South Dakota vacation

Drive all the way across it and keep going either north to Montana or west to Wyoming.

At least it has something, unlike North Dakota

Depends on what you like.

We did pheasant and waterfowl hunting. Pretty sweet deal

Don’t expect much in the way of restaurants. Doesn’t sniff what an average S. LA person can do in kitchen

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Travel Board would be better for this.

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This.

If you are doing Mount Rushmore, Then Teddy Roosevelt National Park in extreme SW North Dakota is an option. It is 3 hours north give or take. Deadwood and Sturgis are en route. Then, the interstate can bring you west from there (Glacier / Yellowstone). I would stay the night in the town near the park (Medora).
Safe travels.

Some really good hiking. Black hills national forest, Wind Cave national park, Custer State park, are all in the same area and close to Mount Rushmore. Badlands national park is an hour and a half away and great for a day trip.

Don't go there during the Sturgis motorcycle rally - sometime in August I think.

Unless, of course, you are planning to go there FOR the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

We (the family) have reservations for the week in Rapid city for the end of this month. Driving up, spend the week seeing all the sites within 3 hours of the city then drive back.

We've never been in that area but are looking forward to the break.

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For those that have visited South Dakota before, what parts of the state did you find the most scenic and/or enjoy the most? Mt. Rushmore is a given, but would appreciate suggestions for other sites.

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We went to Rapid City in 2019 on the way to Yellowstone. There is a lot to do around Rapid City besides Mt. Rushmore; MR does not take very long. We enjoyed the closing ceremony at dusk.

If you drive in on I-90 from the east and pass by Chamberlain, SD there is the Destiny statue at the rest stop there and there is a Lakota Sioux museum in town that takes 1 or 2 hours to see. RC is about 3 hours west of there.

About an hour east of RC is the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. From there you can take Hwy 240 to the Ben Reifel Visitor Center for the Badlands National Park. Then continue on Hwy 240 through the Badlands to Wall, SD which is on I-90. Stop by Wall Drug Store; they are know for their doughnuts (we didn't think they were any thing special) but it's one of those places you stop by.

Things to do around RC besides Mt. Rushmore:
Downtown RC has statues of all the US Presidents. They are in a 5 or 6 block area and it looked like there are a lot of restaurants there.

SD Air & Space Museum - at Ellsworth AFB
Custer State Park - stop in the visitor center; watch the short video, talk to the rangers. There are numerous roads within CSP that you will want to drive. If you are there in the fall you might be able to watch the Bison round up.

Sturgis - about 30 minutes north of RC
Deadwood - 45 to 1 hour north of RC but not far from Sturgis. Stop by the VC there and find out what's going on that day. They have shoots out and a play about the trial of Jack McCall, the guy that killed Wild Bill Hickock. There are two Saloon # 10s, one where WBH was killed but the other has an actor telling about when WBH was shot.

Spearfish Canyon Drive - goes from Cheyenne Crossing (which is near Deadwood) to Spearfish. A miles off the road at Savoy is Roughlock Falls Road; about a mile to the water fall.
Wind Cave National Park - we did not go there. There is another cave there but I don't recall the name.

Devils Tower National Monument - it's in WY and about two hours west of RC. Don't take the interstate there, instead take Hwy 34 in SD and then Hwy 24 to the monument. Stop by the oldest store in WY in Aladdin.
[/url][/img]Devils Tower as seen from Hwy 24.


Keystone - we just drove through there. It looked like a touristy place to me. May be more to it.

1880 Train - goes from Hill City, SD to Keystone. Two hour ride.

Crazy Horse Memorial - we went here. I would only do this if I ran out of other things to do.

If you, or you have kids that, are interested in dinosaurs I think there are some sites south of RC that may have things to see. You will have to research that.

While there I talked to a guy driving an off highway vehicle, Polaris I believe, and he was able to go places in CSP that most people couldn’t. It sounded fun; might be something else to do if you can find a rental. He owned his.

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At least it has something, unlike North Dakota

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North Dakota has the northern badlands. Saw more animals in my few trips there than my week trip in Yellowstone.