We cannot say enough GOOD, about our tour yesterday with Mount Rushmore Tours. We went on the 9-hour tour -- picked up at out hotel in Rapid City about 8:00 am and taken out to Fort Hays, the film set for Dances With Wolves. We got to check out the little "town", make a tin pan, watch a rope maker and a knife maker. We were fed a pancake breakfast and then boarded the bus with our driver and commentator Matt, to our first stop at Mount Rushmore. We spent about an hour there, then it was a drive over Iron Mountain road on our way to Custer State Park and lunch at the State Game Lodge -- the summer residence and temporary office of two past presidents. Lunch is not included in the price of the tour, but what a fantastic meal !! They had a wonderful buffet that featured bison meat and a lot of other very tasty food.
After lunch we toured on to view the Cathedral Spires, the Needles Highway, Sylvan Lake and at the end of the day, Crazy Horse. Wow-- some of the tunnels were REALLY tight to squeeze that big bus through, but Matt did it -- we had quite the audience watching us, and they were all sure that we were stuck in that last tunnel, but Matt way playing it for all it was worth -- he had us all laughing hard. It was such a hoot !! The pigtail bridges were pretty cool too. We were back at Fort Hays by 6:00, in time for a supper of BBQ roast beef or chicken and a show with some fine country music and some laughs.
This is by far the best tour we have ever taken, and Matt was very conscientious, accommodating, knowledgeable and entertaining. We were given plenty of opportunities to stop and look around and for shopping in the gift shops. We even got to feed some chipmunks right from our hand - really cool. We saw wildlife, some awesome scenery, and everything -- from the history, to the geology, to interesting stories was very well explained. We highly recommend this tour package. We had thought about driving it ourselves, but we would have never seen as much we did on the tour, nor would we have learned so much about the area. It was a very good deal as well -- our tour was $99 for the entire day (excluding lunch). Had we gone by ourselves, it would have cost us $50 for parking fees and fees into Custer State Park alone.
Be sure to take it in if you're in the Rapid City area -- you won't regret it.