We began our day with a visit to Mount Rushmore National Memorial.
Visiting this National Park site has long been on our bucket list. And it was very impressive.
Unfortunately, we did not read up on the park information ahead of time and arrived to find that a large portion of the park is under construction this summer. (Which you can see in the background…along with all the other people trying to beat the crowds at 8:30 a.m.)
We couldn’t get as close as we would have liked to the Monument. And while we didn’t spend as much time here as we expected to (because of the construction), we did take in a free presentation given by the Park Rangers.
In the Sculptor’s Studio, a short walk from the visitor center, Park Rangers provide a 15-18 minute presentation on the history of Mount Rushmore. They provide this presentation every 30 minutes throughout the day and you can show up anytime to attend. It was very informative and they made it interesting by showing the equipment used to carve the stone.
On the recommendation of a local man we met the night we before, we drove a few miles over to Custer State Park after our visit to Mount Rushmore. This turned out to be the highlight of our day and we highly recommend it.
This park is full of wildlife that can be seen by driving the 18-mile Wildlife Loop Road.
After Custer State Park we drove about an hour to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. According to the National Park Service, this park was “created to illustrate the history and significance of the Cold War, the arms race, and intercontinental ballistic missile development, this park includes two significant Cold War sites: a Launch Control Facility and a missile silo complex.” We spoke to a park ranger about another site we visited in southern Arizona, he said the Arizona site was bigger and is on his bucket list. 😮😊 Needless to say, we didn’t stay too long here since we had already seen it all.
Just a few miles down the road from the Minuteman Missile NHS is the entrance to Badlands National Park.
The National Park Service’s description of this park: “Sharply eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires blended with the largest protected mixed grass prairie in the United States make up the 244,000 acres of this park.” We took the 38-mile scenic loop and found ourselves comparing the landscape to places we have seen in the desert southwest. It looks a lot like Death Valley National Park only with wild grass and cute little prairie dogs (which didn’t stay still long enough for a picture ☹️) popping out of the ground.
We ended our night by visiting Main Street in downtown Rapid City. On many corners there were statues of former US presidents. We had some of the best Indian/Nepalese food we’ve ever tasted at Kathmandu restaurant. It’s been named best restaurant in Rapid City by Trip Advisor and had great reviews on Yelp. Who knew Indian and Nepalese food was a thing in South Dakota. We also stopped into a wine tasting room to sample some locally made wine. We were told the grapes are from California but they make the wine locally…it wasn’t bad (not really great either 😕) but everyone was very friendly and we had fun.
In the center of it all is Main Street Square. Which has a splash pad for kids, stores, and a central stage (for concerts and shows?…not sure, we didn’t stick around long enough to know)
The Mount Rushmore National Monument is truly one of our National Treasures! It should be in my bucket list as well! Pictures never do justice and you really need to go there and see and admire all of its glory!!
Love these post…very informative. I particularly enjoy the breezy commentary.
Aww…thank you Jerry.
This section of your trip looked great. I’m sorry I missed Custer State Park on my travels there; it looks amazing!
If you are ever back in the area you should definitely go. It was a great experience.