Here's some more ideas, based on our summer 2014 trip: Leave Chicago, head northwest. Lake Superior is beautiful, especially around Ashland, WI. We went on the Washburn/Bayfield Loop just north of Ashland. We headed west on US-2 over to Bemidji, MN, where we went to the Headwaters of the Mississippi River near there (Itasca State Park).

From there we headed to I-94, west through North Dakota over to Bismarck and north to Washburn, ND, to Fort Mandan (Lewis & Clark). Then headed south into South Dakota, west to Badlands National Park and the Black Hills area. Landmariner suggested that you could spend a few days in the Black Hills, and that's not a joke! We drove through Badlands on the way, not really interested in doing too much stopping there (as both of us had been there as children). In the Black Hills, we spent one day seeing Mount Rushmore and the Iron Mountain/Needles Scenic Drives in Custer State Park, and the next day doing one of the tours at Wind Cave and doing the Wildlife Loop in Custer. We headed west again, seeing Devil's Tower on the way to Billings, MT, then southwest into Yellowstone where we spent two more long days seeing YNP and another day in Grand Teton.


Donna