Black Hills Family Fun Guide: Explore South Dakota's Badlands, Devils Tower & Black Hills

by Kindra Gordon

Overview

Discover the Faces and Places of South Dakota

The Black Hills Family Fun Guide is your key to the perfect family getaway. Whether you’re a first—time visitor or a lifelong resident, this full—color guidebook leads you on a modern—day adventure through the best that South Dakota has to offer. From hiking and horseback riding to museums and theaters, author Kindra Gordon’s tips and trivia help you to make the most out of every experience. The easy—to—read guide features more than 150 family—friendly attractions and is arranged by such themes as Dinosaurs Galore, Meaningful Museums, and Puttin’ on a Show. Neat—to—know facts introduce the people, places, and history, while maps help you find South Dakota’s hidden treasures. Discover the faces and places of South Dakota. Blaze new trails and share experiences that you’ll cherish forever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591937357
Publisher:	Adventure Publications, Incorporated
Publication date:	05/16/2017
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	136
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Kindra Gordon first began spinning stories when she was in second grade and still enjoys the thrill of putting words to paper. Raised on a ranch in South Dakota, she is an agricultural journalism graduate from South Dakota State Universityin Brookings. Today, she works as a freelance writer for national cattle magazines including BEEF, Angus Journal, and Western Cowman. She has also written travel articles for AAA’s Home&Away magazine and has taught newspaper design and feature writing as an adjunct professor in the Mass Communications Department at Black Hills State Universityin Spearfish, South Dakota. Kindra and her husband, Bruce, live near Sturgis, South Dakota, with their four children, and they wake up every day to an inspiring view of the Black Hills.

Read an Excerpt

Western Style

If it is a chuckwagon dinner and a Western music show you hunger for, there are several options during the summer months throughout the Black Hills. 

98. Circle B Chuckwagon Supper and Cowboy Music Show

Set amid the forest of the Black Hills and adjacent to the High Country Guest Ranch, which includes cabin and camping accommodations, the Circle B Chuckwagon includes the storefront of a Western town, gem panning, an on—site wood—carver, mock gunfights, wax bullet pistol shooting and a gift shop, making it enjoyable for all ages. The venue opens at 4 p.m. daily and the dinner bell rings at 5:30 p.m. Dinner is served rain or shine in the chuckwagon barn and features baked beans, a foil—wrapped potato, BBQ beef or chicken, applesauce, biscuits and spice cake. After dinner, guests are entertained with an authentic cowboy music show, along with a side dish of ranch humor. For guests looking for more than just an evening of entertainment, High Country Guest Ranch also offers cabin rentals, trail rides, ATV rentals and other amenities.

Open Monday through Saturday, Memorial Day through Labor Day; Fee charged; 12138 Ray Smith Dr. (at High Country Guest Ranch), Hill City, SD 57745; (605) 574—2129; www.circle—b—ranch.com; http://highcountryranch.com

99. Fort Hays Chuckwagon Supper and Old West Town Dinner Show

“Eatin’, fiddlin’, strummin’ and drummin’ till the cows come home” is the tagline used at the Fort Hays Chuckwagon and Dinner Show. Conveniently located five miles south of Rapid City on US Hwy. 16 on the way to Mount Rushmore, the Fort Hays setting features an old West town. Guests can explore original buildings from the Dances With Wolves movie set, which was filmed in South Dakota. An outdoor wooden boardwalk leads visitors from one building to the next, and craftsmen are on hand daily to share their skills from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Workshop areas include a tin shop, a rope shop, a post office, a blacksmith shop, a sawmill and a penny press. At 6:30 p.m. it’s time for supper, with meals served on tin plates made on the premises in the tin shop. (You can make or buy one of your own on site, too.) Baked beans, chuckwagon potatoes, sliced beef or baked chicken, ranch biscuits, applesauce and spice cake round out the menu. At 7:15 p.m. the Fort Hays Wranglers take the stage with a music and variety show that delivers toe—tapping fun.

Additionally, Fort Hays serves all—you—can—eat cowboy pancakes each morning until 11 a.m., and offers a day—long chartered bus tour of the Black Hills that begins with the breakfast and ends with the chuckwagon supper and music show.

Open seven days a week, mid—May thru early October; Fee charged; 2255 Fort Hayes Dr. (5 miles south of Rapid City on US Hwy. 16), Rapid City, SD 57702; (888) 342—3113; http://mountrushmoretours.com/

100. Blue Bell Lodge Hayride and Chuck Wagon Cookout

You’ll hop aboard a hayride for this evening outing. Guests are treated to a souvenir hat and bandanna and serenaded with cowboy songs as the old—time wagon makes its way to a meadow in Custer State Park to enjoy an evening feast. The ride is about 45 minutes, and buffalo and other wildlife are usually spotted during the journey. Once in the meadow, a hearty meal of grilled steaks, cowboy beans, cornbread and honey, potato salad, coleslaw, watermelon and cookies awaits. More music follows the meal to round out the memorable evening. Hayrides depart at 5 p.m. nightly from Blue Bell Lodge and return by 8 p.m. For reservations call (605) 255—4531 or (888) 875—0001. For more about Custer State Park, see page 67.

Cookout offered Memorial Day to early October; Fee charged; Custer State Park (605) 255—4515; http://custerresorts.com/activities/activities—in—the—park/hayride—chuck— wagon—cookout/