Going to Mt. Rushmore-- WE'RE BACK! Day 5 is up!! page 10 Final Day!

[disneybound31]

So my mother has always wanted to go to see Mt. Rushmore and so we are planning a family trip-- family meaning my father, mother, adult sister, DH, myself and our two kids. That is alot of people, but that's how we do it sometimes.
So anyway, besides Googling, I wondered if anybody has done a trip there or lives near that can give any info, hints, exciting places not to be missed, hotel recommendations, etc. We think, although not Disney , this will be a fun adventure but we want to do it right. Let me add-- while not breaking the bank entirely.

So, TIA for ANY info that is out there.

 

[MichiganKris]

Make your reservations very early, it fills up quickly in that area. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Rapid City. It was a nice hotel in a nice area. There are some underground caverns you can tour in that area. We also drove up to Deadwood. My daughter enjoyed the fake gun fights that occurred and we also went to the bar/museum that Wild Bill was killed at and watched the reinactment of that. Another suggestion would be a cowboy chuckwagon dinner. There are lots to choose from around Rapid City. Think Hoop-dee-doo Review type with singing and food.

 

[SummersMom]

We visited Mt Rushmore in June. We stayed in a hotel in Custer, it was much cheaper and we enjoyed it more than the town of Keystone (which seemed a little cheesey to us).

We absolutely loved Custer State Park. Maybe even more than Mt Rushmore. Ask the park rangers where the buffalo have been spotted when you enter the park. We found them right where the park ranger said they would be, it seemed like they made their way down a hill, across the road and to a stream every morning, then back up in the evenings. We managed to catch both times on two different days and the free-roaming buffalo were right next to the car. I could have reached out the window to pet them if I wanted (not recommended by the way). We also saw lots of other wildlife in Custer State park (deer, antelope, etc). All the wildlife was on the southern half of the park (at least when we were there). We also drove the northern loop, which is a spectacular highway. From the main road that runs east-west through the park take the eastern-most road to the north, which takes you essentially to Mt Rushmore. The drive is not-to-be-missed, it is spectacular. There are some very, very cool tunnels and some very fantastic views of Mt Rushmore driving it this direction.

The other not-to-be-missed attraction (especially with kids) is Storybook Island in Rapid City, SD. It is free admission, set up and maintained by the Rapid City Rotary Clubs. It is sort of like a giant park with lots of different little cottages set up, each one showing a different mother goose story. For example there is Old MacDonald's Farm with a petting zoo, The 3 little pig's house with a pig chute (slide), the Cat in the Hat's house, dragons and a castle, a leprechaun with a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, Jack's beanstalk to climb, Yogi Bear, etc. It is fun for adults to see and a great place to run off some steam for kids. Plan to spend at least 2 hours there, you could easily take a picnic and spend an afternoon.

I also heard wonderful things about the geology museum at the South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City. Check their website for hours before you go. Unfortunately we never made it there when they were open.

We also visited Jewel Cave National Park, it was neat for me to see, unfortunately my kids didn't enjoy it. Maybe yours would be more into it, I did see some kids there having a great time.

My only other tip is to be careful driving, especially at dusk. We were driving from Denver into Custer and it was about 9:00pm, we were about 10 minutes outside Custer when the hugest elk I've ever seen ran right in front of the car. After that I slowed down and we saw at least 3 more standing just off the side of the road.

If you have any other questions or want to see any of our pictures, feel free to email me. Enjoy your trip!

 

[froggy33]

We went out that way on a road trip the summer of 2007. We were headed towards Yellowstone. I had never really wanted to go to Rushmore...in my head I just pictured a big rock on the side of the road. Well it is so much more!!! I'm patriotic, but no more than the next guy really and this was so moving! Try to see it both during the day and in the evening. At night they do a lighting ceremony and then bring all current and past armed forces people and they get to announce who they are. It was really neat. They have an amphitheater to sit in, but it fills up fast. During the day you can see goats. And I guess there may be a path you can walk, but I don't know. We actually stayed in Keystone at this little motel (nothing fancy, but nice) and you could see Mount Rushmore from the parking lot.

The black hills are gorgeous! We camped one night, but try at least to drive through or hike/picnic.

We drove through Deadwood, but didn't stay long enough to see anything the previous poster mentioned. We went to Sturgis just to say we did. We were there the week before the big rally and it was already getting crazy!! We also did the badlands which are close. That was pretty cool as well! They just kind of pop up out of no where! There is also the crazy horse monument. It was pretty amazing, but we only saw it from afar, we didn't feel like paying to go up close.

All in all I really enjoyed my time there and I am sure I'll take my kids there when they are older.

Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

We stopped at Mt. Rushmore at the end of Feb. 2005 when we were doing a cross country move. Because of the time of year alot of the touristy stuff in that area were closed. But it also wasn't crowded at Mt. Rushmore. I recommend doing the junior ranger program if your kids are old enough, my kids got so much out of that, especially the ones that were 7 and 8 at the time. It's free unless you want to buy the patches after they complete it, but that's still a pretty inexpensive souvenier. We learned so much at the visitor's center (museum) there and there's also a couple of walking trails around the area. There was much more to it than I thought there would be.

On the budget side, we packed a lunch and ate outdoors there, but ended up buying more water so make sure you bring a little extra.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

My only other tip is to be careful driving, especially at dusk. We were driving from Denver into Custer and it was about 9:00pm, we were about 10 minutes outside Custer when the hugest elk I've ever seen ran right in front of the car. After that I slowed down and we saw at least 3 more standing just off the side of the road.

If you have any other questions or want to see any of our pictures, feel free to email me. Enjoy your trip!

Hmmm, we drove around alot in the Black Hills area to see if we could find anything else open in the area to check out and we kept seeing herds of deer in between the trees, now I wonder if some of those were elk.

 

[Karenj2]

I'll be watching this post carefully!! I REALLY want to do a road trip to this area (from Philly!). We have some former neighbors who live in that area, so our lodging would be free, but the drive out would be kinda pricey. (We could and are generally willing to fly, but we wanted to bring our dogs, whom my neighbors love and would want to see...)

 

[mlclements]

Our family can't say enough good things about Custer State Park. We really loved it. You can bring carrots (full size) to feed the donkey's at the park. It is really fun. I would try not to plan a trip any where close to Sturgis time. It is really busy before and after bike rally.

 

[disneybound31]

We visited Mt Rushmore in June. We stayed in a hotel in Custer, it was much cheaper and we enjoyed it more than the town of Keystone (which seemed a little cheesey to us).

We absolutely loved Custer State Park. Maybe even more than Mt Rushmore. Ask the park rangers where the buffalo have been spotted when you enter the park. We found them right where the park ranger said they would be, it seemed like they made their way down a hill, across the road and to a stream every morning, then back up in the evenings. We managed to catch both times on two different days and the free-roaming buffalo were right next to the car. I could have reached out the window to pet them if I wanted (not recommended by the way). We also saw lots of other wildlife in Custer State park (deer, antelope, etc). All the wildlife was on the southern half of the park (at least when we were there). We also drove the northern loop, which is a spectacular highway. From the main road that runs east-west through the park take the eastern-most road to the north, which takes you essentially to Mt Rushmore. The drive is not-to-be-missed, it is spectacular. There are some very, very cool tunnels and some very fantastic views of Mt Rushmore driving it this direction.

The other not-to-be-missed attraction (especially with kids) is Storybook Island in Rapid City, SD. It is free admission, set up and maintained by the Rapid City Rotary Clubs. It is sort of like a giant park with lots of different little cottages set up, each one showing a different mother goose story. For example there is Old MacDonald's Farm with a petting zoo, The 3 little pig's house with a pig chute (slide), the Cat in the Hat's house, dragons and a castle, a leprechaun with a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, Jack's beanstalk to climb, Yogi Bear, etc. It is fun for adults to see and a great place to run off some steam for kids. Plan to spend at least 2 hours there, you could easily take a picnic and spend an afternoon.

I also heard wonderful things about the geology museum at the South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City. Check their website for hours before you go. Unfortunately we never made it there when they were open.

We also visited Jewel Cave National Park, it was neat for me to see, unfortunately my kids didn't enjoy it. Maybe yours would be more into it, I did see some kids there having a great time.

My only other tip is to be careful driving, especially at dusk. We were driving from Denver into Custer and it was about 9:00pm, we were about 10 minutes outside Custer when the hugest elk I've ever seen ran right in front of the car. After that I slowed down and we saw at least 3 more standing just off the side of the road.

If you have any other questions or want to see any of our pictures, feel free to email me. Enjoy your trip!

This is all FABULOUS information!! Thank you so much! Such great ideas and good tips. In my few minutes of research I found out that October weather will be too cold for my almost 60 mother (who is the reason for the trip so weather is important) so we will most likely go in July-August now. How was your weather?

 

[disneybound31]

Our family can't say enough good things about Custer State Park. We really loved it. You can bring carrots (full size) to feed the donkey's at the park. It is really fun. I would try not to plan a trip any where close to Sturgis time. It is really busy before and after bike rally.

When is Sturgis time?

 

[jwann]

IMO, Mt. Rushmore looks like the pictures. We were bored and won't be going back. However, we loved the Badlands and Badland National Park.

 

[SummersMom]

This is all FABULOUS information!! Thank you so much! Such great ideas and good tips. In my few minutes of research I found out that October weather will be too cold for my almost 60 mother (who is the reason for the trip so weather is important) so we will most likely go in July-August now. How was your weather?

We were there for a long weekend the last week of June 2008, the weather was beautiful. We wore jeans in the mornings (it was crisp and cool, probably in the 50's) and shorts and tank-tops by noon (probably 80's). When we visited Jewel Cave (the cave is cool) we wore jeans and lightweight rain jackets along with our tennis shoes (a must).

Custer state park was slightly crowded, but not unmanageable. Mt Rushmore was packed! I would agree with jwann who said Mt Rushmore looks like the pictures, we honestly didn't enjoy it as much as I thought we would. On the other hand, we had so much fun with the other stuff that we are planning to go back either over spring break or in May. I tried to find some of the more off-the-beaten-path stuff to do. There are tons of presidental museums and gift shops in Keystone, none of which appeal to me. We found Rapid City and Custer to hold much more appeal to us.

 

[mombare]

The other not-to-be-missed attraction (especially with kids) is Storybook Island in Rapid City, SD. It is free admission, set up and maintained by the Rapid City Rotary Clubs. It is sort of like a giant park with lots of different little cottages set up, each one showing a different mother goose story. For example there is Old MacDonald's Farm with a petting zoo, The 3 little pig's house with a pig chute (slide), the Cat in the Hat's house, dragons and a castle, a leprechaun with a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, Jack's beanstalk to climb, Yogi Bear, etc. It is fun for adults to see and a great place to run off some steam for kids. Plan to spend at least 2 hours there, you could easily take a picnic and spend an afternoon.

This is a lot of fun. We drove there (6 long hours) just to go to Storybook Land, and our kids had a blast when we were there!

 

[kfeuer]

IMO, Mt. Rushmore looks like the pictures. We were bored and won't be going back. However, we loved the Badlands and Badland National Park.

We drove cross country this fall and stopped both places. My whole family loved Badlands National Park, the scenery is breathtaking and unlike anything I've ever seen. We spent about 10 minutes at Mt. Rushmore and were ready to go. To be fair, all the touristy things were closed for the season and we didn't have time to explore any of the nearby parks so I can't comment on any of that.

 

[mdrob214]

I spent my HS years in Rapid City and my mom still lives there. I'd be happy to answer any questions. I have typed numerous responses on things to do in the area, but of course I can't find them.

Wait--see my post here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1726042&page=2 Post #21

 

[mrsklamc]

I always thought a hot air ballon ride would be soooo cool.

There are a couple other things that come to mind and unfortunately I can't remember details so maybe someone can help me out...

There was some kind of park not far away that had alpine sleds...they were SO fun.

Maybe this was custer state park- I remember being not far away and seeing people diving off a rock into a swimming hole?

Also, I recommend visiting crazy horse national monument as well as the badlands....I'll never forget the 'Last McDonald's for 280 miles' sign driving across the bottom of South Dakota...

 

[aladams2]

This is a lot of fun. We drove there (6 long hours) just to go to Storybook Land, and our kids had a blast when we were there!

I'm not sure where in MN you are, but there is another storybook island in Aberdeen SD which is closer to MN. It's at Wylie Park. If I recall it's pretty much the same thing, play area for the kids, FREE, and loads of fun. There is also bike rentals for 2, 3, or 4 people. I went to college here and it was a blast.


For those driving to Rapid from the East going on I 90, stop in Mitchell SD. It's home of the World's Only Corn Palace. Yeah, it's "corny." But it's cool to stop and take a break there and check it out. It's a building that has corn murals on it. It is something neat to see. Inside is the town's high school and college basketball court, they hold prom there, and concerts. And it's my hometown!!

 

[MomPOM]

We just did a summer vacation to the Badlands/Rapid City area. This will probably be an unpopular opinion but I can easily never go to Rapid City again. I absolutely loved seeing Mt. Rushmore and Custer State park but now that I've seen Mt. Rushmore I can't say I'd have an urge to go back. Rapid City is an urban tourist trap in my opinion. If you're in MN, I'm sure you've been to Wisconsin Dells? It's the same thing just on a larger scale.

What I would go back and do repeatedly and I really suggest you do this is go to Badlands National Park. It's not far from Rapid City and one of the most spectacular places you will ever see. One other thing in Rapid City you want to see is Reptile Gardens. Lots of cool animals and a lot of fun.

If you are looking for a place to stay in the Badlands, we stayed at a wonderful ranch/bed and breakfast that was very reasonable and just a wonderful place to stay. It's the Circle View Rance and it's right across from the Indian Reservation Land.

Check out my Flickr pics of the trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/minivanmafia/sets/72157605873113635/

 

[kfeuer]

For those driving to Rapid from the East going on I 90, stop in Mitchell SD. It's home of the World's Only Corn Palace. Yeah, it's "corny." But it's cool to stop and take a break there and check it out. It's a building that has corn murals on it. It is something neat to see. Inside is the town's high school and college basketball court, they hold prom there, and concerts. And it's my hometown!!

We went there, too! We promised ourselves we'd do every cheesy tourist attraction we came across during our long drive, and it was fun. We had a good time at Wall Drug, too. After passing 500 signs for it, how could we not stop

 

[mjantz]

Sturgis is usually the first week in August.

We went to Mt Rushmore last year & really enjoyed it. The park ranger tours are great and the night show is fun but get there early if you want a seat. There were lots of people standing by the time the show started.
We also liked Devils Tower. Watch 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' with your kids (depending on their ages) before you go.