Ever go to a place where you could just kick back, relax, enjoy the natural surroundings and have fun? Well South Dakota is the place for good family fun amidst some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Folks in this vast state had ancestors that crossed the prairie in wagon trains. They knew the privations of the frontier: harsh winters, drought, hunger and getting by when being a neighbor meant lending a helping hand when needed. That neighborly feeling has never waned in this mostly agricultural state where tourism is the second most important source of revenue. In South Dakota the people are the state’s greatest resource. It doesn’t take long to find genuinely friendly hosts.
We landed in Rapid City. It is a comfortable, easy airport to access from major airline hubs like Chicago, Las Vegas, Denver and Salt Lake. Airline employees are South Dakotans and take good care of you. There is no rudeness here. They like people and have been brought up right with polite manners and courtesy. There are ample accommodations along the miracle mile from the airport to town that illustrate the phenomenal growth tourism has brought to the area. Rapid City is gateway to the Black Hills, nearby National Parks and wilderness areas.
We like to stay right in the heart of downtown. We chose the newly refurbished Adoba Hotel on Mt. Rushmore Road. It has been completely remodeled down to concrete to remove products that can be unhealthy. All new carpeting is glue free, the rooms are environment friendly and the philosophy is to make guests comfy in healthy surroundings.
From the Adoba we walk everywhere. First stop is the Clock Shop and Presidential Pawn around the corner on St. Joseph Street. Rapid City is dubbed the City of Presidents. Life size bronze sculptures of all American presidents grace every street corner. Their history and location is marked on a free booklet the city provides. Pose for a picture with John F. Kennedy and John John outside the Adoba Hotel. Naming presidents along the way is keen fun. Get to the clock shop before the hour. There are grandfather clocks, antique chime clocks, even a whole wall of coo coo clocks that mark the hour with melodious harmony. There are watches and watch batteries of all types. The owners operate the adjoining Presidential Pawn that has everything from gold nuggets to Navajo jewelry. Browse to your heart’s content. There is something for everybody.
The Journey Museum on New York Street is amazing. A compelling large screen film gives a panorama of the geology and history of the Black Hills, prelude to amazing displays of geological formations inside the museum. The place is a wonder where visitors are encouraged to touch. Important artifacts from prehistoric times are on display. Curators work with volunteers in an open preservation area. Curators answer questions and visitors can watch works in progress. Native American life and crafts are displayed with tipis that offer video presentations. The Wild West is portrayed with panache. Here’s where you get to put on a western hat, sit side-saddle or fork a working ranch saddle for a photo. The gift shop has plenty of hand crafted items as well as a fine book store.
Back on the Rapid City walking trail, there is a curious place where graffiti artists have been given a whole block to vent their expression. Art Alley is easy to find between 6th and 7th Streets. Majestic art creations share space with the unusual and garish.
Main Street Square is a sculpted public space in the center of town. There is ice skating in winter and wonderful free concerts and events all year around. Water spout jets shoot up for kids of all ages to refresh themselves in summer. Boutiques and restaurants surround the square. Tables provide a delightful place to bring a snack.
Directly across the street from the square is Prairie Edge Trading Company. This emporium is a throw back to early trading posts on the frontier. Native Americans come to buy beads and craft supplies in one part of the store. Fine Native American jewelry, beadwork and ceremonial clothing is sold on the main level. Put on a hat for a picture before heading upstairs to the bead collection, bookstore and art gallery.
Just down Main Street is Firehouse Restaurant, brewery and their newly opened winery. The converted Rapid City fire station provides ambiance. Get a plastic fire hat for fun and photos to send home. The food is plentiful and delicious. Save time for a wine tasting at the newly opened wine store. Wine is made on premises from local as well as imported grapes. Their Sauvignon Blanc is a very fine wine that is surprisingly excellent even by California standards.
Fort Hays is just outside town. Join the fun for an old fashioned chuck wagon supper and cowboy entertainment. The sets from the motion picture ‘Dances With Wolves’ have been moved onto a hillside. Visitors can walk through taking photos with all manner of antiques. You can even sit at a desk where Major Fambrough gave Lieutenant Dunbar his orders to go on to Ft. Sedgewick. This is the room where the movie was filmed. Rope makers, a tin shop, old time post office and knife maker all make the experience enjoyable and informative. Be sure to watch Greg Ferier work his wonders at the forge beating bar steel into fine blades. For the hunter, outdoor person or knife collector Greg’s craftsmanship will surely be of interest.
Mt. Rushmore Black Hills Gold on Mt. Rushmore Road offer free factory tours. Visitors can see how legendary Black Hills gold is crafted. There are bargains galore in the retail showroom along with free coffee, tea and warm cookies.
If the craving for an amazing breakfast or lunch overwhelms then stop at nearby Black Hills Bagels, also right on Mt. Rushmore Road. Debra and Jack Jensen have created a landmark in town renown for their 28 bagel varieties all made from scratch with 18 flavors of home made cream cheese. Jack and Debra’s secret is steaming their bagels to give them a crispy crust and softer texture.
Take Highway 16 out of Rapid for some amazing attractions. Bear Country U.S.A. is the inspiration of the late Doc Casey continued by his wife Pauline. The drive through trail winds among forested land where elk bugle, deer and big horn sheep browse, wolves prowl and bears pose for pictures. Wildlife photographers will thrill at the accessibility of the many species of animals native to the Black Hills. The drive through takes about an hour depending on your schedule and interest. Leave time to walk around the grounds and see the baby bears. Native critters abound in the park. The gift store is exceptional.
Close by, also on Highway 16, is Reptile Gardens. John Brockelsby, the founder’s son, jokes that this is the only place in South Dakota where bananas grow. There are amazing exhibits outside and tropical gardens inside. John’s father began in 1937 catching rattlesnakes and charging tourists a dime to watch him jump into a pit with them. They’ve grown to become the largest reptile collection in the world with 225 different species including 160 species of snakes. Pet the tortoises and have your picture taken holding a giant python, if you dare. See a gigantic 15‘ 5“ Australian crocodile and an 11’ 11” American alligator. Watch them feed lizards and snakes and have a blast walking through their large domed tropical garden.
The Badlands are easy to reach from Rapid City. The National Park is one of the spectacular wonders of the world. Wake up early to get to an observation point to view the sunrise. Colors change as the sun comes up in a magical display. Sunsets are also spectacular and often accompanied by the yip and howl of coyotes. Along the same road to the park is a Prairie Homestead. The family’s original sod home is preserved as are outbuildings and displays. Take time to learn about life on the rugged frontier. There are great photo opportunities and plenty of fun things for the whole family. You can even sit in an outhouse.
Not to be missed is Wall Drug Store. Hundreds of billboards along the highway proclaim things to come at this roadside attraction started by Doc and Dorothy Hustead in the 1930s. There are over 300 original art works on display created by America’s best known western illustrators. The collection rivals any museum. The masterpieces are so close and so accessible that most visitors do not believe the art on display are originals.
This is the place for shopping. There is a pharmacy and all one would expect in a fully equipped drug store as well as specialty shops that include a well-stocked book store, boot and western wear shop and free fun everywhere. A life size T-rex roars every few minutes. Kids and adults can run through water spouts in the back recreation area. Wall Drug’s restaurant offers coffee for 5 cents and delicious bison burgers as well as wonderful breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
Just down Main Street is Lakota Ways. Visitors that leave time in Wall can enjoy and participate in Native American games, tipi raising and learn about traditional arts, crafts and life ways.
Cedar Pass Lodge inside Badlands National Park is a great place to relax, enjoy a meal and rent modern cabins constructed with pine beetle logs. The pests kill trees. When logged the wood has a magnificent blue hue. Plan a stay in cabins at Cedar Pass Lodge right inside Badlands National Park.
Not far away is the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Ivan Sorbal is the dynamo that has seen the construction of a magnificent Chamber of Commerce building. There are wonderful displays at the chamber building. It is a good place to get directions and information about what to see and where to visit. The Oglala Lakota College houses a collection of historic photographs and displays along with a film presentation about the history of the Lakota people. Not far away, in Manderson, is Bette Black Elk’s Kitchen. It is a homey restaurant. Bette prepares traditional Lakota food as well as picnics outside. Visitors are welcome to hike up the hill behind the house for overlook views of the surrounding hills.
Nearby the Red Cloud Indian School is an inspiring complex. Native Americans are bussed in from long distances to receive Catholic school education. Red Cloud inspired the creation of the school where Lakota language courses are mandatory. His grave is on a hill top overlooking the mountains in the distance. A large collection of Native American art and artifacts is housed in the heritage center.
Do not miss the Wounded Knee Massacre site. It is here where Big Foot and his disarmed band were murdered by U.S. Seventh Cavalry troops in freezing cold of winter snow in 1890. Emerson and Jerilyn Elk are often found at the site of the massacre and share the story of their people to any that will take time to listen. Emerson emotionally recounts that drunken soldiers killed old men, women and children then desecrated their bodies for souvenirs. Visit the cemetery on a hill overlooking the site of the massacre and pay tribute to the grave of Lost Bird. The orphaned infant survived the massacre and was picked up by an officer and taken to California. Her body was later exhumed and returned to her native land.
Travel on to Hot Springs. There is the Mammoth Site housed inside a building constructed to allow visitors to view work in progress. Giant Woolly mammoths and Columbian mammoths got stuck in a water pit where they came to drink and couldn’t get out 27,000 years ago. Remains of the 61 mammoths are being excavated in full view of visitors. The displays are extraordinary.
One of the fun things to do in Hot Springs is to take the plunge at Evans Plunge. It is a natural hot spring indoor swimming pool with water slides. The giant pool remains at 87 degrees F year around. In summer there is an an open air area connected to the main pool. Many sought these mineral baths that native peoples knew held invigorating and healing properties. Hot Springs is a beautiful town of sandstone buildings, boutiques and restaurants.
Just outside Hot Springs is the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary. Cowboy poet Dayton O. Hyde founded it as a place to preserve the land as well as wild horses. The sanctuary’s Project Manager Susan Watt took an interest in Spanish mustangs and brought in a herd of these rare and intelligent horses. The mustangs thrive on 11,000 acres along the Cheyenne River. Tours are available. Their gift shop offers many books that describe the wild horse in American heritage. There is nothing comparable to being snuffled by a truly wild mustang, curious and cautious, approached with the guidance of sanctuary personnel.
The town of Custer was our next stop. This is the place where gold was first discovered in Frenchman’s Creek during the expedition led by the town’s namesake in 1874. Visitors have to leave time to enjoy the town and explore its streets. Without signage it is reminiscent of the Wild West of old. Ride up mountain trails at Rockin R Ranch. Take a helicopter tour with Black Hills Aerial Adventures off Highway 16 and 385 just outside of Custer. Helicopter rides are priced from $49. There is no better way to see Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore and the surrounding beauty of the Black Hills.
The State of South Dakota maintains Custer State Park where the buffalo roam free in large herds. Once a year, at the end of September, riders on horseback and park rangers in trucks round them up. The bison are then kept in corrals where they are inspected by veterinarians, inoculated, branded and sorted to keep the herd numbers under control. The annual event is a gala with art and craft fairs and events throughout the park.
The best pizza in South Dakota is just outside of Custer on Highway 36 in Hermosa. Lintz Brothers Pizza is a family affair that has grown by word of mouth, literally. Brian Lintz cooked us up a fabulous taste sensation he calls the German Samoyan with sauerkraut, Canadian bacon, jalapeño and sausages.
With a full belly we went on to Mt. Rushmore Memorial where the presidents loomed large. The feat sculpting the mountain remains a marvel to behold. The mood changes with the weather. In South Dakota they say just wait a few minutes and the weather will change. Sunrise on the faces and sunset with ranger programs in the amphitheater that pay tribute to veterans are special times at the memorial. Full service restaurants and snack shops offer something for every taste and an opportunity to savor good food or quick snacks.
Crazy Horse is a massive carving undertaken by one man, Korczak Ziolkowski. He began work in 1948. Inspired by Lakota Chief Standing Bear with the words, “Indians have their heroes too,” Korczak, who worked as a carver on Mt. Rushmore, began the project with little money in his pocket and a labor of love. His legacy is to depict the famous Chief Crazy Horse on his steed pointing out to his lands. The work is continued by his family. The project houses a Native American museum and more recently a college. Laughing Waters restaurant and a large gift store complement the visit.
The most famous town in the Black Hills is likely to be Deadwood. It was here where gold was discovered in 1875. Thousands of miners flocked to the area making illegal incursions onto Indian lands. There was no stopping the flood of people seeking their fortunes. Law was enforced with a six-shooter. All manner of vice grew up around the wild and woolly encampments. Gambling was legalized in Deadwood in 1989. Now casinos dot the landscape. The history of the area is preserved at the Adams Museum in town. Just up from where gold was discovered in Deadwood Gulch is The Days of 76 Historic Museum.
The museum has hats on hand for anyone wishing to pose with backdrops of the town in its wild days. For those interested in antique firearms there is a complete collection to behold. Wagons and stages from the past are housed on the basement level. There is even a coach visitors can climb into to take pictures. The Adams Museum houses the original famed Potato Creek Johnny gold nugget, proclaimed the largest nugget in the Black Hills. Their collection of Wild Bill Hickok playing cards, his gun was well as art work of the period make the Adams a must on any trip to Deadwood.
Take a bus tour with Alkali Ike to Mt. Moriah Cemetery and view the graves of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. If you have time, climb to the top of the hill where legendary Sheriff Seth Bullock is buried. There are spectacular views of the Black Hills and Deadwood from Mt. Moriah.
Take a short ride out of town to the Schade winery. The quaint building offers tastings in a western ambiance. It is easy to get to. Wine lovers will enjoy learning about their offerings from Michelle Hardin. Nearby and not to be missed for the comfort of your trail weary bones is the Akela Spa. Akela is on the same road as Schade on Highway 14 A. This is a wonderful way to relax. The garden has two hot tubs and a magnificent sauna set inside a tipi. There are steam rooms and saunas, treatment rooms for facials and nails and relaxation rooms. Delicious wines and snacks are served.
Once at Akela, soaking in the hot tub outside, where the Black Hills loom in the distance, it is hard to budge. Move on since Deadwood adventure beckons.
The Deadwood Mountain Grand Holiday Inn Resort is the most unusual hotel in town. They host some 60 music and entertainment events a year. The hotel, casino and event complex is built from the old Homestake Mine’s slime plant. The buildings are where slurry from crushed gold ore was refined. The owners have kept the look of the place set against the side of a mountain and have made a luxury hotel and event center that draws headliners from around the world.
For delicious food try the Legends Steakhouse at the historic Franklin Hotel. It is only a short walk from the Deadwood Mountain Grand. The food is excellent and the prices are reasonable. Don’t spread the word within hearing of the owner or they might consider raising the tariffs of this most wonderful and brand new secret in town.
Venture down Main Street and stop in Saloon Number 10. The original death chair Wild Bill Hickok was sitting in when he was shot in the back of the head is on display over the door. Sawdust on the floor and old style bars with period photographs are reminiscent of the old west.
Deadwood doesn’t lack for fine restaurants. The Gem, the original place owned by Al Swearengen, a character made famous in the raucous television series, is fun and heralds good food. Mavericks in the Mineral Palace is also a good place to eat. The brand new SpringHill Suites on Main Street has a fine restaurant with delicious steaks and local walleye.
There is adventure at every turn with magnificent drives through Spearfish Canyon. When the Black Hills beckon hit the trail. Grab a hat and have fun in South Dakota.
For more information visit www.travelsd.com or call for free brochures and information 1-800-732-5682. For information about Deadwood go to www.deadwood.com or call their tourist office at 1-800-999-1876. For information about Custer go to www.visitcuster.com or call them at 1-800-992-9818.
