Thursday, July 12, 2018

Road Trip to the Black Hills


Last month we took a family road trip to the Black Hills of South Dakota. The drive took us a little longer than we planned (10.5 hours) but the kids did amazing and we had a great time. We’re a camping family but didn’t feel up to doing a full on camping trip so we decided to split lodging and stay in a hotel for the first part of the trip then move to a cabin in Custer State Park.

Day 1, Sunday - Explore Rapid City
After a long day of travel, we slept in, enjoyed the hotel breakfast and took a morning swim.  After the kids had sufficient pool time, we headed out to explore Rapid City.  First stop was Storybook Island Park.  Our family was underwhelmed.  Although it had unique play structures based on classic storybook characters, it seemed a little young for our 6 and 4-year-old.   Unless you have kids who are really into nursery rhymes and classic stories or under the age of 4, I would skip.  Note, Storybook Island Park does not allow outside food inside the park.  There are a few picnic tables outside the park for use.

Our next destination was the iconic Dinosaur Park just outside Rapid City.  We found a picnic table there and had our lunch then headed up the hill to check out the bright green concrete statues.  The kids were hot and tired at this point but did enjoy climbing on the dinosaurs and taking fun pictures.

After some downtime at the hotel, we drove to the Rapid City town square for dinner.  The town square is very charming with fun shops and restaurants and also statues of former Presidents on every corner.  In the middle of the square are fountains and a grassy area for kids to play.  We packed extra clothes and let the kids splash in the fountains before we headed to dinner.  We ate dinner at the Firehouse Brewery and if you’re driving westbound on I-90, the signs for the brewery rival the Wall Drug signs.  The restaurant is in an old restored firehouse with lots of memorabilia including the original fire pole.  They have a good selection of their own beers on tap and typical bar and grill menu.  The food was decent but the environment makes this worth the visit.

Day 2 Monday – Bear Country U.S.A. and Keystone, SD
First stop today was Bear Country U.S.A. located just 9 miles south of Rapid City off of Highway 16.  We got an early start in hopes of seeing more wildlife.  It did not disappoint, as we drove through the park we got a glimpse of elk, coyotes, big horn sheep, fox and of course bears.  It probably takes 30 minutes to drive through the park but our family (me!) really enjoyed watching the animals so we took almost an hour to drive through.  In my opinion, Bear Country U.S.A. is a must stop on your Black Hills vacation.  
After Bear Country, we continued another 11 miles on Highway 16 to Keystone.  One of Evan’s “must” activities was to pan for gold.  We went to Big Thunder Gold Mine to tour the mine and try our luck at finding gold.  The tour is about 30 minutes.  Our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining as he told us the story of the mine.  After the tour, you learn how to pan for gold and then for an additional cost, you get your turn to pan.   The kids were fortunate to find a few flakes of gold. 

Next we booked our seats on the 1880’s train then grabbed some ice cream while we waited for our departure.  The train is a true steam engine and runs back and forth to Keystone and Hill City several times a day. This was one of the most expensive activities of our trip (around $100 for our family of 4) and where it was a nice way to relax and see the Black Hills, even my train enthusiast son thought it was long.  The train ride is an hour each way with a 15 minute layover before the return trip.

Day 3 Tuesday – Badlands National Park
An hour back east on I-90 is the Badlands National Park.  The best way I can describe the Badlands is AMAZING.  The beauty and mystery of these rock formations just left me awe struck.  I could not get over how we would be driving through the park and on one side would be flat prairie and on the other would be these huge canyons or mountainous rock formations. 

We had a slow start in the morning so the kids could swim so we didn’t get to the park until later.  I could have easily spent another day here exploring.  The visitor center gives you a good overview of the history of the Badlands and the unique makeup of the rock.  There are three trails that are good for kids.  Kids can also earn their Junior Ranger badges here.

 
On our way back to Rapid City, we stopped in Wall to see the famous drug store, Wall Drug.  This place is huge and has everything and anything you could think of to buy. It’s one of those things that I’m glad I can say I’ve done but I have no desire to stop there again. 



Day 4 Wednesday – Mount Rushmore, Train Museum and move to Custer State Park.
After four nights in the hotel, we packed up and moved to a camper cabin at Legion Lake Lodge in Custer State Park.  On our way there we headed back through Keystone to one of the nation’s most famous landmarks, Mt. Rushmore.  I would recommend visiting the monument late morning or early afternoon.  We arrived around 9am and it was pretty crowded but as we left, we noticed the crowds and parking area had thinned out.   

You can’t help but feel patriotic as you walk through the Avenue of Flags showcasing the flag of each state.  You get a great view of the faces as you walk up to the visitor’s center.  Kids can get Junior Ranger badges at the visitor center too.  There are trails to walk around to give you different views of the faces.  

When we had our layover in Hill City from the 1880’s train, Evan noticed a train museum and we briefly stuck our heads in there. He kept asking if we would have time to do that so we swung 12 miles north from Mt. Rushmore back to Hill City to visit the South Dakota State Railroad Museum.  It was actually quite impressive for how small it was.  There is a replica of an engine that visitors can climb in as well as model train exhibit.  I personally enjoyed looking through all the records of old train schedules and routes. 

We finally made our way to Custer State Park to find our lodge.  The lodge sits on Legion Lake in Custer State Park.  The scenery was so picturesque and when we drove up to our cabin deer were waiting there to greet us.  The cabin we rented was a one room sleeper with two queen beds and housekeeping service.  We had electricity, air, cable tv, full bathroom, mini fridge and microwave.  Outside was a fire pit, picnic table and two outdoors chairs.  We had great views of the Ponderosa Pines the Black Hills is known for. 
 
Day 5 Thursday, Mammoth Site and Evan’s Plunge
Mammoth Site in Hot Spring which is 40 miles south of Custer State Park is an active dig site where visitors can see bones of Mammoth’s and other creatures actually being discovered.  Visitors watch a video on the history of the site then each person gets their own audio device as the guide takes you on a tour of the dig site which lasts about 40 minutes.  You can also can go to the lab in the basement to see the paleontologists working.      

Since we were in Hot Springs, SD, we had to find a hot spring.  Evan’s Plunge is a natural spring indoor/outdoor water park.  It was refreshing being in a pool that didn’t have the strong smell of chlorine but other than that it wasn’t anything great.  Well except for the fact that it’s “Evan’s” Plunge so my son thought that was pretty cool.  Unless your family loves waterparks and has plenty of time, I would skip the Plunge. 

Day 6 Friday
Our last day of vacation we spent the morning at Jewel Cave.  There are two caves to visit in the Black Hills, Wind Cave being the other.  We chose Jewel Cave because they have a 20 minute presentation where visitors just have a few steps to walk down to a large room of the cave.  All the other cave tours had 300+ steps and were close to an hour long.  Our 6 year old could have handled that but knowing our 4 year old daughter, she wouldn’t have been able to handle the steps or the length of tour. The 20 minute presentation worked well for our family.  

After the cave tour, we headed back to our cabin for lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon at the lake.  After the lake, we drove the Wildlife loop in Custer State Park.  If you want to see buffalo and prairie dogs, this is an excellent drive. 

The Down and Dirty
Food - Mike and I determined this was not a foodie vacation so food was a small part of our budget.  We stocked up on groceries before we left and did a restock on groceries before we headed to Custer. We ate breakfast at the hotel when we stayed there and cereal and fruit when we were at the cabin.  Lunches were all picnic style with sandwiches, chips, fruit and veggies.  Yes, by the end of the trip I think we were all a little sandwiched out but it saved us a ton of money.  Plus, a lot of places we traveled were in remote areas so not a lot of food choices available.  Dinner we always ate out.  We had intentions of grilling hot dogs over the fire pit at the cabin but the food at the lodge was so good and very convenient so we did splurge a bit there.

Lodging - Rapid City makes a great home base for the activities we wanted to do. Country Inn and Suites was a good fit for us; nice pool, water slide and good breakfast.  If nature is your thing, make sure to spend a few nights in one of the many lodges in Custer State Park.
  
My Must List - Bear Country U.S.A, Big Thunder Gold Mine, Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, Mammoth Site, Badlands National Park.

My Redo - I would skip Storybook Island Park and replace that with Reptile Gardens which is just outside of Rapid City.  Spend more time at the Badlands, possibly even a night there and add Minuteman Missile Site.  Skip Evan’s Plunge and explore Wind Cave.  More time hiking and exploring Custer.