2hungrydaughters take on the Black Hills
August is here and we wanted to end our summer with a bang! What better than a camping trip out to the Black Hills. Family trips can be stressful in a lot of ways but all the prep is done for you with our itinerary and I have even shared a few recipes to get you through your meal planning slump. Let’s go!
Outdoorsy.
We live in the Twin Cities so our trip begins there and ends in Keystone, SD. We chose a quiet, cute and functional camp ground and it turned out to be great. Also, we rented our camper and it was such a good decision! So first off, our drive from Minneapolis to South Dakota was pretty easy. We stopped 3 times for fuel and bathroom breaks. I packed snacks and lunch for everyone so there was no junk food needed at the gas station. Except our last stop, it was 90 degrees in Rapid City and we all got ice cream!
We arrived at the Campground around 4pm and my husband began setting up the camper while I took the girls to the park and checked out the campground. The first night we grilled polish sausages, burgers and had my BLT Pasta Salad. Every meal I serve always comes with veggies and fruit. We hung out and went off to bed early because we knew we had some BIG days ahead.
Day 1, here we go!
We enjoyed a light breakfast before liftoff, packed lunches and snacks in a cooler and headed towards Mount Rushmore. We did the President’s trail, that goes up and around the whole monument, we popped into sculptor’s studio for a history lesson. They also have Carvers cafe and Memorial team ice cream available. Next up, we headed into Rapid City to Story Book Island, it is run by volunteers and mostly donation besides the train ride and carousel. The girls had a blast here. On our way back to the campground we stopped at Old Macdonald’s Farm for some pig races, train rides and animal feeding.
Once we made it back to the campground we went swimming and hung out. Pat fired up the Ooni pizza oven and we made pizzas to end our day!
Day 2. Choo Choo All Aboard.
Day 2 started off with breakfast at the little cafe at our campground.. We headed into Keystone to take some old time photos before catching the 1880 Black Hills Central Railroad. we departed at 10:15am and rode the train to and from Hill City. It was super cool and our girls loved getting popcorn on it. It runs on steam so it fills up with water at each stop then continues on. We made it back to Keystone by 12:30pm and went to lunch. Downtown Keystone is pretty cute, there are so many options for food and shops. After lunch we headed to the Rushmore Tramway Adventures for some good ole family fun. Alpine slides, tube rides and rock climbing. This day was extremely hot, after the fun we headed back to the campground to swim and hang out. Little did we know we would get the coolest camping neighbors and do parts of the next 2 days together. Supper was a family favorite, tacos & quesadillas followed by a fire and s’mores.
Day 3. Let’s go see some bears.
As you can imagine, day 3 started off at Bear Country U.S.A. This was so fun to drive and walk through. We saw so many animals! We had perfect weather and all of the animals were out, which made for a better experience for our girls. We headed back to the camper to pack up lunches and grab our swim gear to head off to Custer State park. En route to Sylvan Lake, we drove down the Wildlife Loop through Custer State Park. National Parks are amazing and huge, our girls learned a lot from the book we received with park information. We saw a lot of different animals too! We stopped at Sylvan Lake. THIS IS A MUST SEE LOCATION. Not only can you go swimming in the lake and cliff jump, although I don’t think that is advised. You can hike and see some gorgeous views. We loved Sylvan lake and so did our girls. We spent a solid 4-5 hours here. Our friends came too and the girls had so much fun playing and swimming together. We headed home on Needles Hwy back to our campground, another must see. WOW just WOW, the views are immaculate. This day was jam packed and the girls fell asleep in the car ride home. Supper was easy, Mac & Cheese and grilling and another fire with s’mores, DUH. WHAT A DAY!
Day 4. YEEEHAW
Today started slow, we made pancakes and sausage with fruit and yogurt parfaits and hungout at the campground. I did a load of laundry while the girls went to the park to play. We started organizing and cleaning up the camper this day as well.
We grabbed some snacks and headed towards Needles Hwy again, because the views are just too good not to go back. The girls even like this drive. We pit stopped at the Needle Eye Tunnel for pictures. We stopped in Custer for lunch at Black Hills Burger & Bun. THE BEST BURGERS AND MILKSHAKES. Yum. We headed back on a different route to our campground and drove past Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore into Keystone. The girls swam for a few hours back at the campground. We all took fresh showers and headed to the Mount Rushmore KOA Rodeo at Pulmer Gulch. The girls loved this and of course we left with light up cowgirl hats. Our friends came along too for their first rodeo. It was such a great experience. Nothing screams South Dakota more than a good ole rodeo. Supper was provided by the rodeo :)
Day 5, road warriors.
Time to go home, goodbyes are hard when you make good friends at the campground. We have talked about our trip the whole way home and nothing makes me happier than hearing the girls tell me all of their favorite parts and my husband tell me hands down he would do this trip again.
We truly had the best time.
If you made it this far, recipes and itineraries are linked below. Love y’all!
Grocery List
Lunch items — kings Hawaiian buns, lunch meat, cheese, honey mustard, mayo, chips, fruit, veggies, items for a grilled cheese or pizza grilled cheese, peanut butter and jelly
Adult sides — BLT pasta salad & cucumber salad
Snacks — goldfish, skinny pop, granola bars, pretzels, crackers, meat, cheese, mandarin oranges, chips and salsa, Doritos and potato chips
Vegetables — cucumbers, carrots, peppers
Fruit — blackberries, raspberries, strawberries (wash and put these in a mason jar for longer freshness)
Supper — hotdogs, polish sausage, burgers, don’t forget the buns*, tacos/quesadillas and toppings, pizza crusts, pizza toppings, mac & cheese
Breakfast — freeze ahead French toast, pancake mix, sausage, bacon, hashbrowns, eggs, can also prep ahead banana bread or breakfast cookies
Make ahead snacks — energy bites and cheerio balls
Dessert — special K bars
Don’t forget bottled water, condiments, food storage containers, paper plates, utensils, cups, napkins, cutting board, knife, iced coffee, creamer, coffee, milk, juice, maple syrup, butter, dish soap, sponge for cleaning dishes…etc.
Our rental camper was packed with dish soap, hand soap, paper towels, coffee maker, skillet, among kitchen items. As well as towels, shampoo and conditioner.
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