South Dakota Road Trip

Fun!!! The Badlands is a long scenic drive but imo totally worth it!!! We didn't do any long hikes, just more like the pullover and short hikes on wooden walkways to overlooks and stuff. A MUST do when you first get on the scenic drive is to stop at a gift shop type place, there is a giant prarie dog statue out front of it. You can buy a small bag of peanuts for $1 and then go out back and feed the local prairie dogs!!! so cute and fun!!! my daughter even pet one haha! One of those small things on a trip that she still really remembers 6 years later. :)

Lilly

If you are going to Mt Rushmore? I would take the hour and drive to The Devil's Tower - which is in the North East corner of Wyoming - right over the border from Belle Fourche SD.You can walk around The Tower. You can see deer and occasionally bears. There is a campground (KOA and National Park) there too. The National campground is cheap. NO amenities. The KOA is across the street from the Trading Post (great ice cream, BTW) and has full hook ups. To get there from Mt Rushmore? Take Interstate 90 to Route 14 - You'll pass through Sundance, WY (there's a great campground there too with rustic cabins, laundry-mat, pool, etc.) then follow the signs to The Tower (you'll get off on Route 24). You can even loop back around and continue out on Route 24 to Hulett, pass through Aladdin and Belle Fourche).

When going up to Mt Rushmore? I would start in Spearfish - there's great campground there! And there's a GREAT creek running through it. I would head out Route 14 to take the scenic route and stop at Bridal Veil falls - it's on the left side of the road going up Route 14 and connects to Route 385 you can come in the back way to Mt Rushmore...then take 16A to Interstate 90 to Rapid City.

If you take the Route 14 and Route 385? You can stop in Deadwood too.

Crazy Horse is NOT done. You can see Tribal Indians dancing in the plaza by Crazy Horse.

Since you said you are coming back on Interstate 70 - you are dropping down to Denver? It's a LONG drive (about 6 hours) with a LOT of plains to look at. You can stop in Kansas City and St Louis too. The Arch is a great visit!

From my traveling experience with my kids (now 16 and 14)? They don't need toys. If I think they are going to act up - they will - if I go in to it with a great attitude and ready for fun? They will be too.

Pull out a map and have them do some research on the areas and the trip. You'll be surprised how excited they get when you show them and let them get involved!

Have an AWESOME time!! I love South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado! I enjoy St Louis too!!

Ahh, home. I used to drive that route several times a year. How long will you be traveling? When are you going? If you are going in August I hope you made reservations a looong time ago! With the Sturgis bike rally in early August you will not find places to stay. It can be impossible to find places to stay anywhere between Sioux Falls and Yellowstone.

Coming across Minnesota stop at the SPAM museum in Austin. It is a really fun place. Just before you hit the South Dakota border you can hear a little north off of 90 to Pipestone. There is a cultural center there where you can see a quarry where they mine pipestone. There are often Native American artists there carving the pipestone.

Sioux Falls is a fun city. The falls are very cool. (My daughter wants to go to college there just because of the falls.) They have a very nice science museum in the old Washington High School downtown. They have a cool downtown.

The World's Only Corn Palace in Mitchell is kind of a fun stop. Not quite as big a tourist trap, but almost. There is also a place in lMitchell where kids can help at an archeological dig. I can't remember off the top of my head what it is called.

In Chamberlain there is a very nice Akta Lakota Museum about the Lakota culture. I taught at the school there and the museum was one of my favorite places to visit. The American Creek Campground is pretty nice. Definitely stop at Al's Oasis on the west side of the Missouri River. It's a great place for a buffalo burger and homemade hot apple pie with cinnamon ice cream!

I've never stopped there but there is an 1880s town that I've heard good things about.

The Badlands are beautiful, but it is a long drive through them. There is some hiking, but it isn't easy hiking. You have to be very careful about heat exhaustion, rattlesnakes, scorpions, loose rocks. It's a long way to a hospital. An acquaintance of mine broke her ankle while hiking there. They had to carry her out about 3 miles and then drive to Rapid City. It was took several hours to get her to the hospital. Hiking would be fun, but be prepared!

Wall Drug is the quintessential tacky tourist stop! Fun place to stop.

There is tons to do in a Rapid City and the Black Hills. The Journey Museum is really good. Reptile Gardens and Bear Country USA are ok. My kids loved both of them. I think Bear Country is a little over priced. If you want to see some incredible Native American Art then stop at the Prairie Edge in downtown. They have statues of all of the presidents in downtown and some nights they have live music in the square downtown.

Mount Rushmore is great to see both in the day and at night. Although Crazy Horse isn't completed yet it is a fun place to visit. Check to see if they are doing any night blasts. (A good book to read with your kids about Crazy Horse is called In the Footsteps of Crazy Horse by Joseph Marshall III. It will help them learn the significance of Crazy Horse in Lakota history.) Keystone is a fun little town to walk around in. So is Hill City. Personally, I don't know if Deadwood is all that great if you aren't going to gamble. In Lead I think you can still tour a gold mine.

We did a road trip out there a few years ago and ran out of time to go out to Custer State Park. That same year some friends of ours camped out there for a week and loves it--chuck wagon dining, horseback riding, hiking, buffalo, and other things. Needles
Highway is a cool drive.

Spearfish has a fish hatchery that is fun to tour. Spearfish Canyon is beautiful.

The trip to Devils Tower is a nice side trip that would take a good day to do.

Do you mean you are going to take I-80 home? It would be faster than I-70. If you take I-80 consider driving down to Ft. Robinson, Nebraska. It's a neat historical site with lots of camping. (Big connection to Crazy Horse.)

Let me know if you want more details about anything.

My kids watched movies together in our minivan at that age. I was jealous because I had to keep my eyes on the road and felt like I was missing out on the fun!
We also listened to audio books on CD, checked out from the library, Harry Potter was the best.
Riding in a car for long distances over mostly dull landscape just ISN'T that much fun, you know? You need distractions. Reading never worked for me because I get car sick but movies, music and audio books are great.
I suggest you look at tripadvisor, that's my favorite travel advice website, it you type in Mt. Rushmore and then click on "good for families" close to 2,000 reviews pop up, from families who have traveled there with kids, recently.
Have fun, I love road trips and nature and history!!!

Wonderful answers from Wild Woman about the area.

Re games/activities: definitely shut off the electronics and have them looking out the window. Our kids always did "car bingo" - we bought something in the travel section, just old fashioned board with photos or silhouettes of highway things, and it had little plastic windows you could slide over the picture instead of using bingo chips that would slide all over. You could also make your own with downloaded images and put on velcro dots and stick on the velcro markers. Play difference shapes, not just the straight line. Make "T", "X", "L" plus sign or "picture frame". You can search "car games" on line - a friend of mine does this with her 11 and 9 year olds and they love it.

You can also play guessing or conversation games. You might find some on these lists that you like:
http://www.tripbase.com/blog/55-ways-to-enjoy-a-long-car-...
https://www.alamo.com/en_US/car-rental/scenic-route/famil...

Definitely have them using a road map, not their map app! There's nothing like the real skill of navigating without GPS! And I agree about having them plan ahead and help choose some sights to see. We did several RV trips with our son and he absolutely helped to navigate.

OMG enjoy your trip.

I have nothing to say except that I would love to do this trip in theory but wouldn't make it one night in a tent. Or in a car that long. I envy you. Have fun!

Take a look at the Corn Palace in Mitchell SD.

http://cornpalace.com/visit-the-corn-palace/

I know it's a couple of hours further than you were considering going, but consider heading out to Devil's Tower (just over the state line into Wyoming) before you turn back toward home. My kids and I did a similar trip a few years ago, and Devil's Tower was our favorite place. There is a KOA campground just outside the gate where we stayed. It was clean and comfy, and they screen Close Encounters every night at dusk. :-) The hike around Devil's Tower itself is pleasant, and you can scramble over boulders if you are so inclined.

As for what to do in the car to combat boredom and keep the peace, my family enjoys books on CD. Your library probably has some good ones. You can also find BBC radio dramas on CD. Our favorites so far are Star Wars, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and Neil Gaiman's Good Omens. We also take art/craft supplies (nothing that will melt in a hot car, though).

My family did a South Dakota road trip when I was a teen. My favorite place was Deadwood. Neat location with an interesting historical background. When we went, there were no big crowds like there were at Wall Drug and other areas. We stuck to the town itself, but if I went back there, I think I'd want to spend some time exploring Black Hills National Forest too.

Wall Drug was neat. Totally packed, extra cheesy, and your kids will probably want to shop. The Corn Palace in Mitchell is interesting too.

Mt. Rushmore was our shortest stop. I doubt we were there two full hours, but we also didn't hike the trails or sign up for a formal program. It's rather underwhelming and you might decide not to bother coming back at night.

The Badlands is a beautiful location, but we didn't spend a lot of time there. We stopped for a couple photos, but didn't explore the trails.

If you can't tell by now, my parents were not the outdoors exploration type. Setting up to camp was as physical as it got before plunking down around the campfire. I remember one campground (not the name) where it was basically a barren field of tidy symmetrical plots. Much different from camping in the Wisconsin forests! There was also some kind of visitor lodge with a restaurant and pool. We kids were excited about the pool. Everything was hot and dry in our trip.

I don't remember a lot about the actual car trip parts of our vacation and didn't take in much passing scenery. I get motion sick and spent most of the ride time sleeping with the help of Dramamine.

There is so much to do in South Dakota and Wyoming.

If you have the time? Drive across the state to Yellowstone. It's absolutely beautiful. Yes, it's a little over 6 hour drive. It's worth it!

Mount Rushmore can be a little disappointing for some. It's a mountain with heads carved in it. It's beautiful. There is much to see in Rapid City. There is the Black Hills Caverns. Custer National Park.

You might try taking Interstate 88 to Interstate 80 and go across Iowa and then shoot up interstate 29 to Sioux Falls. If you come in this way, you can even stop at Wall Drug on the way.

To get them involved? Have them do google searches on Wyoming and South Dakota and all the states in between. Go buy a large US Map and have them highlight the routes you will be taking and what you can see along the way.

Found this online - part of it might be of some use...
http://www.chicagonow.com/dutch-alien-lands-in-us/2014/08...

We didn't use 90 across much - got off and used the old road 14. Depending on your exact route, if you have any interest in "Little House" stuff, you will be close!

Good friends of mine just did this exact trip last month with their 10 year old. They had a great time. They had dinner on a chuck wagon. In addition to the stuff you mentioned, they also went to minuteman national park which sounds really interesting: https://www.nps.gov/mimi/index.htm

For the car:
My 10 year old likes the sign alphabet game, although you can only do that so many times on one trip.

I have an AAA membership, and I go online and print them each a triptik of the route, fairly zoomed in. Then, each kid can track the progress of the trip on their own, look out the window for the landmarks on the map they are looking at, and it also forestalls some of the "are we there yet' conversation, since they can see on the map for themselves how the trip is progressing. If you don't have AAA, you could just buy each of them a map, highlight the route, and let them follow along on it.

You can see so much more about Mount Rushmore online and on cable than you'll see there. It's so.....touristy. I truly found Crazy Horse much more interesting since it is a modern work. Ongoing. Both are worth seeing but don't expect it to be some magical thing. Watching the documentaries on TV are much more interesting. I took a bunch of photos of it from the parking lot and I actually got some that I thought were better than those for sale.

We stayed the night in Custer and when we were driving around we found Flintstone Land. It was so cool looking. It's for sale and has been shut down for a long time. But it was something else unusual.

Sioux Falls was pretty. We didn't spend much time there though. I like water and thought how they've built up their city and the parks around the river is very well done.

I enjoyed seeing the Corn Palace in Mitchell. I have never seen such intricate work. It was a LOT of fun for me. Anyone that has a little bit of artistic interest will find it fun. It isn't like anything most people have ever seen before.

Then Wall SD is very fun. It's a tourist place though. The signs are a lot of fun since we don't see them anymore. I remember seeing signs along the roadside when I was a kid and traveling all over the states with my parents. The dinosaur is a lot of fun, with a phone camera you can video the sounds and everything. The water is phenomenal. I loved how clean and cold it was. We also ate a meal there and it was very good. They make a great tourist stop. It's worth the time. Plan on several hours.

The Badlands are awe inspiring. You can't be in there and not think back to cowboy and indian days and bandits and wagon trains and more. Camping in the canyons would be an awesome family activity if you do that and enjoy it. We don't. We drove around and hiked a bit then went on our way. But I did get a leather key chain fob with the Badlands stamped into it.

We visited the caves when I was in high school. Nowadays I couldn't do the walking but I hear then have them well done.

We came home through SD from Wyoming. Devil's Thumb is sooooo...amazing. Just looking at it and seeing the size of it and how unusual it is for that area. It's just out of place and strange. So it's different and awesome.

Last thought. This area is full of geological significance. It has areas that show many different time periods in our history, physical levels like dinosaurs and some of North America's first settlers after the ice ages ebbed.

This part of the USA is very interesting and wonder inspiring. BUT! To me, west of the river is MUCH more interesting for our family. We love rocks and finding wonderful things. Coming back home and cutting some of the rocks we've dug, with permission from that land owner (Private lands), and cutting interesting cabochons them mounting them on jewelry we've made. It is so much fun to look at a bracelet or pendant and have a conversation piece on your wrist or neck.

http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/dinosaurdiscovery/ss/The-Di...

http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/fossils-minerals-prehis...

http://www.livescience.com/52679-raptor-fossils-south-dak...

http://history.sd.gov/archaeology/past.aspx

http://paleoportal.org/index.php?globalnav=time_space&amp...

https://www.travelsouthdakota.com/request-free-vacation-g...

one bit of advice - get gas and food in Chamberlain before you head west because it's like 2.5 hours of NOTHING until you hit Wall Drugs. Like, nothing. At all. And that isn't even a big place, so honestly Sioux Falls should be your "this is it, stock up, go pee and expect nothing till dinner" stop. Another long drive is if you are going from Mt. Rushmore up to Theodore Roosevelt State Park in North Dakota. That was about 5 hours of nothing too. But Theodore Roosevelt park is amazing and worth the drive. We had buffalo's come right up to the car!

We did the drive when our kids were 7 and 4, so we just did a DVD and had them read books. Honestly for your age kids I would divide and conquer - if you have smart airbags have them alternate who gets front seat so they aren't sitting right next to each other. That's the best way to stop car fights. I would also make a deal, they can either have electronics in the car or not in the car, so if they chose car (my suggestion) then when they are not in the car they aren't allowed to use them at all. So if they aren't in the car then the devices are in your possession and they can't touch them at all.

We did a lot on our trip, if you want a full list I can write it out. We have done 38 states with the girls now (they are 14 and 17 now) so we have it down pat pretty much. I can write out everything, I just have to look it up, message me if you want all that. I can tell you hotels, stops, things to do, places to eat, etc.