Trip report continued...

Day 3: Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wax Museum.

All of us loved Mt. Rushmore. I actually figured the kids would say, "okay, it's heads on a rock, can we go now", but we all enjoyed walking around up as close as we could, and then watching the film about it, and looking at the exhibits in the museum.

We went to Crazy Horse next. I just wasn't nearly as impressed as with Mt. Rushmore, but I've heard other people say just the opposite. It is definitely worth seeing.

We went to the Presidential Wax Museum next. We just did this because it was literally across the street from our hotel, and the kids had never seen a wax museum. They absolutely liked it, especially because you get an audio wand with your admission, so you can go at your own pace and hear your own private tour.

Day 4: Custer State Park. We started the day with the hike to Harney Peak. This is seven miles round-trip, but we managed it just fine. My daughter only did a small bit of complaining on the way up, and my son had tons of extra energy and kept urging me to go faster. The hike was beautiful through the national forest, and the views at the top were great.

Then we took a jeep tour to see buffalo. We did get to see a lot of them up very close (almost close enough to touch), and we saw pronghorn and burros as well. It was nice just to let someone else do the driving, and hubby and I could just watch the scenery.

Day 5: Tourist trap day -- Reptile Gardens, Bear Country, Big Thunder Gold Mine. We really liked Reptile Gardens and Bear Country. They both were like small zoos, obviously one featuring reptiles and the other the mammals. Reptile Gardens had three shows: alligator/crocodile, bird, and snake. We only went to the allig/croc one, but it was very good. Bear Country had a drive-through portion, and a walk-through part. It was very nice, and we did see a ton of animals.

My least favorite attraction of the whole trip was the gold mine, but I think this was because of the tour group we were with. A couple of kids of about 6 and 8 years old were talking non-stop even as the guide was talking, and it made it difficult to hear anything. Also, the group was quite large, and we were at the back. The mine itself was neat to walk through.

Day 6: Mammoth Site, Wind Cave, Alpine Slide.

Here we took a drive down to Hot Springs for the Mammoth Site. It was a very good tour of the site. All of us really liked it. Wind Cave was also awesome, but we usually like caves. We had a great tour guide, a young lady named Jenni. The Alpine Slide was back in Keystone, and that was just pure fun. You take the ski-lift up the mountain and ride a sled down a concrete chute to get to the bottom again.

The next two days were spent driving home. It was a great vacation, and we were never bored.

kansasmom,

Glad to hear you liked the Harney Peak trail. DH took me on my first backpacking trip to the top eons ago. DH stills tells stories of going to Reptile Gardens every summer when visiting grandparents, that was an eon and a half ago. Glad you all had a good time.

ST

Glad you enjoyed it, kansasmom! Thanks for your report.

Just last night I got a phone call from my brother filling me in on his trip to the area with his kids. I'd been telling him for years that he needed to take them to Custer State Park. I was a little nervous! As he said, I'd pushed it hard. But he really enjoyed it and his kids loved it. A relief but not a surprise. It's one of my favorite places.

Thanks for detailed day-by-day trip report! We are visiting soon with boys ages 7 (nearly 8) and 11. Our itinerary is pretty similar though we are staying a bit longer so we'll head to Devil's Tower, Spearfish Canyon and Deadwood. Thanks for the feedback on Big Thunder - I'm trying to decided which mine to visit. Also on my list are Wade's and Homestake.

How long did you spend at Bear Country and at Reptile Garden? How much time at the Mammoth site?

I remember going to Reptile Gardens when I was around 4 or so. My parents had bought me a little plastic alligator and afterwards we went to see the snake handler who wrangled a bunch of rattle snakes in a big pitt. I accidentally dropped my toy into the pitt with the snakes and was devastated until the guy leaped into the pile of snakes and saved my toy for me!!! I've never forgotten that day.

Wonder whatever happened to that little alligator...


Did you go to Dinosaur Mountain in Rapid City?

Hi again --

I'll try to answer your questions, singermom4. We stayed at Reptile Gardens the longest, probably 3 or 4 hours, but that included eating lunch there. Bear Country only took us about 60 - 90 minutes, and that includes the drive-thru part and the walkaround part. But that depends of course on how long your boys like to watch each particular animal before moving on. The Mammoth Site was great also. The tours were very good and informative, and then you could go walk through any or all of it again, to make sure you'd seen everything. We probably spent 90 minutes there or maybe a bit more.

To answer your question, zelphiacat, we did not make it to Dinosaur Mountain. Too much to do and too little time. It really was a great trip.

Thanks for the report. My husband and I (both 30yo) and my parents (58yo) are going in 2 weeks. Would you mind providing a little more information about the hikes? About how long were they (distance and time)? Difficulty level? Any you would clearly recommend over the others? My parents are in good shape, as are we, but I think we're more of the "rustic walk" types rather than true hiking. Anything with great views and wildlife is worth it to us, so long as it doesn't steal most of the day and is not too strenuous.

Thanks!

Kansasmom, I'm so glad y'all did the hike up Harney Peak. I first did this hike as a kid about 40 years ago when the fire lookout station was still manned. If you made it to the top, the fire officer in the lookout gave you a card making you a member of the "Ancient and Honorable Order of Squirrels". I still have my card.
My last visit was about 12 years ago when we took our own kids (both under the age of 7) on the Harney Peak hike. They did great!
After reading your trip report, I'm ready to go back again!

Hi mindibz --

Are you referring to the hikes in Badlands NP? We only did three extremely short and easy ones there, because it was very warm that day. They were on level ground and each was maybe 1/2 mile long at most. The "door" hike and the "window" hike led to really neat views. I'd probably skip the "Fossil exhibit" trail. It actually was not that interesting. There are longer hikes available of course; I really don't know anything about them.

The hike we did to Harney Peak in Custer State Park was absolutely beautiful. It was in the forest and was so nice. I would definitely recommend doing it or just do part of it and then turn around. It was about 7 miles round-trip hiking from the lake to the lookout on top. It isn't tremendously steep; we didn't have walking sticks and never felt that we needed them, but it definitely gains some elevation. There are a lot of hikes in Custer State Park of various lengths and elevation gains. If you look on the Custer State Park website, you'll find lots of info.

Thanks so much, kansasmom!

Do you recall how long time-wise it took you to do the Harney Peak hike? I keep reading online that it is gorgeous, but it also says "moderately strenuous", which worries me...