Attractions

Okay, let's be honest.  You're twelve or younger, and you've been stuck all day in a car moving across South Dakota's vast expanses.  Even the amazing games on your tablet have lost their power to excite.  Upon reaching Mount Rushmore, the four stationary granite heads may not pull you from your car-induced trance.  So thank goodness for Rushmore Tramway Adventures within sight of the mountain sculpture.  The place is as gloriously tourist-trappy as it sounds, and great fun.  There's a chairlift, 800 foot zipline, 2,000 foot alpine slide, and 60-plus platforms high in the ponderosa pines.  You move from platform to platform via aerial bridges, cables, and even trapezes (all while attached to a safety harness).  There's food, too, at an outdoor café at the chairlift's summit.  Tables offer views of the famous granite Presidents.  It's amazing how good a buffalo burger tastes after you've been playing amid fragrant pines a couple hours.

Photos by Allison Syman