All, looking for ideas of places to see on the way up to Mount Rushmore from B/CS. Have the area around Mount Rushmore covered but looking for stuff on the way to and from. We plan to go straight up through Dallas directly to SD. On the way back we plan to go via Amarillo. Any suggestions on places in Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska along those routes would be appreciated. Not sure if we will venture into eastern Colorado or not.

OK City has the white water rafting center, that's a lot of fun. There's also an awesome science museum there if you are taking kids.

I echo Scottsbluff suggestion, I watched the solar eclipse there last year and it was a neat place.

On the way back through Amarillo, of course we've got Palo Duro Canyon, and the Alibates flint quarry up by Lake Meredith. I haven't done the latter but have heard good things about it.

If you head east from Wall SD towards the entrance to Badlands NP, there is a Minuteman Missile museum. It's a quick visit, but very cool.

Research the Needles Highway and be sure to drive that while in the Rushmore area.

Deadwood is a neat town if you're into western history.

Thanks all, we are planning to do Palo Duro, I just found out. One of the reasons we are going through Amarillo on the way home.

Ft Sill Musem/Old Fort Area
OKC-Cowboy Hall of Fame
Western Okla-Black Kettle/Custer Battlefield
Fort Supply-Custer Op base
Will Rogers Museum/Clairemont, Ok
Ft Learn Kansas-on Santa Fe Trail
Eisenhower PresLib-Abilene
Ft Scott Kansas
Truman PresLib - Independence Mo
KC-Black Baseball Hall if Fame
Oregon Trail-Western Neb

While I am sure you can find lots of things to do have you thought about maybe a loop rather than straight shot up

My reasoning is a loop gives you a huge amount of things that are must sees for various people's interests Who is going? Ages? Interests?

I would go the east route of maybe some areas of Arkansas especially NW Arkansas up thru KC (WW1 museum, BBQ) Omaha (zoo) and then go west to hit up South Dakota. Coming back thru parts of Colorado and New Mexico possibly before hitting Palo Duro

Hopefully you'll spend a little money in Canyon while you are here! We've got a nice little downtown square developing. If time allows, the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum on the WT campus is outstanding.

driving through Nebraska and SD when not on an interstate, top off your gas everytime you enter a town with a gas station. You would be surprised how few there can be, especially if travelling on a Sunday. Make sure to plan out drive times with meal stops in advance. Don't rely on "we'll just stop at the next town"- that town very well may not have food, and if they do, it may not be very good.

Other than that- God Speed. We drove that route when we moved back this last September. It was a horrible experience for us (everything seemed to go wrong).

Once you actually get to Rapid City though, it's really nice. One of my favorite cities up that way. Are you staying in Rapid City, Keystone, Deadwood, etc? I would suggest Badlands, Blackhills, and Wind Cave while you are in the area if you can.

Thanks to all. Good advice. Much appreciated.

We live in OKC, we did this trip 2 summers ago. We left on a Thursday evening after work and stayed in Salina KS that night. We went straight up through Nebraska to I80 and cut across, stopped at chiminey rock and ended that evening in Hotsprings SD. That evening we went to the Mamoth site, well worth seeing. Next day we hit the early tour at wind cave national park, did the Nature Loop and Needles Highway, in Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore, then busted out to Badlands NP. The Minuteman Missile was closed for the evening, so we stopped at Wall Drug for dinner and stayed the night in Spearfish. Next day we went to Devils tower and back to Deadwood to beat around. We then headed up to Glacier NP with stops at Yellowstone and Rocky Mountain NP on the way home.

The day we did Wind Cave, Custer SP, Rushmore, and Badlands was a long day. We had picnic lunch that day, and didn't really hurry at the sites. The speed limit on I90 is 85 so getting out to Badlands wasn't that bad. That far north the days are long in the summer, the sun doesn't set till 10 or so, you can pack a lot into a day. Hope y'all have a blast, we look forward to going back some day.

I just did this in March.

A few must sees:

Russell's Travel Center and Car Museum on I-40 in New Mexico, just before you get to the Texas State Line.
https://www.russellsttc.com/

CanyonAg77 was kind enough to give me a great tour of Palo Duro State Park. Seriously, I had no idea that such an amazing canyon existed in Texas.

Just west of Sturgis, Mt. Rushmore, etc., is Devil's Tower, Wyoming. That was a great visit. My 22 year old daughter loved the Prairie Dog Town.

Just south of Mt. Rushmore is the Crazy Horse Memorial. This thing is insanely large and they've been working on it for decades. And given the vision, they'll be working on it for another 75 years I'd say.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Horse_Memorial
It's a little pricey but, it's worth it. I didn't do the bus up close to the memorial but the thing is big enough, you can see it pretty well from 2 miles away.

Depending on your route, there's plenty to see in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado.

I stopped at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, KS. I also toured "The Allen House" - a Frank Lloyd Wright house built in 1915 in Wichita.

Omaha allegedly has one of the best Zoos in the world.

I really enjoyed having Hollywood stop by. He was probably curious about what kind of weird old fart I was.

Lots of good suggestions here. From those, I'll add that Palo Duro is a bucket list item, as is the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon. Often called one of the best regional museums in the United States. Alibates is neat, but it's a little small. The best time to go there is Archeology week, when they open tours to normally closed areas.

I've got a thing fpr Presidential museums, so I second the Eisenhower Library and Museum. An Ag and TexAgs poster (Aggies Revenge) is a curator there. PM him, he can advise you.

Yes, the Omaha Zoo is world class.

If you go by Ft. Sill, the Artillery museum has more cannon than you knew existed. And the old Post and Parade Ground are there and have good museums of frontier days. Go to the Wa s h i t a NWR (stupid TexAgs profanity filter) and you must stop at Meers Store for hamburgers and ice cream. HUGE portions, so beware.

Liberal, Kansas has a big aircraft museum.

I haven't been to Monument Rocks in Kansas, yet, but they look interesting.

However, if you go west, and come back through Denver, stop off at the visitors center at USAFA. When you cross Raton Pass, don't go down 87 to Clayton. Take New Mexico 72 over Johnson Mesa. Lots of TexAgs posts on it, too.

Do a search on Palo Duro, I've commented a lot on that. Caprock Canyons is great, too. If you're a fan of Lonesome Dove, stop in Goodnight and tour the Charles Goodnight home. The real Captain Call.

Hollywood and Canyon

Thanks a bunch, see your posts all the time so really appreciate your knowledge. There are some great ideas and will definitely check them out.

Cheers

Glad to help. Canyon is also correct about the USAFA. If you've never been, I highly recommend it.

My recent Mt. Rushmore trip bypassed Colorado because I went up to Montana and came back via Salt Lake and Las Vegas. But, I lived in Denver from 2000-2004 so, I'm good on all my Colorado.

If Colorado is part of the stops you're considering, I do recommend a baseball game at Coors Field if the Rockies are in town when you drive through.

Since you'll be in the Black Hills in SD, land of Crazy Horse, consider rounding off learning about him by stopping at Ft Robinson in NB where he was murdered.