Gold Diggers: Rapid City, South Dakota | Black Hills
Located in Rapid City, SD on Mt. Rushmore Rd.
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Shopping | Black Hills Gold | Things to do | Rapid City | SD | Black Hills
Campgroundviews.com - Free Parking at Mt Rushmore National Monument
Mt Rushmore National Monument in the Blackhills of South Dakota is a major destination for vacationers from around the world. The monument is managed by the National Park Service and is free to visit but with a catch.
Many drive thousands of miles just to get here and drive up to the parking area with their annual National Park Pass in hand only to be told that the pass does not cover parking. The parking fee as of the date of this video is $11 per vehicle and if you ask the attendant they will politely tell you that there is no free parking available. It even appears that they have gone out of their way to make free parking all but impossible in the area.
This video filmed in the summer of 2014 provides insight on how we successfully and legally parked for free within 1/4 mile of the visitor center. You can do it too but be warned that you will be parking along the main highway (the speed-limit in the area is only 25 mph) and walking along a dirt path on the side of the road. If you have small and hyper children or large and non-hyper adults it may be best to pay the parking fee. Otherwise it is a good way to stick it to the man that has racked up a monopoly on parking.
Sure they should be able to recoup the cost of construction for the amazing parking structure but at this point 25 years later it seems their coffers should be pretty flush and the original $17M construction cost more than covered. Let's do the math: an average, on the low end, of 1M visitors per year with 4 per car so 250,000 cars per year. Multiply that by the previously lower fee of $10 per car and you get an annual income of 2.5M per year. Multiply this amount by 25 and you get, are you freaking kidding, $62.5M!!! On the low end!!! With 3M visitors last year at $11 per vehicle they brought in $8.25M in parking fees to cover the cost of maintenance. I didn't notice any gold plated parking stalls...
The free parking areas are located west of the main parking structure. The first and closest is a paved pad on the right hand side of the road 1/4 mile past the last view of the parking area. Do not park in the paved parking sites on the left hand side; that used to be free but now requires a NPS Administrative Pass whatever the heck that means. If this area is full you continue down the road another 1/4 and around the bend to the Profile View turnout. there are parking stalls here along with ample room for RVs. You are further away from the facility but can make the hike easily if you are in shape.
Visit to find, see, and share your camping adventures too and from the Blackhills. With real videos submitted by travelers like you it is easy to get the true picture of what a place will be like during your visit. Music Licensed From MusicBakery.com
Rapid City, South Dakota
Rapid City (Lakota: Mni Lúzahaŋ Otȟúŋwahe; Swift Water City) is the second-largest city in the State of South Dakota, and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek on which the city is established, it is set against the eastern slope of the Black Hills mountain range. The population was 67,956 as of the 2010 Census. Rapid City is known as the Gateway to the Black Hills and the City of Presidents. The city is split by a low mountain ridge that divides the western and eastern parts of the city. Ellsworth Air Force Base is located on the outskirts of the city. Camp Rapid, a part of the United States Army National Guard, is located in the western part of the city. The historic Old West town of Deadwood is nearby. In the neighboring Black Hills are the popular tourist attractions of Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Custer State Park, and Wind Cave National Park.
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Landstrom's Black Hills Gold
In essence, by law any piece of jewelry bearing the description Black Hills Gold must be manufactured in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Traditional Black Hills Gold designs are typically comprised of rose colored and green colored leaves and gold grapes and grape vines. The rose color is made by combining gold with copper, and the delicate green color is achieved by adding sterling silver with gold. Visit our online store for the best selection of Landstroms Original Black Hills Gold Jewelry at unbeatable prices:
SD Black Hills: Jewel Cave
The Jewel Cave in the Black Hills of South Dakota, showing the many different formations left by nature.
Dakota Pathways: Big Towns Little Towns
Dakota Pathways: A History was a 20-part series used by Educator's across South Dakota for use in their classrooms. The 14 minute long segments explore some of the history of South Dakota. Big Towns Little Towns is the 13th segment produced in the series.
It was an early Thursday morning. I just left my hometown of twelve hundred residents. My plane was scheduled to leave Sioux Falls for Chicago at 10:00am, so I was arriving at 8:00am. Interstate 90 was very busy. I figured all of the traffic must have been commuters traveling to Sioux Falls for work.
The traffic seemed to get worse as I entered Sioux Falls. I thought to myself, BIG TOWNS are for the birds. Vroommmmm, screech, OH BOY that was close. Sioux Falls is huge! How can people stand to live in such a busy community with so much traffic? After two close calls, I finally arrived at the airport.
Within the time it takes to eat a small snack and drink two pops, I was standing in Chicago. I was overwhelmed and scared. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of people trying to hail a cab. I felt like a precious flower in a field of aggressive, thirsty weeds. I finally caught one of the cab driver's attention. The driver said it would cost close to sixty dollars to travel to the hotel. Needless to say, my shuttle bus slowly made its way at parade speed to the hotel. A drive that should have taken fifteen to twenty minutes took close to three hours. I was already four and half hours behind schedule.
When I arrived at the hotel I looked up and could not see the sun because the tall buildings were obstructing my view. There were thousands of people on the streets walking home from work. Every block had a little grocery store. Eeeeeerrrrrrrreer..., an ambulance and two police cars pulled up outside one of older remodeled buildings. No one seemed to care. People walked right by the emergency vehicles and did not stop or even look at the life threatening event taking place. In my hometown, people will leave the supper table to follow the ambulance or fire truck miles to catch a glimpse of the action. Later, I found out that ambulances arrive so often that people are immune to the sound of the sirens. From what I could tell, if you seem interested in the action, then you must be a tourist. I was amazed to see an ambulance arrive outside my hotel about every 30 minutes. Then I realized that more people live in one building than my entire home town, maybe even the county.
The conference was over and I arrived at the Sioux Falls airport. Sioux Falls didn't seem so big anymore. The traffic didn't seem as congested and there wasn't as many people going to work; at least in comparison to Chicago. I guess the size of a town is relative to what a person is used to. Well, this fish likes to be a big fish in a little pond and not a small fish in a big ocean.
Amazing Buffalo Jeep tour! Custer State Park, SD.
July 24, 2013
Sanfords South Dakota
A very cool restaurant in Rapid City, SD. SO much to look at! And a big menu to boot!
Black Hills, Day 3: My Favorite Place on Earth!!(The Rock Shed)
Make sure to follow me on social media as I am always posting random rock, fossil, and shell related stuff, current projects, sneak peaks of upcoming videos, or anything that doesn't make it into a video!
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In this video, we wake up early and head to my favorite place , The Rock Shed in Keystone, South Dakota, the best rock shop you will ever find! We have gone to rock shops across the entire country, all the way from Utah to Florida, and I have NEVER come across another rock shop with a better selection or better pricing. Their specimens are always EXTREMELY high quality, and they are ALWAYS priced extremely fair, and their staff is incredibly knowledgeable and friendly! At my shop, I sell local rocks, fossils, rock and wood carvings, and jewelry, and I try to sell only stuff that I collect myself, but for things that i cannot find myself(tiger eye, labradorite, etc.), I always go to the Rock Shed! I cannot physically recommend this place more! If you are ever in the Black Hills or near Keystone, SD and are even remotely into rocks and fossils, this shop is an absolute must!
Trevinos Leathers 35th Anniversary 2009 Black Hills Biker Leather Shop
Shop online at trevinosleathers.com for all your Leather Weather and Biker Leather needs. The Trevino family creates many fine quality custom chaps, vests, belts, wallets, purses, gloves, chokers, jewelry, and leather crafted art. Also featured for sale'in Trevinos shop are many authentic native american made products. Trevinos Leathers is a popular stop for poker run and Sturgis Rally Motorcycle enthusiasts, as well as locals and tourists, just 9 miles south of Deadwood, South Dakota on Hwy 385, a scenic drive to many Black Hills destinations like Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore and the Needles, Custer State Park, Hot Springs Mammouth Site, and many other beautiful places in the local area. Remember, you can purchase many things online at trevinosleathers.com, for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, and other occasions, that you didn't buy, when you visited the Black Hills this summer. Rhea Trevino and family look forward to seeing you in the shop year round, and are happy to serve you with your online purchases.
Lisa & Tyson at Prairie Edge Trading Co. & Galleries
Hey meeting planners, do you know what makes Rapid City so great? Rich Native American Culture!
Join Lisa and Tyson LIVE on January 12 at 2:00 pm MST for a tour of Prairie Edge Trading Co. &a Galleries. They will tell you the history of the store, show you handmade art and jewelry and give you a little more information about the Amazing Rush Season 2! Learn more at
RushtoRapidCity.com
#VisitRapidCity
Black Hills Creek Sounds
Listen to this healing natural sound that will bring peace to the soul. This brook is nestled within the Black Hills. Located not far from our house, listening to the snow melt is wonderful, Enjoy!
Power Brokers of the Black Hills - 2003 Harley-Davidson FXSTSI Running video
The owner of this one bought it Brand-New and it is in excellent original condition with only 8,346 Miles…H-D Factory Detachable Windshield…Passenger Backrest…Bobtail Fender Rack…Custom Touring Seat (stock included) Screamin’ Eagle Air Cleaner Kit and Screamin’ Eagle Slip-On Pipes!! A hard to find model, especially in the Anniversary Edition, is what you get here for Only $11,799!! The owner wants this one gone!! Now only $8,999!!
We have been the largest used motorcycle dealer in the Black Hills of South Dakota for the past 11-Years with over 100 used units to choose from in our showroom. We are a licensed and bonded South Dakota dealer located in Rapid City, SD so you can buy with confidence. We have just completed a very successful Sturgis Rally and now have a great selection of motorcycles that need to be sold in the next 30 days. Don't let the low prices alarm you, we are simply offering these bikes to the public now, before we let our wholesalers and exporters come in to buy out our summer inventory. Our fall selling season which consists of ATV's, UTV's and Snowmobiles is fast approaching, this inventory will be arriving soon, so we need the space. All the locals know the best time to ride the Black Hills is just beginning, the rally's over and tourist traffic slows down and the weather cools off. Make a trip out to buy your new ride and spend some time cruising the Black Hills!!
Price includes 1-Year Unlimited Mileage Zero Deductible Parts & Labor Warranty!! As well as 24/7 Emergency Roadside Service Including : Towing, Flat Tire Assistance, Fluid Delivery and Rental Allowance!!
This warranty is by ASC and is valid anywhere in the United States!! Call us for more details or copy the following into your address bar to view a brochure.
We will take all the additional photo's needed for serious buyers, just give us a call! We strive hard to make sure you know exactly what you are buying by giving a very honest appraisal of the units condition.
We arrange shipping anywhere in the United States!!
Fly-n-Ride!!
We are only 10 minutes from Rapid City Regional Airport!
We enjoy meeting new people and welcoming them to our area, so call us with your flight arrival time and we will get you picked up from the airport and arrange hotel accommodations if needed.
Our shop is just 30 minutes from Mt. Rushmore and many other attractions!! Come out and you will enjoy some of the best motorcycle riding in the United States!
Visit our website at powerbrokersblackhills.com or call us at show contact info ...new units arriving daily!!
Hours are Mountain Time:
Tuesday - Friday 10am to 5pm
Saturday 9am to 5pm
Closed Sunday & Monday
Awesome Drive - Badlands National Park
Enjoy this small video which I complied from my recent trip to South Dakota. Entirely shot through Badlands National Park, place is absolute majestic with awesome landscapes. 17 hours drive from Chicago was worth visiting this place. After visiting Badlands National Park, head towards Rapid City and you will encounter yet another spectacular drive which goes on when you go from Rapid City to Lake Sylvan to Mt.Rushmore. If you are a landscape lover and want to explore something different, South Dakota is one such place you can't afford to miss.
How Did Nuclear Power Come To Dominate US Energy Leaving 15,000 Abandoned Uranium Mines (Pt. 1)
The following news piece represents the first in a 15 part mini-series titled, Nuclear Power in Our World Today, featuring nuclear authority and world expert, nuclear engineer and whistleblower Arnie Gundersen of Fairewinds Energy. The EnviroNews USA special encompasses a wide span of topics, ranging from Manhattan-era madness to the continuously unfolding crisis on the ground at Fukushima Daiichi in eastern Japan.
Our journey extends outward from a bombshell interview conducted by EnviroNews Editor-in-Chief Emerson Urry, with the esteemed nuclear expert, whistleblower, and expert witness Arnie Gundersen. Gundersen is a nuclear engineer, as well as a former power plant operator, and trade executive, whose own life, for a good amount of time, was ruined by the nuclear industry after he exposed radioactive safety violations. So to get this series rolling, here’s what Gundersen revealed to Emerson Urry.
We were talking about Fukushima and obviously the myriad isotopes that are put off as a byproduct of the nuclear fission that is happening in the reactor. It all starts there with the uranium, and there was quite a rush for that, and now we have all of these situations. To our understanding there are about 15,000 abandoned uranium mines that have been left in complete ruin with very little cleanup or remediation at all, just in the western United States. This has happened, by-and-large, because of an antiquated mining bill – the 1872 Mining Bill.
Gundersen: I’ll give you another example of the same thing, and I would say “yes” to everything you said is the quick answer.
There is a mill-tailings site in Moab, Utah. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission told the owner of the site that they needed to set aside six million dollars to clean it up. Well, the actual cleanup is a billion dollars. What did the owner do? They declared bankruptcy and walked away.
Urry: And it wasn’t bonded? No bond?
Gundersen: Right. It wasn’t bonded. You know, if you bonded uranium mining, you wouldn’t have uranium mining.
Urry: Because nobody would probably…
Gundersen: The way our system is set up is that you take the profit early, and then when everything is done you walk away and the government takes the risk. So, we’ve socialized the risk, and the capitalists make the profit early on and the rest of us pick up the cost afterward. And that’s historically true on the Navajo reservation especially – but you get in the Black Hills and the Lakota Sioux…
When Gundersen said the brunt of these mines are on Native American lands, he wasn’t kidding. All of these are abandoned open-pit uranium mines. 397 in Montana, 2103 in Wyoming, 113 in North Dakota, 272 in South Dakota, and 387 in northern Colorado, for a total of 3272. This is an abandoned open-pit uranium mine on the southwestern edge of the Black Hills.
The thing about the Darrow Pits Mine is that they are only 40 miles from Mt. Rushmore. Millions of tourists travel to Mt. Rushmore every year not knowing that they are breathing in radioactive dust, and the water that they drink in the motels in Rapid City contains uranium.
Recently, March 2013, the U.S. Forest Service finally issued a public safety closure order because of the dangers to human health. Among the particles that are in there are arsenic, molybdenum, thorium, radium and uranium. These are all in the form of dust or runoff, and they are picked up by the wind. Our levels were very very high compared to Chernobyl.
The radiation levels in parts I visited with my students were higher than those in the evacuated zones around the Fukushima nuclear disaster.” Higher. Fukushima radiation levels were higher than Chernobyl. The Northern Great Plains’ levels are higher than Fukushima — and these are not from nuclear power plants or from an atomic weapon, or atomic bomb being exploded. These are from 2,885 abandoned open-pit uranium mines and prospects, and we are subject to that radioactive pollution constantly. All of these abandoned open-pit uranium mines in the Northern Great Plains are affecting everyone, but they are genocide for the Great Sioux Nation — for my people. This is genocide.
Contact your congressman, your senators. Ask them to pass a bill to clean up all the abandoned uranium mines in all of the United States. SEE more info at:
Demystifying Nuclear Power Through Education.
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Source: at EnviroNews.com
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Sioux Pottery
In this episode of Cheap Family Travel ( Nick Regan, Maggie, and Kate visited Sioux Pottery for a once in a life time experience. There aren't many places a family can go that are free, but Sioux Pottery in Rapid City, South Dakota is a place everyone can enjoy without spending a dime. Cheap Family Travel visited Sioux Pottery, and we got to watch the artists create Native Indian pottery from scratch. The Native Americans turned a block of clay into vases, plates, bowls, and ornaments. The native tribes of South Dakota Sioux, or the Lakota, demonstrate their Native American heritage and culture through their unique American Indian Arts. The kids got to put on an apron and create their own art out of sacred Black Hills red clay. Visitors don't have to spend anything, but there is a gift shop that carries all kinds of the handmade pottery that was made at the site. Rapid City and Sioux Pottery are just up the road from Mount Rushmore National Monument and the Crazy Horse Memorial. Visitors to the Badlands of South Dakota are also only about a 20-minute drive from Sioux Pottery. Nick, Regan, Maggie and Kate all put Sioux Pottery as a must visit in South Dakota.
Redfield South Dakota's Leo's Good Food On Our Story's What's Cookin
Abby Appetite always brings her appetite. Take a look at what she found when she made a stop into Leo's Good Food located in Redfield South Dakota a great community in Spink County
Virginia Lamb
Virginia has lived in Eldersberg since 1936. She shares about her family history and what her childhood was like growing up in Carroll County.