Destination 5
Rapid City, SD
The View
At this point in our travels, we drove 6 hours west from Sioux Falls, past hundreds of miles of fields and fence lines (above), and spent the next 4 nights in Rapid City, SD, as a jumping off point to see Mt. Rushmore, Badlands National Park, and the Black Hills. Our first evening in Rapid City, we made the 30-minute drive into the Black Hills for a short visit to Mt. Rushmore.
To be honest, Mt. Rushmore wasn’t a high priority for me, but since we were close, we "had to do it." I ended up really enjoying the hour we spent there viewing the mountain, particularly because I was able to get a very up close look at the presidential faces using binoculars.
Also Check Out
During our stay in Rapid City (founded by "unsuccessful miners" in 1876), we also enjoyed the historic downtown, including by seeing the film In The Heights at the historic and beautiful Elks Theater. I wasn't expecting to view a movie about Washington Heights, NYC and urban Latino-Caribbean culture with a small group of South Dakotans, but it was a lot of fun.
If you swim for exercise, Rapid City has a fantastic aquatics center. We purchased day passes, so I could get in some laps while beating the July heat.
See my next two posts for info about our visits to Custer State Park and Badlands National Park.
The Room
Canyon Lake Airbnb is located about 10 minutes from downtown Rapid City, in a quiet residential/small business neighborhood. The cottage-style property was clean and fully stocked, and included a full kitchen, laundry and a comfortable living area. The bathroom and bedroom were small, but workable. This property is adjacent to a small strip mall, which did not cause any problems for us. After seeing the very busy and touristy lodging and food available near Mt. Rushmore and Badlands National Park, we were thankful we stayed in quiet Rapid City.
Great Meals in Rapid City
To be candid, we weren’t expecting an international food scene in Rapid City, but we were wrong. These were our favorites:
Breakfast at Alternative Fuel in downtown Rapid City. The "farmer's quiche," biscuits and gravy, all-fruit smoothie and coffee were great at this cozy location.
Dinner at Jambonz Deux. We had hearty and tasty Louisiana/Cajun dinner at this very popular spot located in a strip mall near our Airbnb location.
We were surprised to find ramen, including Bison ramen, at the very fun Bokujo Ramen, located downtown. Johnny enjoyed watching vintage Starman Japanese television and sipping Ramune soda during his meal.
