Vacation in the Black Hills
- Thread starter CYdTracked
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How about Bobkat's Purple Pie Place in Custer. Yummm!
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BOBKAT'S PURPLE PIE PLACE, Custer - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - Tripadvisor
Bobkat's Purple Pie Place, Custer: See 1,782 unbiased reviews of Bobkat's Purple Pie Place, rated 4.3 of 5 on Tripadvisor and ranked #8 of 35 restaurants in Custer.
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Def stay in a hotel in Rapids City...particularly on the west side. If you look east. it looks like regular Midwest.
You look West though?. it looks like the Wild West. Pretty cool.
Devils Tower may be an attraction you can go and see.
I will say if you are claustrophobic at all, avoid those caves. I did not enjoy the wind cave.
SecondedHow about Bobkat's Purple Pie Place in Custer. Yummm!
BOBKAT'S PURPLE PIE PLACE, Custer - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - Tripadvisor
Bobkat's Purple Pie Place, Custer: See 1,782 unbiased reviews of Bobkat's Purple Pie Place, rated 4.3 of 5 on Tripadvisor and ranked #8 of 35 restaurants in Custer.
We stayed here 2 years ago and it was fantastic.
Mount Rushmore KOA Resort | South Dakota Campground
Enjoy our luxury camping resort and lodge located near Mount Rushmore and in the heart of the Black Hills. Book your camping vacation Today with KOA!
koa.com
Went there as a kid and remember camping at devils tower. Not sure how far away that is from the Black hills but it was cool
Wall Drug is cool once and the donuts are fantastic.
Deadwood's Cadillac Jack's has a pool and one of the connected hotels can be affordable depending on the night but it's a casino with a small food court. Up the hill a couple miles from Deadwood is the Sanford Lab Visitor's Center which is fun if you're into the science for a short time.
sanfordlab.org
Deadwood's Cadillac Jack's has a pool and one of the connected hotels can be affordable depending on the night but it's a casino with a small food court. Up the hill a couple miles from Deadwood is the Sanford Lab Visitor's Center which is fun if you're into the science for a short time.
Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center
We have camped at Horse Thief Campground a couple times. It is a nice Campground if your into that. Visit the badlands on the way out. Make a trip to Deadwood and go to I believe it's the Number 9 Saloon, where Wild Bill Hicock was killed. Last time we were there they did a reenactment of the shooting and had kids from the audience play some of the characters. Your kids are of the right age if they are still doing that. It's probably just on Saturday's but worth it if you have the time. When you head to Wyoming try to get to Devils Tower.
Any lodging recommendations in the Black Hills? Already kicking myself for not booking sooner as 1 place that would have not only been convenient logistically but also has a view of Mt Rushmore and nice amenities was K Bar S Lodge in Keystone and they are booked up for the dates we want. Prefer to stay around Keystone but open to Rapid City and Custer maybe Hill City. Then also want to stay 1 night in Deadwood before heading to Wyoming.
Have kids ages 11 and 8, my wife is not crazy about non-traditional type places to stay like camping or cabins so I'm kind of aiming trying to find a lodge or local non-chain place that isn't a dump if I can over your national chain brand names if possible.
Already on my list for places are stopping at Wall Drug and Corn Palace on the drive out Sunday. Wind Cave, Bear Country, Custer State Park, and Mt Rushmore for sure in the 2 full days we are staying then heading to Deadwood to stay Tuesday night so looking for some kid friendly options around there for late afternoon. Probably do Devil's Tower on our way out of town Wednesday. Wish we had at least another day to stay in the area as I have a nice list of places to see but probably not enough time when we are only going to be in the Black Hills area for about 2+ days.
Have kids ages 11 and 8, my wife is not crazy about non-traditional type places to stay like camping or cabins so I'm kind of aiming trying to find a lodge or local non-chain place that isn't a dump if I can over your national chain brand names if possible.
Already on my list for places are stopping at Wall Drug and Corn Palace on the drive out Sunday. Wind Cave, Bear Country, Custer State Park, and Mt Rushmore for sure in the 2 full days we are staying then heading to Deadwood to stay Tuesday night so looking for some kid friendly options around there for late afternoon. Probably do Devil's Tower on our way out of town Wednesday. Wish we had at least another day to stay in the area as I have a nice list of places to see but probably not enough time when we are only going to be in the Black Hills area for about 2+ days.
We stayed at Sylvan Lake Lodge, which is in Custer State Park and it was old but nice. A little trail down the hill to the lake where you can hike, rent kayaks, etc. Also it's right on the Needles Hwy. But it kind of depends what you're looking for. Sylvan is probably 20-25 minutes from Rapid if I remember right. There's nothing really around the lodge as far as amenities although they do have an in-house bar and restaurant. If you are looking for a place with bars and restaurants close by, I'd probably look at Keystone or Hill City. There's a ton to do in Rapid, but that's like staying in a smaller Des Moines and we wanted to get out into the country some. What we liked about Sylvan is that it was close enough to Rapid City that we could drive over and do Bear Country, etc pretty easily yet be out of town some.
Every kid after visiting "The World's Only Corn Palace":
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Sorry to hear the K Bar S Lodge is booked. We stayed there on our trip several years ago. It was great.
South Dakota was a beautiful state. On our trip we stopped at the Dignity of the Earth and Sky Sculpture, the Corn Palace, the Badlands, Wall Drug, Custer State Park, Mt Rushmore, Needles Highway, Legion Lake, Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway, and Deadwood. Our favorites were The Badlands, Mt Rushmore, Needles Highway, Legion Lake and Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway. The only place I was somewhat disappointed in was Deadwood. We spent one day and a night in Deadwood and I wished we would have not spent that much time there.
I would recommend stopping by Devil's Tower as your drive to Wyoming. It's very cool.
Yeah I am not expecting much but everyone I have talked to said Wall Drug and Corn Palace while kinda cheesy are rights of passage for a trip to the Black Hills that you have to do at least once. Who knows, will be curious to see what my kids think once make the stops. If we had more time I would probably stop at the Ingalls Homestead but its a little too far off I90 to make when we are doing Des Moines to Black Hills drive in 1 day with some quick stops so already going to be leaving early in order to make it to the Black Hills area by supper time.
Yeah K Bar S Lodge has a 1 king bed room available if I mess with the booking details a bit but not sure I want to do that as the air BNB we are staying at later in the week in WY with extended family is going to be somewhat cramped quarters too so kinda want to have them in their own bed vs having to take an air matress or something just to make that work. Maybe we get lucky and something opens up this weekend when we look to book stuff. That place looks pretty neat and having a view of Mt Rushmore would have been a bonus too.
The Lodge at Deadwood is one I was considering for our last night in the area. I have never been to Deadwood, don't know if one of the older hotels in downtown like the Celebrity or Bullock would be ok or not. As I tell my wife I don't expect to spend a lot of time in the actual hotels on a vacation other than sleeping and maybe a quick break or a meal if they have dining other than that as long as it's not a dump I am not terribly picky. Some of the places in the Black Hills though I do like some of the scenic surrounds or rustic feel to them so that has some appeal.
Our kids were about the age of yours when we did the family trip that included the Black Hills, and to this day the talk about going to Evan’s Plunge, which is sort of an old school mineral springs water park in Hot Springs, SD. It's been open since 1890. I went as a kid and didn't know if ours would enjoy it, but they definitely did. We hit the regular things in the area (most of which have been listed above) and particularly enjoyed Wind Cave NP, Jewel Cave National Monument, and Reptile Gardens. Enjoy!
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We all suffered through it and so must you. HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
