Hello everyone I have been reading this forum for a while and have loved reading all the posts. Now I have a few questions. My family and I are planning to visit from July 12-the 15th. We can extend the vacation for another day in necessary. We have already booked a hotel in Rapid city because we thought it was most central but after reading the forum we aren%26#39;t sure and not that knowledgeable about the locatins of everything.
We absolutely would like to visit Devils Tower, Mount Rushmore, Jewel cave, Custer park, needles, spearfish canyon, The Badlands and of course wall Drug. We are driving from Wisconsin and are debating if we should drive straight there or stay overnight. We will hit the corn Palace on the way there or way back.
We are debating on Crazy horse, reptile gardens, the 1880 train.
Is our trip feasable? Is this too close to Sturgis? Where would be a central location to stay? ( I am waiting for the tourist info from SD) we are traveling with a 10 a 14 year old so we would like a pool for them. If there is anything else we must see please feel free to voice your opinion.
thanks
intial palnning help
Incorporate your Badlands trip into the drive to the area. I%26#39;m note sure where in Wisconsin you%26#39;re coming from but it%26#39;s a long drive. One idea is stay the first night in Wall for your Wall Drug visit that evening and drive the Badlands first thing in the morning and proceed to the Black Hills.
From that point, I%26#39;d pick one of the smaller towns up in the hills instead of Rapid City. I don%26#39;t always recommend this but in the middle of summer, you%26#39;ll find yourself enjoying a town like Hill City more. You can also try Keystone or Custer. Keystone is cheesy and a tourist trap but kids like it and there are a lot of lodging options. Rapid City does offer the amenities of a bigger city like more good restaurants, water parks and such. So it%26#39;s really up to you.
You%26#39;ve got a pretty full schedule for the number of days you%26#39;re planning. Adding a day is not a bad idea.
If you stay in Hill City/Custer/Keystone, US 385 will be your highway to the north--don%26#39;t bother to go back to Rapid City to get to I-90.
The Sturgis Rally does not start until August so it won%26#39;t be a problem. Outside of the rally, mid-July is peak time in the area, though, so you%26#39;ll pay full price for lodging. It won%26#39;t necessarily be crowded in the area but there are plenty of people around. Be sure to make cave tour reservations.
intial palnning help
We%26#39;ve done this trip several times from northern Illinois. I agree with Accommodator on several points. First, yes, add a day if you are able-you%26#39;ll be glad. Second, with your limited time, get yourself as close to the Badlands as possible on your first day and then hit the park in the morning. Wall is a good option or Kadoka, but even getting as far as Mitchell or Chamberlain will put you in fairly close range for day 2. No offense to Rapid City but I would also agree with staying in Custer, Hill City or Keystone. We actually prefer staying right inside Custer State Park and will be making our second visit to Legion Lake Lodge cabins. No pool but there is a lake to swim in (but the water was pretty chilly last time!).
IMO, Wall Drug and the Corn Palace are worth a see, at least once in your life, but don%26#39;t require a whole lot of time-an hour maybe for the Corn Palace and no more than 2 for Wall Drug. Save the Palace for your trip home because if you drive all day your first day you will likely hit it too late. On the way home, it%26#39;s probably a good pit stop. We spend a great deal of time in the Badlands and Custer and have been to Devil%26#39;s Tower twice, but have always hit it on our way to Yellowstone. Can%26#39;t remember exactly how far it is from Custer, but it%26#39;s not real close. Mount Rushmore is wonderful either in daylight or for the night lighting.
Hi Yoshi,
Welcome to the forums. First of all, definitely add that extra day. The Black Hills has many attractions in a close proximity of each other. You will not be looking for things to do. Second, I would definitely change my lodging location if you can. We stayed at the Roosevelt Inn in Keystone and highly recommend it. It does have an indoor pool and is very convenient to Mt. Rushmore. It%26#39;s only about 20 miles or so to Rapid City (It was about a 30 minute drive), so it%26#39;s convenient to the chain restaurants if that%26#39;s what your kids like. It%26#39;s also only about 10 miles to Hill City and about 5 minutes to Mt. Rushmore. Hill City and Custer are also good options as was mentioned. Keystone is the most touristy of the 3 as Accomodator said. It has a boardwalk that is lined with souvenir shops. Most kids do like it, and it%26#39;s really no cheesier than Wall Drug. :) Hill City also has shops, but they are definitely less cheesy. The town is very nice and would also serve you well. There%26#39;s a Holiday Inn Express there that gets very good reviews on this site.
Sometimes I recommend relocating your lodging to the northern Black Hills for touring Devil%26#39;s Tower, but since you only have 5 days, I think I%26#39;d just do a daytrip. Allot one of your days to see Spearfish Canyon, Deadwood, and Devil%26#39;s Tower.
By adding a day and seeing the Badlands on your way in, I think you can fit most of your activities in. I%26#39;d figure on a day at Custer SP. As Accomodator said, advance reservations at Jewel Cave will be very helpful, as the tours do sell out. A typical tour lasts 1.5 hours You can plan on spending 2-3 hours seeing Mt Rushmore by day (be sure to attend the night lighting ceremony as well), and another 2-3 hours at Crazy Horse. I would recommend the Reptile Gardens. We saw this after dinner one evening. I believe they were open until 8 p.m. I%26#39;m going to say to give this attraction 2-3 hours as well. I%26#39;d nix the 1880 train unless you really enjoy trains. I think your kids might be bored by it, actually.
The travelsd.com site sends out great guides. There is a map in the middle that I think will help you greatly. Oh..BTW..you won%26#39;t be affected by Sturgis at all, but as was said, you will be paying top dollar for lodging.
Have fun planning, and feel free to ask more questions.
Thank you all for the comments, we will add an extra day to our trip. We are thinking now of driving to Rapid city for the first night, then bright and early hitting Devils Canyon and Spearfish Canyon. The drive will be 11 hours but there will be two drivers so it shouldn%26#39;t be too deadly. LOL
Then we can spend 3 nights in Custer and then hit the Badlands and wall drug on the added day and then stay over in Mitchell and catch the Corn Palace.
I think we are going to skip the train as it doesn%26#39;t really sound that appealing from the reviews and the boys would be bored. They would like to see the repitle
gardens so we will want to catch that.
Any reccomendations for day 2, 3 and 4?
thanks Yoshi%26#39;s dad
oops, I meant devil%26#39;s Tower.
If you are staying overnight in Mitchell you might want to check out the Best Western. I%26#39;ve got a room booked there on our way home the first week of August and got it for $50.15 off the BW website. It said my credit card would be charged immediately but that I could cancel up to 7 days ahead of time which I thought was a better deal than the ones you see where you pay now and can%26#39;t get out of it. Actually, my credit card has not been charged yet and I booked in January so maybe it will be free! Anyways, the reviews of the hotel on this site are decent and that%26#39;s the best price of any of the places we%26#39;re staying over 14 nights.
As far as days 2-4, you%26#39;ll find plenty to do. We usually only spend one full day in the area because we%26#39;re usually traveling on to Yellowstone but when my kids were little, we did stay 3 nights and spent almost all our time in Custer State Park. Lots of wildlife, pretty lakes, you could hike. Or, there is definitely more touristy things to do too, whatever appeals to you.
Me again. I just wanted to say give yourself at least a couple of hours for the Badlands-don%26#39;t just drive through. You can get out and hike if you like that or your boys will have a blast climbing-my husband and girls always do--makes me too nervous! There is also a prairie dog town just outside the Badlands-the direction you are coming from you will probably hit it when you exit. They sell bags of peanuts to feed the prairie dogs and that%26#39;s always kind of fun as well as inexpensive.
As Librarychick said, you will easily find things to fill 3 days here. You already mentioned some things, particularly Jewel Cave, Rushmore, Custer SP, Crazy Horse, and Reptile Gardens. You can easily spend a day in Custer SP. You could also consider adding Bear Country, which is almost right next door to the Reptile Gardens on Rt. 16. It%26#39;s a ';drive through'; zoo concept where you will see bears, pronghorn, deer, etc. and when you arrive at the end, there%26#39;s a small zoo area in which you can get out and walk around. You also have the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, which is interesting if the boys enjoy anything prehistoric. They find new remains of mammoths all the time. I would also add Wind Cave to your itinerary. Wind %26amp; Jewel Caves have very different formations, and although Jewel is prettier, imo, Wind has a large concentration of a formation called boxwork, which resembles spider webs. The tours at both caves are very well done. If you and the family like caves, there are many more to see that are privately owned.
There%26#39;s are some more touristy attractions, including the Alpine Slide in Keystone (I%26#39;ve not experienced this first hand, but it does get good feedback on this site), and mini golf. We particularly enjoyed Putz and Glo, an indoor course with flourescent glow in the dark lighting.
The SD guide you have ordered will give you a good idea of what%26#39;s in the area. Between that and this site, you will fill your 3 days in no time.
Have fun planning, and let us know if we can help in any other way.
No comments:
Post a Comment