Hello! We recently took a trip to Rapid City, SD via Minneapolis and Sioux Falls, and we had a great time taking in all of the roadside attractions, national parks and monuments. Kelly and I took this trip along with my two sons, aged 10 and 12, who had an absolute blast despite a couple of long days in the car. We had Mad Libs and phones for distraction, because there was a whole lot of corn and soybeans along the drive, and not too much else. I’ve decided to keep the pictures including the boys private, but show some of what the four of us saw together. They were the photographers for many of the pictures (thanks, guys!).
First things first, and as always there was quite a bit of planning for this trip. We weren’t sure exactly how to make it work! We really wanted to see Mount Rushmore as the highlight of the vacation, and our first itinerary for the 9 days we had were just too much driving- fly to Salt Lake City, rent a car and drive to Salmon, Idaho to visit a friend, drive to Yellowstone, drive to Cody, Wyoming, see Rapid City– it shaped up to be too much time in the car, and it wouldn’t even include the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota! So about a week out we switched our itinerary, deciding to fly into Minneapolis, spend an evening and a morning, thence to Sioux Falls via the route that gave us as many roadside attractions as possible, and finally into Rapid City, where we would spend the bulk of our trip. Here’s the car we booked:
As you may know, rental car prices are sky high right now. A compact car at the airport was going to run us about $100 per day. So I checked out Turo, an app (or just the website) that facilitates owners of cars renting them to people like us, and found this beauty for slightly more (note- we’re not being paid by Turo). A word about this Jaguar- wow. Long, powerful, a ton of leg room in the back, and sunroofs in both the front and rear. It ran on premium gas, and used a fair amount of it, but if you can swing it it isn’t much more than the compact car and SO MUCH MORE COMFORTABLE AND AWESOME. Check Turo before renting as one usually does, and you may be pleasantly surprised (this is just my experience- we’re not endorsing Turo. KELLY MADE ME SAY IT).
We flew on Alaska Airlines and arrived late at night for our first stay, at the Millenium Minnesota. It was a perfectly serviceable hotel, and the boys were very excited because it was the first time they had their own room. I let them know when we’d be leaving, and at 6:30am on the dot there was a knock on the door- there they were, bags packed, hats on heads, and ready to go! This NEVER happens. While I went to get the car, Kelly and the boys saw some of Minneapolis, and when I met up with them an hour or so later we walked along the Missouri River and had a tour of the St. Anthony Falls locks before heading out to our first stop….in Darwin, Minnesota…..HOME OF THE……BIGGEST BALL OF TWINE IN MINNESOTA!!!!!!!!
After this wondrous attraction, it was into the car and off to the next:
That’s right… the world’s largest invisible ball of twine. First we stopped in Sioux Falls for the night, with a last stop at the biggest battleship in South Dakota (insert into Weird Al song for an entirely new experience).
We were pretty beat, but the boys had their own room again, and some time in the pool, and a night walk to see the Arc of Dreams before bed.
Add Some Glamour 