Hello everybody,
We are a family of 8 who are going to Minneapolis in July/August.
Our plan is after some days in Minneapolis to rent two cars and drive to Rapid City since we would like to see Mount Rushmore. We have never been in Minnesota or South Dakota before. Can anyone suggest a good scenic route and what to see on the way. Maybe some nice places/cities to stay overnight ? We are 3 generations, the youngest 9 years old, the oldest 68 years old. Maybe there are something fun for the kids to see on the way as well ?
Marissa from Copenhagen, Denmark
Driving from Minneapolis to Rapid City
I did that drive straight thru a few years back from Minneapolis. I did stop at Wahl Drug to see the place.
I took Interstate 35W south out of Minneapolis, and connectect up with I-90 west in southern Minnesota.
Consider stopping at the Mitchell Corn Palace on the way.
There%26#39;s so much for the family to see in that part of South Dakota. Do some leg-work and put together a loop. We visited Mt. Rushmore, Crazyhorse, the park you can drive thru with the buffalo roaming, a few days in Deadwood SD and did some gambling, and then a side trip into Wyoming to see the Devil%26#39;s Tower - very impressive.
Have fun !!
Driving from Minneapolis to Rapid City
I agree with I-90. Mitchell Corn Palace, Badlands and WALL drug all in South Dakota.
The Black Hills/MT Rushmore area is amazing. Pan for gold and buy gold jewelry, visit town of Deadwood(boot hill cemetery) , explore caves, steam train ride, ride horse back and see buffalo. South Dakota is flat and farming except for the Black Hills. Expect SODAK to be hot that time of year.
www.southdakotabeautiful.com
www.minnesotabeautiful.com
www.exploreminnesota.com
Thank you both very much for your reply.
The Corn Palace and Wall Drug both looks very interesting, so we will stop there.
Deadwood sounds great and we would love to pan for gold and see buffalo.
We will have around 16-17 days all together. We will start with 2 days in Minneapolis and also end up with 3-4 days there before flying back home. So we have 10-11 days on the road.
Around how many days should we spend in the Black Hills/Mount Rushmore area to see the most important things ? We were also thinking about taking a different route back to Minneapolis, so we can use some days on that. Is North Dakota worth visting or maybe spending some days in Duluth at the Lake Superior instead.
Thanks again.
A great halfway-point stop for you on the way to the Black Hills would be Pipestone in southwest Minnesota, half an hour north of Luverne on I-90. It%26#39;s the site of the famous Plains Indians quarries (still operating) and Pipestone National Monument, www.nps.gov/pipe. The Keepers of the Sacred Tradition of Pipemakers have scheduled a traditional powwow in town for July 25-26. It%26#39;s small (we were there last year) but easygoing, and the dancers will encourage you to join them in the circle.
The best place to stay is the Calumet Hotel downtown. The kids can swim at Pipestone%26#39;s Family Aquatic Center, which has slides and geysers.
Blue Mounds State Park just north of Luverne has a large buffalo herd and great hiking trails. If the kids want to cool off before they get to Luverne, the towns of Fairmont and Worthington, right on I-90, have lakes.
Have your kids read the ';Little House on the Prairie%26#39;%26#39; books? You could go out or come back through De Smet, S.D., site of four of Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and Walnut Grove, Minn., site of ';On the Banks of Plum Creek%26#39;%26#39; and the TV series. Both towns are holding outdoor pageants the last three weekends of July. I%26#39;ve been to both, and kids (and even adults) love them. Check them out at www.desmetpageant.org and www.walnutgrove.org. There%26#39;s a nice municipal pool with slides in the town of Springfield, near Walnut Grove. Also nearby is a real sod house that you can visit or even stay in, www.sodhouse.org.
Hope you enjoy our state --
Beth at MidwestWeekends.com
This is a long, flat trip, but the Black Hills are worth it and there are a FEW things to do along the way. The best attractions along the way are natural, in my opinion. The man-made stuff is kitschy, at best, but probably enjoyable for kids.
If you take I-90, which is fastest, I agree with the poster who recommended Pipestone in Minnesota. A neat national monument.
Mitchell and the corn palace weren%26#39;t really what I expected, but interesting enough.
The vista over the Missouri River in Chamberlain can be beautiful at the right time of day.
I LOVE Badlands National Park. The landscape here is like the moon. Consider spending a day or two here. It%26#39;s very near the Interstate and there is a lodge in the park and at least one good B%26amp;B very nearby (Circle View Guest Ranch, I believe). This park is best early in the morning and at sunset, and there%26#39;s a surprising amount of wildlife for what seems like such a desolate landscape. Wall Drug is nearby if you%26#39;re interested in that. If you have people interested in military history, the Minute Man Missile National historic site is right by the Badlands, but a lot of their tours of the old missile silos are by appointment only.
If you%26#39;re willing to get off the Interstate, there are nice state parks in Minnesota and in South Dakota along the Missouri, but I%26#39;ve only ever taken I-90.
Finally, Jewel Cave and Wind Cave are two more great national parks once you get to the Black Hills. Consider touring the caves. Have a great trip!
Perhaps check out Viborg, SD? They have a local Danish celebration in Mid-July (3rd weekend) if you want to time trip for then. An alternate route to Mitchell (south on I-29, West on 14 miles US 18 to Viborg then afterward more west on 18 to Tripp and north to Mitchell on 37.
http://www.danishdays.com/schedule.htm (2008 schedule)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viborg%2C_SD
Or, a week later, Aebleskiver Days in Tyler, MN (near Pipestone).
http://www.aebleskiverdays.com/
Either one might be interesting to see where some Danish ';cousins'; ended up and you would be the stars of the show. At the very least, even not during the festivals, either might be a good glimpse and small town America. Minnesota (and South Dakota) were the great melting pot in the 1800%26#39;s for immigrants from all over...Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, Poles, Irish....and many more. Still today too with Hmong and Somali immigrants, mostly in the Twin Cities.
Thanks all of You... for Your great help.
You have given us so many good ideas on what to see, so we are starting to have a very full schedule.
Seaburytraveler : We love The Little House on the Prairie, not only the kids but also us adults, so I am so glad that you mentioned it. The powwow sounds like a great experience as well.
RadioJeff : I looked up Badlands National Park, it looks amazing, like a landscape on the moon as you wrote. The cave touring sounds like a good idea as well.
Sequim88 : We had no idea about the Danish celebration days and the city of Viborg in SD, thanks for writing about that.Viborg is infact also the name of a Danish city over here. So that would be so fun to experience. The same with the aebleskive days.
Thanks again so much, We are really looking forward to our visit in Minnesota and South Dakota.
Another very fun and interesting unique thing to do is www.mammothsite.com a real escavation with palentologists finding mammoth fossils. You are actually right there and it is cool. After visiting there just down the road is www.evansplunge.com a hot springs ';waterpark'; that feels really great on a hot day. Both are located in the Hot Springs, SD area of the Black Hills. I enjoyed much more then I expected to. Definitely worth a look.
Bobkitten,
When you get to Rapid City and the Black Hills area, make sure you drive the Needles Highway. There are also several roads that lead to and from several of the small towns that nestle in the Black Hills.
I suggest that you check out several of the lodges in Custer State Park. These lodges range from rustic to high end, but altogether fit the area they are in, the West. My particular favorite is Sylvan Lake Lodge. Just around the corner from there is Sylvan Lake. This is the beautiful lake you see if you watched National Treasure when they were around Mount Rushmore. Sylvan Lake is at one of the trailheads that can take you to Harney Peak. While it is an 3+ mile hike one way, the view is very spectacular. Bring plenty of water, leave early in the morning to avoid the heat on the way back and enjoy the beauty of the Black Hills. If you are not that adventurous, drive up the winding roads to the top of Mount Coolidge. Still a great view without the long hike, but would recommend the hike. By the way, best part of the Black Hills, no bears.
www.custerresorts.com
Lastly, I would recommend that you take the 2 hour drive to Devils Tower. Hopefully, you will see the folks climbing. It is amazing how fast some of them can climb. Take the inside loop for a good close up view or the outer loop to get more of a perspective. If you want, rent a camper cabin at the KOA at the entrance of the park. Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind was film at this site. I hope you can tell this is one of my favorite locations.
Enjoy
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