Mt. Rushmore

any hotels or restaurants near there? Anything else to see between S. California and Rushmore? We plan on Salt Lake City. I know not everything will be open but we are stir crazy. Driving.

Doesnt Arches. Bryce. Teton. And kinda Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, and antelope canyon all sit between so cal and s Dakota? If u drive there should be tons to see?

Between Salt Lake and Rushmore, you could swing Bear Lake, Craters, Tetons and Devils Tower. Three Places you probably wouldn’t make a solo special trip to But since you’re in the middle of nowhere with apparent time…

It been a long time but I don’t remember Wall Drug having any good wine, best to bring your own I’m thinking [rofl.gif]

wife is doing all the planning. I got a D in geography in school. I’m lucky to get to work and back.

Not anything worth going out of your way for.

As long as you’re there, don’t miss Crazy Horse (for a significant donation, they’ll take you up to the work site) or Custer State Park (drive the loop and Needles Highway). Deadwood is another option if you have time (lots of Jews among the founding fathers)

Speaking of Custer, Little Big Horn wouldn’t be a huge detour either. (Well they are all big detours in reality out there!)

Sounds like a blast. How much time are you willing to spend on the trip? For starters, below is google maps estimate of the shortest route between LA and Mt. Rushmore (I recall that you are somewhere in SoCal). That is about 20 hours of driving each way. So you are committed to 40 hours round trip. At 8 hours behind the wheel per day, that is 5 days in the car. As mentioned by others above, there are a ton of scenic places along that route (with an hour diversion to the east here, another to the west there). If you want to spend 8-10-14 days or more, you can see/do a whole lot. A total time budget will allow people to suggest specific routes.

LA to Rushmore (click to enlarge)
LA to Rushmore.jpg

In Gillette, WY is The Prime Rib Restaurant and Wine Cellar. It’s been a few years since I’ve been there, mostly because the 2-4 times a year I drive thru there the timing is such that I am not stopping for the night and having dinner. Gillette is a few hours West of the Rapid City/Black Hills area.

I have been to the Pteime Rib a dozen or more times over the last 30 years. The owner, Ken Barkey, is a wine collector and sometime in the last 15 years he remodeled a medium size place with a great (and at the time underpriced) wine list into a larger place wih a showcase 10,000 bottle cellar on site. In the old days, I would spend time perusing the wine list and ordering a nice bottle, and Ken would come over to my table and talk wine with me. He had a bottle of 1990 DRC RC on the list for $1,100, probably worth $5K at the time, and I had to ask about it. He had bought a mixed DRC case and had sold a couple bottles from it for more than he’d paid for the case originally. On another trip, I bought 2 bottles of 1990 Niellon Chevalier (to take home) from his private cellar for $200 per bottle, stored in his private home cellar.

Just checked their reserve list online, and.he still has 1990 DRC Echezeaux and Grands Eche, but now priced at $2,800 and $3,950 respectively. Not much listed on the reserve list, more focused on CA cabs than old world stuff. Anyway, the only restaurant on I-90 between Seattle and southern MN worth a special stop, IMO.

Also, if your trip takes you thru Buffalo, WY, there is a very nice Hampton Inn that is a huge cut above other hotels in the area, and for that matter, Hampton Inns in other areas. Nice large pool area and hot tub, and a large outdoor patio with tables to sit and look out at a beautiful manicured lawn, a river making a bend about 100’ from the patio, along with a couple horses in a neighboring pasture. Relaxing and nice. They host occasional weddings on the lawn.

Alan, do not attempt this trip any time in the next 30 days. It appears Sturgis is happening this year, despite COVID-19, and that event is expected to draw about 250K:

Annual Sturgis rally expecting 250K, stirring virus concerns

Sturgis is on. The message has been broadcast across social media as South Dakota, which has seen an uptick in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, braces to host hundreds of thousands of bikers for the 80th edition of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

More than 250,000 people are expected to rumble through western South Dakota, seeking the freedom of cruising the boundless landscapes in a state that has skipped lockdowns. The Aug. 7 to 16 event, which could be the biggest anywhere so far during the pandemic, will offer businesses that depend on the rally a chance to make up for losses caused by the coronavirus. But for many in Sturgis, a city of about 7,000, the brimming bars and bacchanalia will not be welcome during a pandemic.

Though only about half the usual number of people are expected at this year’s event, residents were split as the city weighed its options. Many worried that the rally would cause an unmanageable outbreak of COVID-19.

“This is a huge, foolish mistake to make to host the rally this year,” Sturgis resident Lynelle Chapman told city counselors at a June meeting. “The government of Sturgis needs to care most for its citizens.” * * *

https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/annual-sturgis-rally-expecting-250k-stirring-virus-concerns/article_cff253ad-d389-58dd-b699-308e46d40eb4.html

I agree, Terry. Expect a huge increase in positive cases from the 3rd week of August thru the first week of September, and hope it doesn’t spread to other nearby areas. If I had photoshop skills, I’d come up with a picture of Mt. Rushmore wearing masks.

Thanks all—we are leaving on 20th and will meander. Lots of great ideas. Home wine cellar will be guarded!

There is the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD.

A bit out of the way, but it’s the only time I’ve seen Elvis done in corn.
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For the most part I disliked South Dakota. Mt. Rushmore is my least favorite park by a mile. I’d take a trip to any of the places Mark and Robert mentioned above over it. I suppose it’s something people should/want to see though.

There’s virtually nothing in the Badlands in the way of amenities so be prepared if you go there. I’d take a trip to Petrified Forest or even Teddy Roosevelt NP over a trip to the Badlands. The Corn Palace is a 10 minute stop and a resounding meh. My favorite thing in SD was going to the Trial of Jack McCall in Deadwood but somehow I doubt that’s still going on. Second favorite was the Minuteman Missile Silo. Sorry to be a downer but there’s probably a good reason why they put a huge tourist trap like Mt. Rushmore in SD…

After posting all your travel info I’m getting the sense that you don’t trust us with your cellar Alan? How big is the guard, or if a dog does he like Flannery? :slight_smile:

This too far from the Black Hills, but if you do the drive from Seattle to Southern Minnesota, this is worth the detour off I90.
https://www.archieswaeside.com/home

Have you been to Custer State Park and Needles? Pretty awesome in my view. Best view of my Rushmore is through a tunnel on Needles Highway.

We stayed at a farm just south of the Badlands and had a nice time, with nighttime sky tours with park rangers.

We didn’t do either of those but did stay near Custer St Park. I think at the point we had seen enough Bison in Yellowstone. I did forget about Jewel and Wind Caves which are amazing. Stunning really. Those were 1,000x better than Mammoth Cave in Kentucky.

Mt Rushmore is awesome, for one hour, then it’s “now what?”