This trip was a last minute one, but one we'd always wanted to take. Since we didn't do any pre-planning, we had no schedule, no agenda, and did no research before we got to the hotel. That is something I never do, but it was a nice change of pace!
The trip did require a lot of driving for us: 8 hours from home and we opted to stay in Rapid City. This was my first trip to the Black Hills, but my hubby had been there as a child. All in all, we had a good time.
We visited the monuments, gold mines, parks, mammoth dig, shops, etc. - all the recommended sites. It was a busy 4 days of site-seeing, and thoroughly enjoyable. A helicopter tour was a nice late addition to our activities. We did not visit the Cosmos - it was busy with kids and my husband and I are science majors so we opted to skip. As a rule, we try to hit all the "tourist attractions", good or bad, just to say we were there :)

The weather was great. Probably a little cool by most people's standards, but we really enjoyed it (mid to high 60's and mostly sunny). Since it was the last week of May, it was the first weekend of their tourist season and we did not have to deal with large crowds, lots of traffic, or sold out tours.

Many trees and flowers were in bloom. We did not see any bears, bighorn sheep or cougars, but lots of deer, several elk and buffalo, and a couple of antelope made their presence. There were also a few wild turkeys, and the usual ducks, geese, and pheasant. One pleasant surprise - we encountered very few bugs. Not sure if that was from the breezy weather or not.
Except for breakfast, we ate in local restaurants which was a nice change from the popular chains. Cowboy Town in Custer served a great prime rib and we had a great pizza at a 50's decor shop in Keystone. (Sorry, don't remember the name but it's across the street from the 1880's train depot). My mother (88yo) got a kick out of us telling her about that train ride :).

My biggest disappointment with this trip was seeing the immense damage the pine beetle is causing. I really hope the infestation is brought under control soon, before all the trees are destroyed. It was truly sad to see the incredible number of dead and dying trees covering the hills.

Two things we wanted to see and didn't: Jewel Cave and Wind Cave. We planned these for our last day. However, at the Jewel Cave we were told we needed a reservation. Big disappointment. This is not explained in the brochures or books we'd gotten at the hotel. When mentioned to the Park employees, they informed us that the Wind Cave had the same policy. We arrived at 1:30 and could have waited until the 4:30 tour to see if we could fit, but chose not to waste the time waiting and headed to Deadwood and Sturgis. A little internet research would have provided the information regarding cave reservations, but I guess now I have something to see if we go back....