Black Hills Itinerary, Thoughts???

This is the plan....

Thursday, June 18th

Leave St. Louis for Kansas City and stay at Great Wolf Lodge.

Friday

Great Wolf Lodge until check out, 11 AM.

T-Rex for Lunch, bowling and shopping at Legends Shopping Center.

Royals/Cardinals game.

Drive towards Hastings, NE to see grandparents.

Saturday

Breakfast in Hastings, drive to Deadwood and stay at AmericInn.

Saloon No. 10 for re-creation of shooting of Wild Bill

Maybe some poker or black jack for me

Sunday

I will be doing the Original Deadwood Tour while wife and kids swim at hotel.

Eat BBQ from vendors at Wild Bill Days.

Adams Museum

Drive to Blue Bell Campground at CSP where we will spend the next 6 nights tent camping.

Monday

Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway to Mt Rushmore

President’s Alpine Slide

Powderhouse for lunch

Wade’s Gold Mill

Tuesday

Wife is going on Hot Air Balloon ride and the sunrise.

Horseback Riding - Blue Bell Lodge

Jewel Cave National Monument

Wednesday

Reptile Gardens

Bear Country USA Drive Through Wildlife Park

Dinner - Firehouse Brewing Co. and Fjords Ice Cream

Thursday

Crazy Horse

Custer State Park Activities

Friday

Petrified Forrest

Custer State Park Activities

Blue Bell Lodge Chuck wagon Dinner

Saturday

Badlands

Wall Drug

Possibly 1880 Town

Drive to at least Sioux Falls

Sunday

Drive home.

While at CSP, we will sprinkle in other activities such as bike riding, a hike or two, the wildlife loop, fishing, Gordan Stockade, and Harney Peak. We may decide on these things once we have set up camp and see how much time we have. We plan on eating breakfast and dinners at the campsite, unless otherwise noted. Lunch will probably be on the go. WaTiki water slide, Black Hills Museum of Natural History, and Mammoth site if we encounter a rainy day. We may try to fit in the Black Hills Museum at some point during the week even if it doesn’t rain.

Any thoughts? We cut out Devil%26#39;s Tower, my wife thought it may be too far to drive for one day. We would like to go to the Mammoth site, but most likely will not make that either. Other than that I think we have everything we want to see. We may stop at a few road side attractions if they are on the way from one stop to another.

Thanks

Black Hills Itinerary, Thoughts???

This seems like a pretty good plan with some downtime for relaxing.

I don%26#39;t know if I%26#39;d cut Devils Tower. It would be about 2 1/2 hours one way from Custer. To me, that%26#39;s not overly far, and it really is worth seeing. However, it would be much easier to see it from Deadwood, but your Deadwood time looks pretty filled. While in Deadwood, be sure to see the Adams House along with the museum. The house has excellent tour guides and is a great complement to the museum. Also, if you can work it in while in Deadwood, I%26#39;d recommend driving the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway.

I know I have recommended this before, but I would also definitely add Wind Cave. Wind Cave National Park joins the Wildlife Loop, so it could be incorporated then, or maybe on a rainy day.

You have a nice trip planned. Enjoy, and please post a report when you return.

Black Hills Itinerary, Thoughts???

Yes, we do plan on going to Adams House as well.

Depending on when we leave Deadwood, we may include the Spearfish Canyon on our way out of town, I think it would add an hour to the campground.

Devil%26#39;s Tower, depending how the week goes, we may have time on Friday instead of the Petrified Forrest.

Would you recommend Wind Cave over Jewel? We kind of decided that we would limit it to one cave.

We are trying to balance the sightseeing and recreational activities. At first I didn%26#39;t know what we would do for a whole week, but we had a list of stuff we would like to do and ended up cutting it in half. If all goes well, we could be back to see the rest of the stuff in a few years. This is kind of our inaugural camping trip. The kids love the idea now, my wife is excited that I finally agreed to a multiple night camping trip, and I am gung ho. I just hope all goes well, we have never camped more than one night.

If you only want to do one cave, I actually would recommend Jewel over Wind. It%26#39;s a tough choice for me because I love caves, but Jewel is very open with some beautiful formations. Wind is a bit more closed in and has a large concentration of a formation called boxwork, which resembles spider webs. I liked both, but I preferred the diversity of formations in Jewel, and the open feel for a cave.

I hope you have a great trip. I give you a lot of credit for 6 nights of tent camping. My idea of camping is my Dad%26#39;s 35 foot 5th wheel trailer. :)

i think we will either love the tent or be in a hotel by night 3. lol. but seriously, thank for the input.

Depending on the ages of your kids - I would definitely do the Mammoth Site. My daughter was 6 when we went, she loved it, we%26#39;re going back this summer to visit my parents in Belle Fourche, we will make the Mammoth Site visit again.

I also agree with the Devils Tower recommendations. It is a spectacular site.

Thanks...

Have you been to the Black Hills Museum of Natural History? If so, if you had to pick one would the Mammoth site be your choice? I have two boys, 7 and 3. They do like dinosaurs and mammoths.

I have not been to the Museum of Natural History, but I can say the Mammoth site is great,especially for children your ages. I%26#39;m not sure of the age group for the program, but I do know they have a Jr Paleontology program. If you they dinosaurs, they%26#39;d also enjoy Everything Prehistoric in Hill City. For a small fee, you can tour an exhibit containing various gems and fossils, along with dinosaur skeletons. There is also a large shop they can look at that has all kinds of unique dinosaur items. Our daughter was 8 when she saw it and really enjoyed it.

Your younger one might be bored at the museum, The Mammoth Site is more hands on, and you can do it in a couple of hours.

thanks for the feedback, i think we may switch up the two. my main concern is keeping it fun for the kids, while my wife and myself can be somewhat entertained or educated as well. that is the main reason we booked a hotel room in deadwood. i can go out and see the sites while giving the kids something else to do.

We slightly modified our plan after suggestions and reading over other topics...

Thursday, June 18th

Leave St. Louis for Kansas City and stay at Great Wolf Lodge.

Friday

Great Wolf Lodge until check out, 11 AM.

T-Rex for Lunch, bowling and shopping at Legends Shopping Center.

Royals/Cardinals game.

Drive towards Hastings, NE to see grandparents.

Saturday

Breakfast in Hastings, drive to Deadwood and stay at AmericInn.

Saloon No. 10 for re-creation of shooting of Wild Bill

Maybe some poker or black jack for me as rest of family retreats to the hotel.

Sunday

I will be doing the Original Deadwood Tour while wife and kids swim at hotel.

Eat BBQ from vendors at Wild Bill Days.

Adams House and Museum

Drive to Blue Bell Campground at CSP where we will spend the next 6 nights tent camping.

Monday

Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway to Mt Rushmore

President’s Alpine Slide

Powderhouse for lunch

Wade’s Gold Mill

Tuesday

Wife is going on Hot Air Balloon ride at sunrise.

Horseback Riding - Blue Bell Lodge

Mammoth Site

Wednesday

Reptile Gardens

Bear Country USA Drive Through Wildlife Park

Dinosaur Park

Dinner - Firehouse Brewing Co. and Fjords Ice Cream

Thursday

Crazy Horse

Jewel Cave

Friday

Petrified Forrest or Devil%26#39;s Tower

Blue Bell Lodge Chuck wagon Dinner

Saturday

Badlands

Wall Drug

Possibly 1880 Town

Drive to at least Sioux Falls

Sunday

Drive home.

While at CSP, we will sprinkle in other activities such as bike riding, a hike or two, the wildlife loop, fishing, Gordan Stockade, and Harney Peak. We may decide on these things once we have set up camp and see how much time we have. We plan on eating breakfast and dinners at the campsite, unless otherwise noted. Lunch will probably be on the go. WaTiki water slide, Black Hills Museum of Natural History and Evans Plunge if we encounter a rainy day or two.