Mount Rushmore!!!

We love Mount Rushmore!

As a kid I remember packing the car full and heading to Mount Rushmore...quite a hike from Central Illinois! Now we only live 8 or 9 hours (depending on the weather) from it since we reside in Omaha, so to us its a much easier drive! Another plus is that my husband's job takes him there once a month so we try and tag along twice a year. Not only are there a ton of family friendly attractions to keep us busy, but there are also two great hotels with indoor waterparks we love to stay at!

The drive to South Dakota may be long, but there are a few fun stops along the way that you will see road signs for hours from where they are. One is the Mitchell, SD Corn Palace, and the other is Wall Drug!!! Once you hit Wall Drug, you know you are getting closer to Rapid City, which is where we stay when visiting Mount Rushmore! You can learn more about these two attractions at http://www.cornpalace.org and http://www.walldrug.com.

Once we make it to Rapid City, we always stay at one of two places, either the Best Western Ramkota http://www.ramkota.com  or the Watiki Water Resort www.watikiwaterpark.com/. Both have some of the best indoor water parks I have been to, as well as terrific restaurants! We usually switch it up each trip to do both...but tend to lean towards Watiki for the water park (they even have the toilet bowl water slide inside!) and then the Ramkota for the restaurant. Surrounding both hotels are many new stores and restaurants...so on the days you may not venture to one of the numerous family attractions, there is plenty to do around the hotel!

Downtown Keystone

Now, as for the attractions around Mount Rushmore...you could easily spend a week in South Dakota and not see everything! Of course a must do is see what they are famous for...the President heads!!! Even Paige at 5 was in awe. If you go, make sure you also take one of the hiking trails that gets you very, very close to the heads for a completely different vantage point! More information on this attraction can be found at http://www.nps.gov/moru/index.htm.

After we pay a visit to our Presidents, we always stay in Keystone, which is where the actual Mount Rushmore landmark can be found, and many, many fun things to do. One of our new favorites is the alpine slide, which begins with a ride up a ski lift to the top, where you can then choose from one of two tracks to go down. One slower, and one much faster! You can guess which route we all took! :)

Other must see spots on our visit include Rushmore Cave, Reptile Gardens, Bear Country and panning for gold. I have included some pictures of these so you can check out the fun!

Bear Country!

Alpine Slide! 

Putt Putt!

Panning for Gold! 

One of our favorite places in all of South Dakota is Cosmo's Mystery Area. I don't want to give too much away on this magical spot, but when you drive up to it, you may question my sanity, but trust me. It is a must do!!!!!!!!!!

A great starting point to figure out what you really want to make sure and hit is by visiting http://www.travelsd.com/ or feel free to ask me! I feel like I have become somewhat of an expert in the area because of all the times we have visited. We even have started a new family tradition where over New Years we stay at one of the hotels. Now many of the attractions are closed for the season, but the Rapid City area just has so many great restaurants and indoor activities, we never run out of things to do!!!