This post contains affiliate links. We may earn compensation when you click on the links at no additional cost to you.
Day three in Rapid City, South Dakota was so full of memory-making moments for our family and I am so excited to share all about it in this sponsored post.
By day three we felt like we really had a good handle of the layout of the area and we were determined to pack as much into the day as possible. Looking back at the pictures, I am a bit surprised just how much we really did do. Rapid City is a popular road trip destination, but since I’ve started sharing everything that is family-friendly in the area, I’ve had more and more people tell me they are planning to fly in to save time on the drive and have more time to really enjoy the area. I think either way you can’t go wrong, but making sure you have as much time as possible here is a good idea, no matter how you get here!
We started the day with coffee- a lot of coffee! I kept telling myself how great of an idea that was. The caffeine rush was totally used when we got to Rushmore Tramway Adventures right after breakfast!
Located right down the hill from Mount Rushmore, this is a great place to stretch your legs and have some active fun together as a family. As you can tell, the girls weren’t excited at all! Ha!
We started with a ride up to the top of the hill, (which by the way has a cafe and a view of Mount Rushmore) and rode the alpine slide down!
Then it was off to the adventure course!
There is also a very long zip line that is a must-do for the thrill-seekers in your life!
After that, it was lunchtime. We ate in Keystone, which is a big tourist area at the base of Mount Rushmore. There are really cute shops and restaurants. Buffets and pizza seem to be a big thing here so take a little walk down the main street and check out all the choices before deciding on one!
After lunch, it was time to check something off our family travel wishlist, seeing Mount Rushmore in person!
This was such a powerful moment for us all.
Even Emmy was in awe. It is one thing to see this in a school textbook, but to walk up the stairs from the parking structure and see the flags lining the walkway, and then see the carvings in the mountain…it really does take your breath away!
There are bleachers right at the base of the mountain where you can take pictures and just sit and really take it all in, which we totally did. After that, we went down to the lower level and watched a documentary on how Mount Rushmore was built. We all took away a lot more knowledge and understanding of just how big of a task it was to create and I would recommend everyone watch it. Right next to the theater is the gift shop… another recommended stop.
If you are hungry for a full meal, or just a snack, the restaurant at Mount Rushmore is a surprisingly great option. The restaurant has daily homemade options featuring good ole comfort food. We had already had lunch, but I took a look at the options and I couldn’t believe the great food they were serving. But our favorite part was the ice cream shop! They serve huge sundaes, but the real show stopper was the vanilla ice cream! It is made using Thomas Jefferson’s actual recipe!
Before we left, we took in a couple more moments of this view. Emmy was near tears telling us all how she “waited her whole life for this moment”. Granted she is only seven, but there were so many other people talking about how powerful it was to see this in person. Pete helped take pictures for some other visitors (having huge cameras around your neck, this becomes a common thing for us), but it is also a great ice breaker to meet and talk to new people. Multiple people told us they had traveled thousands of miles to see Mount Rushmore and it was even better than they could have imagined!
We could have stopped our day right here and still been thrilled, but I’m so glad we kept on exploring because we visited another really cool place, the Rush Mountain Adventure Park!
This adventure park has a zip line, hillside coaster and a HUGE cave to tour!
Here is more about Rushmore Cave:
This fun and educational underground guided cave tour reveals the beautiful and amazing carvings formed by nature. Explore subterranean passageways that lead to spectacular stalactite rooms and discover other natural limestone cave formations. An expert guide will lead you on a one-hour journey through local history, cave geology and the many untold stories that reveal the hidden world that lies beneath us. Itās a total must-do attraction for anyone visiting the Black Hills.
The scenic walking tour is great for the whole family. The tour is approximately 1 hour in length. Some stooping in places for low ceiling & ability to climb stairs necessary. Come at your convenience, no reservations required. The last cave tour leaves one hour before closing.
This was our first cave adventure for our family and we are still talking about it. There were so many educational and conservation lessons taught during this tour, but it felt 100% fun. I love when we are all able to learn new things on our adventures and this was a great experience for us! Just a little planning tip:
Just a little planning tip: The cave is large and extensive. You go in one end and out the other and the tour takes about an hour to complete. It is also cool inside the cave so a perfect mid-afternoon activity for when it gets hot outside!
We have all seen the reproduction of the insides of caves at amusement parks, but seeing the real deal in person is pretty amazing!
Inside the cave are crawlspace passageways to other “rooms” that are only accessible via their adventure tours. There is no way I would be able to talk myself into that kind of tour, but plenty of people do! To see if you can fit through the entrances they have this bench with cutouts. Both girls were the right size and totally would have done the tours!
Maybe next time on that one girls! We ended up going on the coaster at the end of our time here and everyone loved it, especially the view from above looking over the Black Hills!
I loved the position of their zip line too! We were also able to see a group of deer passing through at the same time. It seems like everyone was loving the sunset!
We had hoped to go back to for the Evening Lighting Ceremony at Mount Rushmore, but due to a midday rainstorm, our schedule was flip-flopped around a bit, but a passenger on our flight home did go see it one day and showed me pictures. I was blown away by how beautiful it was. If you can go, you really should. We are not going to miss it on our next visit! Speaking of that wonderful lady on our plane ride home (hi if you are reading this), she was sharing her itinerary for her visit and there were only a few overlapping things that we both did… and her vacation was also jam-packed. It really showed that there are so many great activities in the area. She even extended her stay to do more!
Hi Heather, no I haven’t been to Mount Rushmore yet but I would love to see it in person. Thanks for sharing about your fun and eye opening trip!
I have never been to South Dakota! The trip looked fantastic and I love seeing all the smiles!
Thanks for sharing these great ideas. We’ve been in South Dakota, but we’ve never had the opportunity to visit Rapid City.
This is one place I have always wanted to visit. I had no idea there was so much to do in the area.
I have never been to Mount Rushmore but it seems like it would be a great experience. My daughter would love to do the adventure course.
I love that South Dakota has so much hands on nature activities. I would love to try out just about everything you all did!
South Dakota is on my travel bucket list, I was told a long distance relative helped carve out Mt. Rushmore. Looks like so much to do, family friendly!
I’ve never been to South Dakota, but it’s definitely on my bucket list. I’m not brave enough to try all of the high up stuff, but that slide sure does look like a lot of fun.
South Dakota looks like an amazing state to visit. I hope to get my kids out to Mouth Rushmore in the future!
I would love to take the zip line down. The Cafe with the view of Mount Rushmore would be a great place to relax for a little bit.
I’ve seen Mount Rushmore from airplanes. It always leaves me in awe. Who would think to carve out Presidents on a mountain.
I have been there a few times, but I didn’t know that it had all this other stuff there! WOW! I want to do that zipline.
Looks like you had a fun vacation! Thanks for sharing your fun memories.
I had no idea there was so much to do in South Dakota! It’s beautiful there!
Those caves were awesome looking. How can you not visit Mount Rushmore? What a great trip.
Definitely on our family bucket list! I would love to see Mt. Rushmore up close and personal. These may be things to do with kids, but this mama can’t wait.
Great ideas! We’ve never been to SD but I’d love to go. We want to see Mt. Rushmore.
Such a great adventure: I love exploring new (for me) areas. I really hope to get out to SD one day
Looks like such an amazing adventure! SO much fun and a perfect day out with the family! xx corinne
This is so fun!! I would love to try this with the kids!
It is on my wishlist to drive across the country and stay here for a day. So much to do!
Oh wow! I did this as a kid and it wasn’t near as fun as this! So we might reconsider our roadtrip!
As the wife of a geologist I love everything about caves! This looks like a lot of fun for the whole family!
This looks like so much fun. I would love to try these activities when my children get a little bit older!
This look like a fun filled adventure. I have really heard a lot of good things about South Dakota.
I love Mount Rushmore we visited there when I was younger and it was quite the experience.
You packed it in on this trip and what I love is how the photos show yout fun times and no crowds! Now, I’m ready for my scoop of that humongous ice cream.
Hope you had a great time in Rapid City! I lived there for a year last year! So much to explore there!! š
Looks like you had such a great time. I would love to visit one day.
It looks like you all had a lot of fun!!! I would love to go there one day!
Looks like an amazing experience! Will keep in mind when traveling, thank you š
“I’ve waited my whole life for this moment” — that’s too adorable! I’m sure she will remember this for a very long time. I am American and I still need to get to Rushmore.
Mount Rushmore looks amazing! Our 2 little adventurers would love a vacation like this. It looks like so much fun!
We’ve never been in South Dakota but we are so adding Rapid City to our travel list. Lovely pictures!!!
This looks awesome. Iād love to go here with my daughter. The pictures and moments look unforgettable.
I so enjoyed this post, we plan our vacation ideas a year in advance and Mount Rushmore is one of our trips this year, excited to check into some of the other places you guys visited as well!
That is awesome! You will have so much fun there!
Amazing post.Love reading your post.Pictures are to good.I would also love to visit here with my Wife and my 4 kids.Thanks for the vacation idea.Thanks for the post also.Keep sharing.
Oh my goodness what a fun sounding place this seems to be. It really seems like you are making some life long memories and just having a great time!
Your family looks so happy there! Lucky you! š
South Dakota is no doubt a beautiful place. It’s a perfect destination for a fun family getaway.