My mom, Kay Robison, and me at the 2012 Antiques Roadshow Rapid City. Photo courtesy of SDPB.

Antiques Roadshow Rapid City premiered last night and, in a way, so did South Dakota.

For anyone unfamiliar with our state, they received a glimpse of our natural beauty when the show’s host, Mark Walberg, visited with an expert at the base of Mount Rushmore.

And, viewers were treated to amazing treasures whose value and stories are equal to that of Antiques Roadshow episode’s hosted in states of much greater population – Elvis Presley’s leave papers – signed by the King himself; furniture by Thomas Molesworth, designed for a Wyoming Ranch; and, my favorite, a Lakota skin cleaning kit.

If you missed the first of three episodes, don’t worry – you can pick it up at www.pbs.org!