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What to do in South Dakota?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by JayFarrar, May 8, 2010.

  1. JayFarrar

    JayFarrar Well-Known Member

    So the GF has a boss who has a vacation home near Mount Rushmore, and it has been offered up free of charge.
    And we have been entertaining the idea of a vacation there.
    The trip has some downsides. It is roughly 18 hours (or 1,100 miles) by car to get there and it has to be broken up into a two-day trip and after going to Rushmore, that takes up one day, what do you do with the rest of the time there?

    So, South Dakotans or others familiar, what do you do there?

    Neither of us fish or hunt and we aren't particularly jazzed by the idea of backpacking/hiking across the windswept plains. It looks close to Wyoming, Montana and the other Dakota, are there spots to hit that are close by? Is Mount Rushmore so cool, it takes up a couple of days, if not the week?

    Any thoughts?
     
  2. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    If you aren't into hiking, fishing or hunting, then honestly, there's not much to do out there. There's some gorgeous national parks and landscape to see, but that's about it.
     
  3. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    Mount Rushmore is not THAT cool to where it commands an entire vacation. I can't remember the exact proximities of things, because my memory of SD from one end to the other is that it was massive. But the black hills and badlands were pretty cool. The national parks are pretty as anything. Badlands national park has some interesting landscape and a lot of cool gorges. There are bison and buffalo and wild horses and stuff like that. It doesn't sound like that is your thing, though. If you want to keep going toward Montana, Yellowstone is my favorite National Park in the country. It's just beautiful and peaceful beyond anything. I don't hunt or fish, but I can wile away days there just camping and hiking. Again, though, it doesn't sound like your thing. As for cities in South Dakota? Honestly, the state scares me--speaking as a generalization. Even compared to most of the places in Montana I have been, which is pretty tame and chill. Sioux Falls is kind of a big town, yet I have memories of some of the scariest Deliverance-type people I have ever seen, from there. Maybe it was bad experience or the wrong place (one bar in particular), but unless you are into nature, South Dakota doesn't have a ton to offer. The Black Hills are so different from anything else in the country, though, that I think it is worth a trip if you have never been.
     
  4. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    Crazy Horse?
     
  5. Machine Head

    Machine Head Well-Known Member

    http://www.cornpalace.com/index.php
    http://www.walldrug.com/
    http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/
    http://www.deadwood.org/
    http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/

    I'm pressed for time but will try to get back to this.
     
  6. doubledown68

    doubledown68 Active Member

    Corn Palace, Wall Drug, Rushmore... and then a lot of sex, I suppose
     
  7. cougargirl

    cougargirl Active Member

    There's always the Sturgis Rally ...
     
  8. Dan Hickling

    Dan Hickling Member

    You just missed the Rapid City Rush capturing the CHL championship ... I visited the Corn Palace, it was pretty neat ... went to Wall Drug, too (how could you miss it) . That is the height of cheesy ... I would look at such a trip as an educational opportunity ... a chance to see how the population lived on the Great Plains back in the day ... a chance to greater appreciate the Native American contribution to our history ... It's like a time I traveled through Arkansas 25 years ago ... had a catfish breakfast that still has me wanting more ... you just never know what you might find that will click with you ...
     
  9. ucacm

    ucacm Active Member

    I've spent the past eight years of my life in Arkansas and haven't had a catfish breakfast. Can you elaborate? How was the catfish cooked, and what was served with it....
     
  10. novelist_wannabe

    novelist_wannabe Well-Known Member

    It was scrambled ...
     
  11. Dan Hickling

    Dan Hickling Member

    This was smack in the middle of the state, a little diner in Hope (this was pre-Clinton on the big stage) ... catfish was battered and fried, and if memory serves, I had the usual eggs and homefries with it, might have had hush puppies, too ... I'm not much on fish, but when in Hope (yada, yada) ... was glad I did ...
     
  12. KJIM

    KJIM Well-Known Member

    If you're not outdoorsy, there's not much to do, I don't think. But I had a blast. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wall Drugstore, the Badlands. I ran out of time before being able to spelunk. Great photos.
     
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