My family SD trip

[EACarlson]

Inspired by all the talk of others asking about planning a trip that includes some of Western SD (https://www.disboards.com/threads/y...ta-rushmore-badlands-trip-help.3834822/page-4) I thought I would report on what happens during my trip and how we did it. Whether we end up loving or hating this trip I hope someone can find something useful or something to avoid from my experience. I'm planning to record each night what we did during the day and how we felt about it. This is Day one of what will be six in SD.

For those that haven't followed the struggles of this trip already: My father died two days ago. I struggled with whether or not to even do this vacation (https://www.disboards.com/threads/i-dont-want-to-go.3839963/) but when I still hadn't heard anything when it was time to go, we left. I did find out during today's drive when the funeral would be. It's Tuesday in N. Wisconsin. In order to go I would have to pretty much cancel the whole trip, not going to happen when we've already left.

We left home in NE Wisconsin a little before 7am. Had no issues the entire way across WI and MN so I'll take that in a heartbeat. Our first real stop was Falls Park in Sioux Falls. It is a really cool park at the location the city gets it's name from. There was space for the kids to run around, an observation tower that let's you see quite a ways and plenty of rocks for the kids to climb out on into the middle of the river. Had it not been 102 degrees we very well might have played there for a long time. But after 20 minutes the kids were hot, tired and wanted to get to our hotel for the night.

Another hour of driving got us to Mitchell where we had a Hampton Inn reservation. A quick swim, some cool down time and it was back out the door to get some dinner and check out the World Famous Corn Palace. Dinner wasn't worth talking about, really I don't think the Corn Palace was either. It was kind of cool to see, and they do some amazing artwork on the side of it. But I was ready to be done after about 5 minutes. I'd had people tell me about Downtown Rapid City closing early, but by 7pm on a Saturday night Mitchell was a ghost town.

We are ready for bed and hoping to get out of here by about 8 tomorrow morning. The wife has a few things she wants to see on the road from Mitchell to Rapid City. And who knows how long we'll spend at Wall Drug. Totally did not realize until today that part of SD is Mountain Time, so we've got an extra hour to kill before we can check into our hotel at 3pm MDT.

 

[JimMIA]

Yeah, the Corn Palace is...well, a corn palace, LOL.

BUT...now you have SEEN it, and that puts you in a pretty select group of people. Not many people would believe you could actually build a building out of corn, much less have actually SEEN one.

In Wall, SD, I see that there is now a Wounded Knee museum. That was not there when I last visited Wall 100 years ago, but that might be an interesting stop. You have to do Wall Drug.

I know you probably know this, but Badlands NP is basically right across the street from Wall, SD -- about 8 miles to the entrance, I think. When we visited Badlands, a ranger gave a talk in which he fried an egg using only sunlight. So it might be a bit warmish.

(I don't know if you are staying at any other Hilton properties besides that Hampton, but if you are you should get Hilton Honors and get the app. Among other things, it gives you the ability for keyless entry and no need to go to the front desk for either checkin or check out.)

My condolences on your father's passing, but I think you did the right thing considering the circumstances. You put your family first, as you should. If you want to pay your respects to him later, do so at a time, place, and manner of your choosing. You are doing the right thing for your family.

Have a great trip!

 

[EACarlson]

Yeah, the Corn Palace is...well, a corn palace, LOL.

BUT...now you have SEEN it, and that puts you in a pretty select group of people. Not many people would believe you could actually build a building out of corn, much less have actually SEEN one.

In Wall, SD, I see that there is now a Wounded Knee museum. That was not there when I last visited Wall 100 years ago, but that might be an interesting stop. You have to do Wall Drug.

I know you probably know this, but Badlands NP is basically right across the street from Wall, SD -- about 8 miles to the entrance, I think. When we visited Badlands, a ranger gave a talk in which he fried an egg using only sunlight. So it might be a bit warmish.

(I don't know if you are staying at any other Hilton properties besides that Hampton, but if you are you should get Hilton Honors and get the app. Among other things, it gives you the ability for keyless entry and no need to go to the front desk for either checkin or check out.)

My condolences on your father's passing, but I think you did the right thing considering the circumstances. You put your family first, as you should. If you want to pay your respects to him later, do so at a time, place, and manner of your choosing. You are doing the right thing for your family.

Have a great trip!

Badlands NP is on the list of things the wife is planning for us to stop at today. You will have to wait until tonight to find out what the rest of them are.

This stop actually makes me Hilton Gold for the next 19 months. Unfortunately there are no Hilton properties in Rapid City that even came close to what the Grandstay offered me.

ETA: After looking at it, I informed the wife I was adding the Wounded Knee museum to today's itinerary. Being Native and not knowing many of those stories as a kid is something I want to correct with my own kids.

 

[disny_luvr]

I’m here!

I’m sorry to hear about the passing of your father.

Day one sounds great! I’m excited to hear your thoughts on Wall Drug. I was watching a travel vlog the other day and they stopped at Wall Drug. It looked...interesting. I hope you have a fun day!

 

[Simba's Mom]

I too am excited to hear about Wall Drug. Please notice whether they still have the 5 cent cup of coffee.

 

[neverlandsky]

So glad you decided not to cancel and take the trip. Enjoy this time with your family!

 

[Colleen27]

I'm glad to hear you decided to go! I hope the heat lets up at least a little to make being outdoors a bit more enjoyable than it is at 102.

We were similarly unimpressed with the Corn Palace. It is weird, I'll give it that, but really the weirdness didn't feel like enough to make it the attraction that everyone makes it out to be when you say you'll be driving through South Dakota.

 

[EACarlson]

I too am excited to hear about Wall Drug. Please notice whether they still have the 5 cent cup of coffee.

All the signs say they do, but I don't have any firsthand knowledge. We got there just after noon and the line for the cafe was out the door. We ended up across the street, details below.

I'm glad to hear you decided to go! I hope the heat lets up at least a little to make being outdoors a bit more enjoyable than it is at 102.

It was only 83 today, not bad at all with almost no humidity.

We got an early start for Day 2. Stopped at a giant roadside statue called Dignity, that was pretty amazing. Great views of the Missouri river valley. We stopped next at the Minuteman National Historic Site. If we were a few years older I'm sure it would be amazing, but neither my wife and I are quite old enough to have really experienced the Cold War and the fear of nuclear weapons. It was too packed for a small space for us, this would be a theme for the day. We considered going to the actual missile silo but neither of our kids were into it, so we skipped it to get to Badlands National Park sooner.

We came into the Badlands loop from the East, as soon as we got off the highway we found a place to get up close to a prairie dog town and bags of peanuts to feed them were only $1. The boys loved that, we were able to get within probably 4 feet of some of the prairie dogs. There were some amazing views, even better than what we saw at Rocky Mountain National Park when we were there in November. We saw some Bighorn Sheep, Pronghorn Antelope and a heard of Bison all while we were still in the park. From there we went into Wall.

With the time difference we ended up at Wall Drug just after noon local, and about 7 hours since we ate anything. That meant a huge line for the cafe at Wall Drug and my being a diabetic, I needed to eat. We ended up going across the street to the Cactus Cafe and Lounge, big mistake. Food was alright but it took in incredibly long time to even get our order taken, then even longer to actually get our food. Probably a little over an hour from start to finish, not worth it, we should have just waited in line at Wall Drug. After lunch it was back across the street to brave the tourist trap craziness that is Wall Drug. Lots of people, lots of cool stuff, but too many people for us. We did end up buying a stuffed jackalope for my mother, she thought they were real animals until two weeks ago when we were planning for this trip and had to tell her. If it would have been less crowded or we didn't have two very tired little boys with us we might have spent more time browsing.

An hour or so from Wall to Rapid City. Checked into the hotel, run to Walmart for groceries for the week and then a somewhat early dinner at Firehouse Brewing in Downtown Rapid City. Good beer, very good wine according to my wife and the food was pretty good. After dinner we promised the kids a trip to the Dinosaur Park. It is a WPA location that has been there for almost 90 years. Concrete dinosaurs at the top of a hill with phenomenal views of Rapid City and the surrounding areas. We had to get a picture of my wife on top of the triceratops, to go with the same picture she has of when she was there as an 18 month old with her parents. I don't think I've seen my five year old as excited for anything since he met Buzz Lightyear at WDW in Dec. 2019.

That ended Day 2, we are relaxing in the hotel knowing we have to get up early tomorrow for a Jeep Safari in Custer State Park and a trip to the Reptile Gardens.

 

[EACarlson]

Day 3: I was up at 0430, let the family sleep in until about 0600 and we were out the door at about 0700. We did a Jeep Safari at Custer State Park. It was AMAZING. We spent the first 45 minutes driving through open to the public but not paved roads in the middle of the park, we saw some Pronghorn Antelopes, Prairie Dogs and some of the local birds along with some fantastic scenery. Then we turned down a path that said no vehicles. Up and down some hills that explained why we were in what amounted to stretch Jeep Wranglers, it was a rough ride. Then we came around a corner and below us were probably 50 bison, mainly calves and females, with a couple of juvenile males in the group as well. They were probably 150 yards out and we couldn't get any closer without permission of the park ranger, which wasn't immediately forthcoming. We backed out and our driver was going to go around to the other side where she thought the rest of the herd was. As soon as we got back around the corner we found the other half of the herd pretty much straddling the path in front of us. We ended up within 10 yards of a couple of them. That experience was well worth the money we spent on the trip. I think we sat there for 20 minutes just watching the bison graze and the calves play. We did see one adult bull, and he was huge.

Once we finished the safari we decided to take the long way back to Rapid City and do the Iron Mountain road. We had a picnic lunch just as we left Custer State Park and entered Black Hills National Forest. Back on the road we caught our first glimpse of Mount Rushmore, well my wife did, I was trying to make sure I didn't scratch the car in the single lane rock tunnel I was driving through at the time. Lots of twists and turns, 25 mph speed limit and half the time I wasn't going that. There was a phenomenal viewing location at the top of the mountain road, I was very glad we went that way and got to see it that way first.

Next was Reptile Gardens, my five year old had been waiting for this since he first heard about it. He's been obsessed with Komodo Dragons for the last couple months, and they have one there. It reminds me of many of the small town zoos the WPA helped build in the 30's and 40's. There is one big building holding the world's largest private collection of reptiles. Two levels, the upper level is almost all snakes, the lower level outside is crocodilians, amphibians and bugs. And in the middle is something like a free flight aviary, but with lizards and snakes as well. My wife and older son didn't like when I pointed out there was a boa constrictor on a branch two feet above their heads. We saw a snake show and petted some giant tortoises. The biggest disappointment was the prairie dog exhibit, they make a big deal of being able to be inside the town with a bubble to see the prairie dogs right next to you. It is one bubble, accessible only by a narrow stairwell and a short hallway. My older son is 4'9" and he had to duck down to get in there.

We finished all of this and made it back to the hotel by about 1430, tried to swim but the pool heater is broken, the hot tub is closed and I had one cranky, overtired, whiny five year old. Got him down for at least a short nap so he wouldn't be horrible the rest of the night. When we woke him up we went downtown to check out a couple of the Native businesses, a drum shop where they do fantastic work and if I had the money I would have bought one. And kind of a general store with native botanicals, jewelry, artwork and books. We ended up buying two books for the kids. Both are Ojibwe books, doesn't really fit where we are but it is who we are. One is the story of the northern lights and one is a fable about being thankful for what you have that is written in both English and Ojibwe, I need to work on my pronunciation before I try reading it in Ojibwe.

Picked up pizza for dinner so that we could have a quiet night at the hotel after the busy days we've had. We ordered from Boss Pizza, awesome BLT pizza on a ranch base, the pepperoni pizza wasn't anything special. But everyone is fed, full and ready for bed early. Tomorrow we hit up Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, hold a tobacco ceremony for my father and visit Bear Country USA before a dinner that we had to get reservations for.

 

[marthachick]

We did the Custer Safari a few years ago. Matt was our guide and he was great. Well worth the money. Iron Mountain Road is awesome and I hope you get to ride the Needles Highway also!

 

[EACarlson]

Day 4: I know @disny_luvr was waiting for this day. We left our hotel about 7:15 to start our day at Rushmore. Getting there wasn't a problem, well marked route even without the GPS. Parked and got to the gates just before 8. They are working on the main gate area so we had to walk way down to one end where there is a temporary walkway with plywood sidewalks. The mountain itself was kind of cool, but at the end of the day it's still just a mountain to look at. We walked the trail that goes down much closer to the mountain, a word of advice, walk it clockwise, there are a lot of stairs, more if you walk it counter clockwise. The sculptor's cottage was cool, where it shows what the original plan was and gives some info on how it was done. We were done there just before 9. We really wanted to try the ice cream but they don't start serving until 11. We weren't going to wait that long just for ice cream so we were done there.

From there we went to the Crazy Horse Memorial. That was much more interesting for me. A note, I am an enrolled member of a Native tribe, so are my kids, so this meant more to me that it might for others. I was wearing a hat that said Native Pride, when the gate person saw that they wouldn't accept my money and sent me and my family in. The introductory video is a great history of why Crazy Horse was chosen and why the monument was needed. It is the most comprehensive museum of Native artifacts and history I have ever seen. This is one of those places that does not pull punches and really makes an effort to educate about a time period in history that is often ignored. I did not know some of the these stories, and the ones I did know I didn't learn about until my late teens or early twenties, I do not want my kids to have that same deficiency. I told my kids that all history is important to know, especially that which makes us uncomfortable and/or angry. We learned how the sculptor who started the memorial and his family started the work and how much has been done over the years, as well as how much is left to do. We had a picnic lunch in the parking lot and did an Ojibwe Tobacco offering to the spirit of my father (whose funeral was today in WI) before going back in to watch some dancing and learning a bit more about other tribes and nations from around the country. There was an amazing exhibit of the buffalo and how it had provided just about everything the plains Indians, and how it was hunted almost to extinction, in a plan by members of the US Government. All told we spent about 3 hours there, if we had not had the kids with us I could have spent another 3 going through all the exhibits and seeing all of the artifacts and pictures.

After Crazy Horse we went to Bear Country USA. I was looking forward to this very much. Cost us just under $50 to drive through and see a bunch of animals, including Black Bears, Buffalo, Bighorn Sheep, Wolves, Elk and Caribou. Being a member of the Bear Clan, Black Bears have always held special place for me. Seeing so many of them, at least 100, some of them within 10 feet of the car made me smile. After you drive through you park, get out and there is a small zoo with Badgers, Porcupine, bear cubs, Foxes and Otters.

Back to the hotel for a quick nap and cool off. It's been 90+ the entire week, 97 today. Then a fantastic dinner at Dakotah Steakhouse. I had the second best steak of my life, the first being Charley's in Orlando, my wife had Elk Ravioli and we shared a Buffalo Skewer appetizer. The Kuchken, the official state dessert of SD was well worth it as well. Now we are all hunkered down in our hotel room with a thunderstorm rolling outside.

Tomorrow is off to Devil's Tower in Wyoming, then who knows.

 

[marthachick]

We ate at Dakotah Steak House in 2016 when we were in Rapid City. It was really good! We also stayed at the Comfort Suites across the parking lot.

Devil’s Tower is really cool. We walked around the base and it was very inspiring.

I’m glad you were able to pay tribute to your father’s memory. I hope it gives you and your family peace.

 

[disny_luvr]

The Jeep Safari at Custer sounds really cool! I made note of it and will have to check it out.

Thanks for the detailed report of your day at Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Thanks for the tip about the trail at Mt. Rushmore. I noted it. Is there something special about the ice cream there, or were you just looking for a cool treat? Just curious if it is something we should check out. I'm looking forward to checking out Crazy Horse. The general consensus seems to be that people like Crazy Horse more than Mt. Rushmore. I'll be sure to schedule time to explore the museum and watch the video.

I'm glad you were able to pay tribute to your father.

 

[elgerber]

We walked the trail that goes down much closer to the mountain, a word of advice, walk it clockwise, there are a lot of stairs, more if you walk it counter clockwise.

From there we went to the Crazy Horse Memorial. That was much more interesting for me. A note, I am an enrolled member of a Native tribe, so are my kids, so this meant more to me that it might for others. I was wearing a hat that said Native Pride, when the gate person saw that they wouldn't accept my money and sent me and my family in. The introductory video is a great history of why Crazy Horse was chosen and why the monument was needed. It is the most comprehensive museum of Native artifacts and history I have ever seen. This is one of those places that does not pull punches and really makes an effort to educate about a time period in history that is often ignored. I did not know some of the these stories, and the ones I did know I didn't learn about until my late teens or early twenties, I do not want my kids to have that same deficiency. I told my kids that all history is important to know, especially that which makes us uncomfortable and/or angry. We learned how the sculptor who started the memorial and his family started the work and how much has been done over the years, as well as how much is left to do. We had a picnic lunch in the parking lot and did an Ojibwe Tobacco offering to the spirit of my father (whose funeral was today in WI) before going back in to watch some dancing and learning a bit more about other tribes and nations from around the country. There was an amazing exhibit of the buffalo and how it had provided just about everything the plains Indians, and how it was hunted almost to extinction, in a plan by members of the US Government. All told we spent about 3 hours there, if we had not had the kids with us I could have spent another 3 going through all the exhibits and seeing all of the artifacts and pictures.

We said the same thing when walking Rushmore last fall, sure glad we walked this direction LOL.

We planned to spend an hour or so at Crazy Horse, ended up spending 4 and then went back a few days later and took the tour to the top of the mountain. It was $$$$ but the highlight of our trip, it was fascinating and amazing!!

 

[EACarlson]

Is there something special about the ice cream there, or were you just looking for a cool treat?

The ice cream is supposedly Thomas Jefferson's recipe, from 1790, and really really good. We have been very happy for the most part that we are early morning people. Everyplace we've been has been fairly empty when we got there and horribly busy when we left. It was even worse today, I'll get to that when I do today's update later tonight.

 

[chattadisser]

I don't think you are in Rapid City anymore but if you are, your kids would like Storybook Island. We took our kids when they were older than yours and they had a great time. Good way to get out some energy too!

 

[luv2cheer92]

We did the Custer Safari a few years ago. Matt was our guide and he was great. Well worth the money. Iron Mountain Road is awesome and I hope you get to ride the Needles Highway also!

Totally agree about Needles Highway!! That was my favorite part of the whole area by far. If it's not already on your plan OP, definitely do it. You don't need too long.

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

Your trip sounds great! We have been out to that area once about 10 years ago and heading back out for a week later this summer. Can't wait to follow along and see what else you are doing. I looked at the Jeep Tour at Custer and while it sounded neat, I thought it was just driving the wildlife loop you could drive in your car. I will look back into it.

Interesting you mentioned driving from WI, I looked where you were from and we're neighbors (Appleton). As for Crazy Horse, I just thought it was the stone carvings and never bothered going to their website and seeing about the museum aspect until you mentioned it. We may have to check that out, given the Native history in our WI area and enjoying some of the exhibits we have seen throughout our state.

 

[EACarlson]

I don't think you are in Rapid City anymore but if you are, your kids would like Storybook Island. We took our kids when they were older than yours and they had a great time. Good way to get out some energy too!

Thank you for the reminder, we headed there after dinner tonight and the kids loved it. Since we spent so much time in the car they needed a chance to run around and just play. I wish we had something that cool where we live.

Your trip sounds great! We have been out to that area once about 10 years ago and heading back out for a week later this summer. Can't wait to follow along and see what else you are doing. I looked at the Jeep Tour at Custer and while it sounded neat, I thought it was just driving the wildlife loop you could drive in your car. I will look back into it.

Interesting you mentioned driving from WI, I looked where you were from and we're neighbors (Appleton). As for Crazy Horse, I just thought it was the stone carvings and never bothered going to their website and seeing about the museum aspect until you mentioned it. We may have to check that out, given the Native history in our WI area and enjoying some of the exhibits we have seen throughout our state.

Very little of the Jeep Safari was on the actual wildlife loop, half of the roads we were on were open to the public but it would be pretty easy to get lost in there.

Day 5: We were out the door early again for a drive to WY and Devil's Tower. We got there just after 9am and there were quite a few people there already. I loved seeing the prayer and offering bundles on trees all around the Tower. We hiked the two mile trail all the way around the Tower, it was impressive. Not overly difficult but there were some elevation changes along the trail, there were some amazing views both of the Tower and of the surrounding landscapes. At one point you can look down and see the entrance to the park, this was about 10am and the line was probably 20 vehicles deep waiting to get in, at 9 there was no wait. We finished the trail and were going to go into the visitor center to check it out. About that time two tour buses full of seniors dropped off and about half of them headed right for the visitor center. They are still limiting the amount of people allowed in at one time so it would have been a half hour to 45 minute wait to get in, we decided to call it a morning and head out.

Since it was still relatively early we made the snap decision to check out Deadwood since we were there. Tip for Deadwood, park in the lot near the information center and walk from there. Traffic is more congested there than just about anywhere else I've ever been. We had ice cream at the bar where Wild Bill was killed and checked out some chainsaw carvings. This is another place where if we didn't have the kids with us it would have been more interesting. There was a brothel history tour that had a minimum age of 16 that looked interesting. Apparently there was an operating brothel in Deadwood until 1980.

After Deadwood it was back to Rapid City and the hotel for a nap and the wife and kids to work on the Mount Rushmore Lego set they picked up yesterday. Early dinner at Que Pasa, a good mexican restaurant that is owned by the same people that own Firehouse Brewing. The brisket enchilada was really good, but too big for me to eat in one sitting, rarely a problem for me.

After dinner we hit up Storybook Island. This is a park operated by the Rotary Club of Rapid City. It has little statues and play houses from many of the fairy tales and fables that we all know. The best part for me was showing my kids the kinds of playground equipment I remember from being a kid, the old metal pipe rockets and slides. There was a fire truck that had a control panel from Pierce fire equipment, one of the largest fire truck manufacturers in the world and made just up the road from us in Appleton, WI. The kids liked seeing that, they always comment when we drive past the factory.

Now it's just relaxing the hotel letting the kids play with all of the stuffed animals they've bought on this trip. Tomorrow is our last full day in town, we are heading to Hill City for a ride on a steam train and a trip to the Museum of the Black Hills Institute where they do dinosaur digs, including Sue the T-Rex at the Field Museum in Chicago.

 

[marthachick]

The 1880s train ride is a good excursion. We did that on our trip also.