South Dakota Vacay

HuckSC

The BF is a teacher and has all summer off. I'm not and desperately need some time off from work. I really don't care where I go except not staying in town. He just kinda threw South Dakota out there and I don't think he thought I would jump on board as fast as I did.

So I'm looking for 2 things. 1) Any secret tips when doing the typical stuff, Mount Rushemore, Crazy Horse, The Badlands etc. 2) any neat little places that I need to see/good places to stay?

Thanks!

beardownbchs

FI and I drove through SD on our way home from Montana last year and spent the day there. Badlands is really cool. You should really do that. We're huge nature/wildlife lovers and we saw like 10 bighorn sheep RIGHT off the road in the Badlands. They were close enough to throw something at. We just sat there in the car and watched them munch and hang our for a while. We also saw some babies like literally in a parking lot. I can't remember exactly where it was, but after we went to Mt. Rushmore (so somewhere east of Mt. Rushmore), we drove the Needles Highway and that was really cool. It's this goregous scenic highway. There's a couple more "Scenic Highways" in that area that are really cool. We also went to Wind Cave and did a tour. It was really really cool. There's a huge prairie dog town outside of it and when we drove in, there was a herd of bison hanging out RIGHT on the side of the road. It was really cool. 

But if you're road-tripping and just driving around, depending on what area you go to, definitely research hotels before hand. We had a really hard time finding a nice-ish hotel and stayed in kind of an icky Best Western. 

Have fun!!!

EDIT: Mt. Rushmore is kind of disappointing. It's MUCH smaller than they make it look. Also, they make you pay $11 to park in a parking lot RIGHT off the road and look at it. If you go at a time when there's not a whole lot of people there (like super early in the morning) you can just park on the side of the road, get out of your car for a minute and take a couple pictures. I didn't really feel the need to spend any more time than that there. The area around Mt. Rushmore is REALLY touristy and kind of cheesy. I would not recommend staying in the immediate area. 

J&K10910

The Badlands is like nothing I've ever seen.  I loved it.  I sat, glued to the window, saying "wow....look!  Wow!  That's so cool!  Oh, look over there!  Wow...."

Needles highway is definitely cool.  Part of it takes you through Custer State Park, which is awesome for seeing bison and burros (friendly, hungry burros). 

We really liked the Black Hills Caverns.  We also enjoyed Bear Country USA. 

Mt Rushmore was disappointing.  The town at the base is definitely touristy but it's fun to wander for part of a day.  Staying in Rapid City is probably your best bet for the Mt Rushmore area. 

If you want to stay somewhere near the Badlands, just know that all the towns are very small and there isn't much in any of them.  Especially as far as food goes.  Wall is fine for a night or two.

Peledreamsofrain

I was born and raised in SD until I was 16.... I have to say there really isn't much there.  The only other item that you haven't listed is The Corn Palace.  It's good for a giggle or two.  Of course when I was small, school field trips to the Corn Palace were SUPER COOL!!  

Now that I've lived in several portions of the country, I'm very 'meh' about the sites there.  But it was cool at the time.  

As for the season to visit, absolutely under no circumstances should you go in the fall or winter.  In the fall, the area is practically blanketed in locusts and crickets.  And I mean blanketed.  In the winter, the temperatures get down to -60 (no that's not windchill).  I remember when I moved to DC, I scratched my head over why people bother measuring snow in inches.  I mean, what are you going to say?  "we had 48 inches today?"  lol.