Best Western Town & Country Inn

Get a National Park Service Passport

by Hopkid

These are really fun and spark interest in the National Park Service system. The brainchild of a marketing genius, the purchaser can get a stamp from each of the NPS sites he or she visits. The collection of these stamps, similar to postal cancellation postmarks (which include the name of the park and the date visited) become fun to collect. It's a great way to get the kids (of all ages!) excited about going to different parks, monuments, seashores, etc. that are operated by the NPS.

The passport itself is reasonably priced and the stamps are, of course, free. Each NPS facility has a stamp available at the visitor's center. If you don't see it just ask the ranger on duty. Some (e.g., Mt. Rushmore, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse) have special stamps with a depiction of the area/monument. Great fun!

You can obtain an NPS passport at any park Visitor's Center or online at the National Park Service Store.

Around Rapid City you can get stamps at Mt. Rushmore National Memorial, Badlands National Park, and Jewel Cave National Monument.

The Journey Museum

by Scottyj36

This is a Museum that traces the history of the local area from prehistoric times to modern times. Displays include a few dinosaurs, History of the local Indians, and the pioneers as well as the mining and gold rush. It is a very good museum that takes about 2 hours to go thru. Admisson for Adults was $6

The Hub of the Black Hills

by Toughluck

"Geology abounds at every turn"

South Dakota's landscapes reflect the underlying rocks and the ancient overburden of massive continental glaciers.

East side of the state was covered by glaciers that once stood a mile or more (2 km's or more) at their thickest. These massive ice sheets pushed and scraped the surface of the earth, reforming the land. Today, the structure of the east side of the state shows rivers and valley that flow north and south.

The divide separating the east side from the west is the Missouri River. In many ways, it is the front edge of the glacial ice. All the streams taht once flowed to the east poured their waters up against a wall of ice and turned southward, following the ice front until it created a new river. The same was true of the water running off the glacier.

The west side of the state was not touched by glaciers and reveals the land as it once preceded the cold ice age. Streams flow in an eastward direction, cutting into the soft soils, creating escarpments of spires and slender step ravines. It is in these badlands along the valley sides that ancient fossils have been found. Where a plumb of hard rock was encountered, the rains and snows of the ages have washed the soils away, leaving a dome of hills, dark in color.

"Public Lands of the Black Hills"