. John was in the studio the day we were there, and was happy to talk with visitors.  Next we stopped at the Petrified Wood Park and Museum. The museum is basically a collection of antiques.  The park is about the size of a square city block. It has a collection of petrified wood found around the area that is made into sculptured shapes. Finally we visited the Grand River Museum that houses the John Lopez life-size sculpture of Hugh Glass in a death battle with a bear which happened near Lemmon. The movie Revenent with Leonardo DiCaprio was based on that actual event. The museum is privately owned and has dinosaur bones found on the family’s ranch.  It was nice to see all these things, but not sure it’s worth the distance to drive there.