Mount Rushmore National Memorial Travel Forum

I have been exploring various travel options during the July 4 long weekend. One of the idea is to travel to Mount Rushmore. Plan is to start day 1 afternoon and stay in a location inbetween like sioux falls (approx: 240 miles). Then travel the rest next day and see Mount Rushmore in the evening of day 2. Visit again day 3 morning and then spend time in seeing other attractions like Crazy horse etc till day 3 afternoon and stay travelling 250+ miles towards minneapolis to return back on day. Questions I have is, how will the traffic in this route, any travel tips and attractions outside President's memorial. I also travelling with 2 kids aged 6 and 2.5 and attractions suiting them will be of greathelp.

You only need one visit and about two hours at Mount Rushmore.
Since you've got kids, there's lots of goofy stuff in Keystone that would get their attention.
I would definitely put Wind Cave in there as well. That would be the highlight of that trip for me. Maybe Badlands National Park as well.

I actually do not recommend Flinstone Village. Even when my children were small they hated it.

I have a bunch of different ideas on my Mount Rushmore page that is linked to the different areas of the Black Hills. Rapid City has a free park that is a good way for them to run around and get rid of some energy. It is a neat park.

We loved the slide in Keystone, had to go back for seconds.

The drive through Needles was great, but not if you are afraid of heights.

Thanks for the comments/suggestions. We had a lovely trip
Day 1 - Sioux falls
Day 2 - Badlands National Park (Beautiful one - badlands are good), Mount Rushmore in night, Crazy horse memorial
Day 3 - Mount Rushmore in morning, Bear Country USA Safari in Rapid City, Waldrug
Day 4 - Corn Palace Museum (MItchell), Prehistoric Indian village (I do not recommend this as it is in amateur stage and does not worth its $6 ticket)

We later came to know there is an attraction called Cosmos in Rapid city which seemed to be excellent, but we missed to visit.

Thanks for the comments/suggestions. We had a lovely trip
Day 1 - Sioux falls
Day 2 - Badlands National Park (Beautiful one - badlands are good), Mount Rushmore in night, Crazy horse memorial
Day 3 - Mount Rushmore in morning, Bear Country USA Safari in Rapid City, Waldrug
Day 4 - Corn Palace Museum (MItchell), Prehistoric Indian village (I do not recommend this as it is in amateur stage and does not worth its $6 ticket)

We later came to know there is an attraction called Cosmos in Rapid city which seemed to be excellent, but we missed to visit. Traffic is very less and excellent. Speed limit in South Dakota of 75mph limit also helps a lot for this long travel.