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Post by jbird on Mar 17, 2021 12:44:38 GMT -6
So it sounds like we are taking a vacation this summer (early June) to South Dakota with my brother and folks. Current plan is to fly in, and my folks are renting a house (not exactly sure where just yet - I assume in the Rapid City area). I know Rushmore and Crazy Horse are on the agenda....but I know some of you may be more familiar with SD than I am (I think I was in Waterton SD for about 6 hours once). What other things would you all recommend we at least consider? My folks are in their late 60's so we can't get too carried away and my niece is the youngest and she is in like the 4th or 5th grade. We are planning on only about 5 days or so.
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Post by kooch on Mar 17, 2021 13:02:43 GMT -6
If you are staying in Rapid City make sure you take a trip up to Skyline Drive and Wilderness Area. There are good views. That's all I've got.
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Post by smsmith on Mar 17, 2021 13:11:49 GMT -6
Mt. Rushmore?
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Post by sd51555 on Mar 17, 2021 13:25:21 GMT -6
So it sounds like we are taking a vacation this summer (early June) to South Dakota with my brother and folks. Current plan is to fly in, and my folks are renting a house (not exactly sure where just yet - I assume in the Rapid City area). I know Rushmore and Crazy Horse are on the agenda....but I know some of you may be more familiar with SD than I am (I think I was in Waterton SD for about 6 hours once). What other things would you all recommend we at least consider? My folks are in their late 60's so we can't get too carried away and my niece is the youngest and she is in like the 4th or 5th grade. We are planning on only about 5 days or so. You can't do it all in one trip. You can't do it all in ten trips. Depends where you're staying too. It can be tricky getting around the hills in summertime. I wouldn't want to go from one end to the other more than once. If you're on the north end (Sturgis, Spearfish, Deadwood, Lead) I'd plan to spend a day in Deadwood at least. The broken boot gold mine is a quick hour tour, and easy on the legs. You also get ownership in the mine once the tour is over. The days of 76 museum is good. They have a fancy old horse drawn hearse. The street shootouts are cool. You can see Wild Bill get shot where I play cards. There's the Homestake gold mine pit overlook in Lead. Deepest pit in the world I think. The calzones and cheesesteaks at the bloody nose saloon are fantastic and way affordable. Breakfast at the Gold Country Inn or Bullock Hotel is good. They've also got ghost tours and a city bus tour. And the architecture (Bullock Hotel, Franklin Hotel, Wu's, Gem Saloon). Some of those old buildings have been very well preserved. Be sure to hit the t-shirt shops too. The trolley takes you all over town for $1/ride/person. It's a slick way to get around. I think they run every 15 minutes in summer. www.deadwoodalive.com/main-street-shootoutswww.deadwood.com/businesses/attractions/
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Post by badgerfowl on Mar 17, 2021 13:28:57 GMT -6
Badlands are cool. Custer State Park was if I recall. It's been almost 30 years since we were out there. We stayed at a KOA in the black hills somewhere. Hit a bunch of the touristy place. The aforementioned, Mitchell corn palace, deadwood, Mt. Rushmore. We drove from WI so it was easier to do that.
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Post by sd51555 on Mar 17, 2021 13:32:34 GMT -6
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Post by Bwoods11 on Mar 17, 2021 13:40:47 GMT -6
Should be fun! Mount Rushmore and Deadwood are 2 musts!
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Post by sd51555 on Mar 17, 2021 14:10:51 GMT -6
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Post by benmnwi on Mar 17, 2021 14:24:07 GMT -6
You're not getting the full South Dakota experience unless your whole family is crammed in a car for the drive across the entire state on I90. You will feel obligated to stop at Wall Drug because of the sheer volume of signs they have along that route. The Corn Palace in Mitchell is also a place to stop and take a leak and see a giant building made with corn cobs for siding. 2 years ago we did the 1880 train ride in Hill City and Keystone. It was pretty cool to ride on an old train and they had an old wild west shootout at the end. www.1880train.com/
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Post by Sandbur on Mar 17, 2021 14:36:40 GMT -6
Wall Drug and the Corn Palace, once is enough for me.
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Post by badgerfowl on Mar 17, 2021 15:09:09 GMT -6
Wall Drug and the Corn Palace, once is enough for me. Once is enough, but should be done once.
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Post by kooch on Mar 17, 2021 15:27:19 GMT -6
Corn Palace is such a let down.
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Post by Tooln on Mar 17, 2021 16:37:25 GMT -6
I was so disappointed in Wall Drug. Badlands and Mt Rushmore definitely. Driving in that area was cool, but I was on 2 wheels.
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Post by kooch on Mar 17, 2021 17:32:15 GMT -6
You're not getting the full South Dakota experience unless your whole family is crammed in a car for the drive across the entire state on I90. You will feel obligated to stop at Wall Drug because of the sheer volume of signs they have along that route. The Corn Palace in Mitchell is also a place to stop and take a leak and see a giant building made with corn cobs for siding. 2 years ago we did the 1880 train ride in Hill City and Keystone. It was pretty cool to ride on an old train and they had an old wild west shootout at the end. www.1880train.com/I did it in about 1974. I was the youngest, crammed in the back of a Toyota station wagon without AC, but with Ziggy our standard Dachshund. All the way from Dana Point California to Stony Ridge Ohio.
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