Will this truck fit? #wordlesswednesday

Do you think, this car can go through the tunnel?

It did, anyways. This pic was taken at Custer National park in South Dakota. This road is called Needles highway.

Until next time,

Linking this post to #wordlesswednesday hosted by Natasha and Esha.

Attractions near Spearfish canyon and Badlands national park #SouthDakotatrip

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We visited the beautiful Spearfish Canyon and unique Badlands National park on the second day of our South Dakota Road Trip. Here is the Travelogue of Day 1 if you haven't read earlier. 

Flights to reach Rapid City:

Here is a map to book accommodation near Badlands National park.

Our day started with a drive to Spearfish Canyon after breakfast from Rapid city. The drive is just 45 mins from Rapid city passing through a historic town 'Deadwood'. 

We didn't stop at Deadwood, but if you have time, I would recommend that. You can watch some entertaining shows going on in the town about the wild west past. The Tatanka Bison Sculptures are a good attraction too.

The drive through the 22-mile Spearfish Canyon national scenic byway is well worth it. There is no entry fee to access this scenic byway.



Bridal Veil Falls :

Within 10- 15 mins from Spearfish, you will come across the 60 ft waterfall, the Bridalveil Falls. This can be seen from the road itself and there is a parking area to stop and take photos too. 

The best time of the year to watch waterfalls in full flow is spring / early summer. We visited in July and the waterfall was good.

Bridal Veil Falls

RoughLock Falls :

The trail to Roughlock falls is an easy 2 mile (round -trip) which starts near the Parking area at Spearfish canyon lodge. The trail is paved and we enjoyed the scenery on the way and the beautiful waterfalls. This trail is good to go with kids. 

Roughlock Falls

Spearfish Falls :

Spearfish Falls is a 47ft waterfall with just a 3/4 mile loop trail. If you don't have time to visit much, I would suggest not to miss this trail. 

The trail to these waterfalls (also called Little Spearfish falls) starts at the Latchstring Inn parking area. The path to the trail is beautiful with a lot of flowers and tall trees. The waterfalls are great with gushing water and there are good spots for photos. 

Spearfish Falls

We couldn't find the location of Community caves in our GPS properly, so we had to miss that. From other blogs, I realized later that it's at mile marker 13 and it's difficult to spot it. 

After covering Spearfish Canyon, we drove straight to Badlands National Park. 

Badlands National Park :

Badlands National Park is unique, vast, and fascinating. We entered the Park through Pinnacles Entrance. The entry is $25/ vehicle valid for 7 days.

The park got its name from the Lakota tribe who referred this place as 'mako sica' or land bad. Since these lands are arid, black, without water, with rugged terrain exposed to extreme temperatures,  they got this name.

In the afternoon, temperatures usually reach 92 F in summers and so, sunglass, sunscreen, and hat are mandatory. I think, entering the park from Ben Reifel Visitor center might have been good. 


Sunscreen Spray

Hat

Sun Glasses

Prairie Grasslands in Badlands

Driving through highway 240 Loop road will take around an hour. There are many overlooks on the way to stop by.

Badlands Loop

I loved the bright colors of 'Yellow Mound Overlook'. Pinnacles Overlook is good to view Sunset/ Sun rise. Big Badlands Overlook, White river Valley overlook and Panorama point Overlook are good for photos. Conata Basin Overlook is popular to watch Sunset.

There are many short trails near the Ben Reifel Visitor Center. The 0.25-mile Window trail which leads to the Badlands wall is an easy trail to do with kids. Door Trail also is an easy 0.75 miles round trip.  

Wall Drug Store :

After Badlands National Park, we drove to 'Wall Drug' store which is 15 mins drive. This place is really worth if you are visiting with kids. Though the Wall drug is famous for it's 5 cent Coffee and free cool water, my kids loved the life-size robot T-Rex, Amazing! 

Wall Drug

We enjoyed the homemade ice cream, donuts and kids loved playing in the splash pad and climbing on horse and bunny sculptures. We took a lot of fun photos, did some shopping and relaxed a bit before driving back to Rapid City. 

Wild West theme in Wall Drug

That's how we ended our Day 2 and relaxed in our hotel swimming pool after dinner in Rapid city. 

So, How did you like my travelogue? Please do let me know in comments.

Here are Day 1 and Day 3 travelogues:
Day 1 - Rapid city, Custer state Park and Mt. Rushmore

Day 3 - Crazy horse memorial and Carhenge, Nebraska 

Until Next time,

Best Places to Visit in Rapid City #SouthDakotatrip

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Hope you have read my earlier post on how to plan a South Dakota Family trip with kids. That post will help you to finalize on places to visit and decide on the itinerary. This post explains the detailed itinerary of Day 1 of our South Dakota trip which includes the best places to visit in Rapid City.

Rapid City is the second-most populous city in South Dakota. I haven't seen such a city centered around multiple tourist places before. There are many places to engage tourists of all ages. Keeping our kids in mind, we planned to visit Dinosaur Park and Story Book Island first. Since we took accommodation in Rapid city, all the places are within half an hour distance from us.

To Reach Rapid City:

Dinosaur Park which is on the beautiful Skyline drive has many towering Life-size dinosaurs. There is no entry fee to the park and it has around 6 dinosaur sculptures as far as I remember. Kids will love this attraction for sure. 

The Park also has a gift shop and eatery on the overview deck. Kids can also climb on the dinosaurs and read some information about each type of Dinosaur.

Dinosaur Park

Story Book Island is a beautiful Children's park with multiple themes set up as per Children's stories. This is also a free attraction and kids will enjoy for sure. They can see all models of animals like Bears and bunnies, different vehicles, ships, fountains, castle, carousel rides and what not! 

Story Book Island - Humpty Dumpty Rhyme

Story Book Island

Our next stop was to Chapel in the Hills. This Chapel is the exact replica of chapel - The Borgund Stavkirke of Laerdal, Norway built-in 1969. The architecture is great and every small detail of the wooden carving is amazing. This is also a free attraction open to the public which is worth a visit. There is a small gift shop called 'Stabbur', a museum and a meditation trail / Prayer walk.

Custer State Park is one of the largest national parks in the USA with almost 2 million visitors enjoying the park every year. There are multiple Campgrounds and Resorts inside the park. This park is famous for 3 scenic drives - The Needles Highway, Iron mountain road and Wildlife loop. The entry is $15 per vehicle.

Tunnel in Custer State Park

Needle-like Rock Formations

The Needles Highway is a 14-mile drive through the forest where we can spot Needle-like granite formations, narrow tunnels, and fantastic views. The drive will take around an hour and Sylvan Lake trail at the end of the highway is a must-visit. Sylvan Lake is beautifully surrounded by mountains with rocks in the middle. 

Sylvan Lake

Iron Mountain Road is a winding road of 18-miles with beautiful Black Hills scenery, many pigtail bridges, and tunnels. I enjoyed the drive through pig-tail bridges as I haven't seen these kinds of bridges before. One part of the road is on very high altitude and we had to drive through thick fog. The experience was frightening yet wonderful.

We couldn't cover Wild-life loop but If you want to watch Buffalos, Bighorn sheep, Mountain goats, Elk, Coyotes etc., take this drive for sure. It is an 18-mile drive which might take 1 hr. 

These 3 scenic drives together are called 'Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway'.  The hike to Mount Coolidge Fire tower is fantastic to watch Sunrise. You can try Bison Burger in one of the lodges and paddle at one of the four lakes in the park. 

Our last stop for the day is the famous Mt. Rushmore Memorial. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum carved the 4 United States Presidents faces with the help of 400 workers from 1927 to 1941, which is famous now with more than 3 million visitors visiting each year. Take a picture at Borglum View terrace which gives a good view of the Memorial, then walk the Presidential trail and visit the Sculptor's studio. We have also tasted the Thomas Jefferson's favorite Ice cream flavor. 

Mt Rushmore Memorial

Presidential Trail takes some time when walking with kids on stairs but I recommend it to have a close look at each President's face - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

There is no entry fee to the Mt.Rushmore memorial but there is a parking fee of $10 per vehicle.  

A few other places which we couldn't cover in Rapid City and I suggest you visit are - Cosmos Mystery Area, Reptile Gardens, Wind Cave National Park, Jewel Cave, and Mt. Rushmore Cave. 

So, You see? There is a lot to visit in and around Rapid City. 

That's our Day 1 Itinerary. The next day we covered Spearfish Canyon, Badlands National park and Wall Drug store.

The Day 2 and Day 3 travelogues are below:

Day 2 - Spearfish Canyon and Badlands national park

Day 3 - Crazy horse memorial and Carhenge, Nebraska 

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Until next time,

The tall trees at Spearfish Canyon, SD #ThursdayTreeLove

Loved these tall trees at Spearfish  canyon on the way to Spearfish falls in South Dakota.

Until next time,

Linking this to #ThursdayTreeLove hosted by Parul.

How to plan a South Dakota trip with kids

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We have visited South Dakota recently with kids. So, as usual, I spent a lot of time exploring the places, choosing the places to visit as per our interest, booking accommodations and planning pit stops, etc.,

I take travel planning seriously and I enjoy it too.

Here is my plan for South Dakota vacation with kids:

1. Exploring tourist places

My first task before planning a trip is to explore the tourist places in that area.

South Dakota,  also known as "Blizzard state" is home to the Black Hills, vast open spaces, and prairie grasslands. Of course,  we all know about the famous Mt. Rushmore memorial but there is more to this state than this monument.

Mt Rushmore and Crazy horse memorial are a must visit. Custer state park with 3 scenic byways, Spearfish canyon with many waterfalls and Badlands national park for its unique terrain should definitely be added to the list.

Rapid City has a lot to offer for kids like Dinosaur Park, storybook island, and Cosmos mystery area. Chapel in the hills is a great place if you like unique architecture. Wind cave national park, jewel cave, mt Rushmore cave, Reptile Gardens, Bear country are all within 1 hr from Rapid city.

The list is big. I explored all these places by searching on Google, reading multiple travelogues and searching on social media.

2. Choosing the places to Visit

This is the next step of the planning process. In the first step, I just explore all the places and make a list. But, in this step, I focus on our interests while picking up the places that we would love to visit.

When traveling with kids, of course, we have to plan keeping their interests in mind. Before choosing any hikes, I always read Google reviews and travelogues to ensure that the trails are kid friendly and not a strenuous one for children. I note down the distance of each trail and time it takes to finish each hike.

The most important places to visit with kids in South Dakota are - Dinosaur Park,  Storybook Island,  Cosmos mystery area, Windcave national park, and Bear country. We are not interested in reptiles, else would have chosen the Reptile gardens.

The places that  match our interests are - Custer state park,  Badlands national park, Spearfish Canyon,  Chapel in the hills, jewel cave, Deadwood historic town, etc.,

Crazy horse memorial 

After preparing this list, I usually filter it out again in the next step depending on the time we have in our itinerary.

3. Planning the Itinerary

This is the time we decide on how many days it will take to cover all the places in our wishlist, filter out the list based on time and budget, plan the itinerary by days, plan the places to stay at night, plan the pit stops and food stops in our trip.

Yes, this is the main part of the trip and please bear with me as you read this lengthy post 🙂

Storybook Island 

Always keep in mind that you need to take multiple pit stops during road trips when traveling with kids. So, be flexible and ready to trade off some places to relax and make the journey fun.

We chose to stay in Rapid city which is nearer to most of the places in our list. Keystone is another good option. Hot Springs is a small town but with many budget-friendly accommodations and dining options.

To reach Rapid City:

We have 3 days and 4 nights to cover all of these and below is the plan we laid out:

Night 1/ Evening 1 - Colorado Springs to Rapid city - around 7hrs journey time

Day 1 - Dinosaur Park, Chapel in the hills, Storybook Island,  Custer State Park, and Mt. Rushmore

Day 2 - Spearfish canyon and Badlands national park

Day 3 - Crazy horse memorial and the Return trip to Colorado Springs through Carhenge and Chimney rock national monument in Nebraska

Unfortunately,  Wind Cave National Park was closed during that time and so, we couldn't cover this.

Tunnel in Custer State Park

4. Booking accommodations

The easiest part is this last step. We always rely on Expedia for the best rates for accommodation with free breakfast. This saves a lot of money.

We choose a hotel with a swimming pool and spa so that we can relax every evening after roaming to all the places and hiking.

Airbnb is a good option too but we opt for this if multiple families are going together. We also choose Airbnb if the location is great with a good view and other amenities like a swimming pool and kitchen are available.

We stayed all 3 nights in Rapid city as it's nearer to all places, but if you want to spend more time on any specific national park,  it's better to book a night there.

Don't worry about accommodation. This link might help to book.

That's how we planned this amazing vacation in detail.

Do let me know in the comments if this post helps you in any way to plan your dream vacation to South Dakota state.

Also, do let me know your suggestions and tips to make travel planning easier.

The detailed travelogues of each day are below:

Day 1 - Rapid city, Custer state Park and Mt. Rushmore
Day 2 - Spearfish Canyon and Badlands national park
Day 3 - Crazy horse memorial and Carhenge, Nebraska 


Until next time,

Do you like my travelogue?

Read my other Travelogues here:
https://www.fantasticfeathers.in/search/label/travel