Day 22 – Rapid City, South Dakota
75 miles
Fun Facts about Rapid City:
The trip from Hot Springs to Rapid City takes Dan past Mount Rushmore into the Black
Hills area of Rapid City. Mount Rushmore is a famous U.S. site. The heads of four
presidents are carved into the rock or granite. The presidents are: George Washington,
Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt.
Rapid City also has a Disney-like park called Storybook Island. At this free attraction,
children can see colorful settings of nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
Children’s Activities:
Look at a book with pictures of Mount Rushmore. Give your child some clay and see if
they can “sculpt” heads and put them on a mountain of sand or clay.
Ask your child if he/she knows the name of our president of the U.S. Explain that Barack
Obama is our 44th president. You can talk to them about where our president lives with
his wife and two daughters, Malia and Sasha. This is a good time to introduce the idea
that the president and first lady care about children’s healthy eating and getting enough
exercise.
In Columbus, we don’t have a Storybook Island. At the new Columbus Commons, we
have a Carousel and free children’s activities every Friday morning during the summer.
On the second Sunday of each month, there is a free family day at the Columbus
Commons. Take your child for a walk on the new Scioto Mile to Battelle Riverfront Park.
Across from City Hall at 25 Marconi Boulevard, there is a sculpture garden that tells the
Native American tale of Pickaweekee, a Native American child who meets a lot of
different creatures while fishing. The garden includes a pond and bronze sculptures of
an owl, lion, eagle, dog , unicorn (imaginary one-horned animal), and griffin (imaginary
animal with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle). See if your child can
identify these animal sculptures and tell a story. The story is told on a plaque at the
sculpture garden.