TOURS AT MPMA'S 2010 CONFERENCE
Tours are held Tuesday and Friday during the conference.
To register: Download program and fill out registration form.
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MPMA’s Host Committee has organized many tours so that delegates can see all that the greater Rapid City area and the Black Hills have to offer. There are so many scenic areas to see that it is no wonder the region has been a major tourist destination since the early 20th century. Travel with us as we visit the well-known sites along with the undiscovered jewels that only the locals know about.
Conference Tours come with Specialists!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
T1. Lincoln Tour: Northern Hills (Lead and Deadwood)
T2. Roosevelt Tour - Northern Hills (Sturgis, Belle Fourche, Spearfish)
T3. Washington Tour - Central Black Hills (Crazy Horse, Hill City, Winery, Keystone)
T4. Jefferson Tour - Southern Hills (Mammoth, Hot Springs, Wind Cave National Park, Custer State Park)
Friday, September 17, 2010
T5 - Presidential / Early Tourism Tour
T6 - Hard Core Shopping Tour
T7 - Lights, Camera, Action
T8 - Gallery Tour
Full Tour Descriptions
TUESDAY TOURS
Tuesday tours include the Opening Reception. Tours begin at the conference hotel and end at Mt. Rushmore in time for the Opening Reception. At the end of the Opening Reception, buses depart Mt. Rushmore for the conference hotel beginning at 8:30 pm. Tour and Opening Reception costs are combined. Walking shoes and a jacket for the evening are recommended. For delegates not attending an afternoon tour, a bus will depart the conference hotel for Mt. Rushmore at 5:30 pm.
T1 Lincoln Tour: Northern Hills (Lead-Deadwood)
12:00 pm (Depart Conference Hotel) - 6:30 pm (Arrive Mt. Rushmore)
Walk in the footsteps of legends Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity
Jane and George Hearst as you tour where one of the last great
gold rushes occurred in the United States. A National Historic
Landmark, Deadwood’s history is as rich and diverse as the
miners, pioneers and outlaws who came here a century ago.
Along the bricked streets of the nation’s largest historic
preservation project you will see where Wild Bill was killed
and the brothels, gambling halls and saloons are located. Learn
about Chinatown archaeology and the future Days of ’76
Museum. You’ll visit the Adams Museum, the Black Hills’ oldest
history museum, and the beautifully restored Historic Adams
House, the Victorian mansion of pioneer businessman W.E.
Adams. Pay homage to Mount Moriah Cemetery’s famous
residents before traveling to nearby Lead, the home of the
Homestake Gold Mine, the oldest, largest and deepest gold
mine in the Western Hemisphere and the future site of the
Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory.
You’ll visit the Homestake Visitor’s Center to view the 1876
Open Cut mining area, followed by a trip to the Smithsonian
Institution-affiliated Black Hills Mining Museum and a tour
of a simulated underground mine. Before heading to Mount
Rushmore, you will stop at the Homestake Opera House where
a restoration project is returning the Jewel of the Black Hills
to its former grandeur. Tour led by Kevin Kuchenbecker,
Deadwood’s Historic Preservation Officer, and Mary Kopco,
Adams Museum & House Director. Lunch included.
T2 Roosevelt Tour - Northern Hills (Sturgis–Belle Fourche–Spearfish)
12:00 pm (Depart Conference Hotel)
6:30 pm (Arrive Mt. Rushmore)
Step away from the ordinary as we head to the northern
Black Hills. Our first stop is one that is published in
1,000 Places to See before You Die: The Sturgis
Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame. After viewing
this impressive selection of unique motorcycles, we’ll
head to Belle Fourche, once the largest shipping point
for range cattle in the world. Tour the two-story 1876
Johnny Spaulding Cabin and Tri-State Museum (full
of local history and artifacts) and enjoy the Center of
the Nation Monument. Enjoy the views as we head
over the hill to scenic Spearfish to the High Plains
Western Heritage Center with its extensive collection.
Then, discover a little known chapter of our nation’s
conservation history while touring the DC Booth
Historic National Fish Hatchery and Archives,
including the 1899 hatchery building, now a museum.
Free fish food will be provided to feed the lunker trout.
Finish with a ride through the glorious fall colors and
waterfalls in ancient Spearfish Canyon on the way to
Mount Rushmore. Tour led by Christine Paige Diers,
Executive Director, Sturgis Motorcycle Museum &
Hall of Fame. Lunch included.
T3 Washington Tour - Central Black Hills (Crazy Horse, Hill City, Winery, Keystone)
12:30 pm (Depart Conference Hotel) 6:30 pm (Arrive Mt. Rushmore)
Almost 70 years ago, Lakota (Sioux) Chief Henry Standing Bear asked Korczak Ziolkowski to create a monument of Crazy
Horse in the Black Hills. Today, Crazy Horse Memorial is the largest art project in progress. We will visit that Memorial,
view the enormous sculpture and tour the museums and galleries that are dedicated to American Indians. We will then visit
the Heart of the Hills in historic Hill City located near Harney Peak, the highest point east of the Rocky Mountains. Our
tour will stop at the Black Hills Museum of Natural History,
which contains a rich collection of dinosaurs, fossil fishes,
mammals, birds, reptiles, agates, minerals, meteorites as well as
the finest displays of fossil invertebrates in the world! See the ever found. You will then tour downtown Hill City to see fine art
galleries and gift shops before meeting up at the South Dakota
State Railroad Museum. From there we’ll travel to Prairie Berry Winery for a taste of South Dakota, then to Keystone to see the
Rushmore Borglum Story Museum, and it’s on to Mount Rushmore. Tour led by Neal L. Larson of Black Hills Museum of Natural
History.
T4 Jefferson Tour - Southern Hills
(Mammoth, Hot Springs, Wind Cave National Park, Custer State Park)
12:30 pm (Depart Conference Hotel) - 6:30 pm (arrive Mt. Rushmore)
Walk where mammoths and other Ice Age
animals walked and then see why
motorcyclists love the Black Hills. Our first
stop is the Mammoth Site, the world’s largest
mammoth research facility. You’ll tour an
active paleontological dig site where woolly
mammoths died more than 26,000 years ago
and where 58 have been unearthed and you’ll
get a behind–the-scenes tour of the lab and
bone storage areas. The gift shop is large and
a kid’s mecca. Next stop is a sandstone school
house built in 1893, now the home of the
Pioneer Museum, followed by a drive through
Hot Springs’ Historic District, designated by
the National Trust for Historic Preservation
as one of America’s Dozen Distinctive
Destinations because of its interesting
architecture. There’ll be various photo-ops
as we travel through Wind Cave National
Park, home to one of the world’s longest
caves, and Custer State Park, a vacation
paradise located in the beautiful Southern Black Hills known for its rolling prairie,
gently curving roads and free- roaming bison. Finally, we’ll travel on the Iron
Mountain Road, known for its tunnels that perfectly frame the faces of Mount
Rushmore in the distance where this tour will end. Hear about geology,
paleontology and history from Tour Guide Don Esker, In-situ Bonebed Curator/
Secondary Educator, The Mammoth Site. Rangers from Custer State Park and
Wind Cave National Park will give the tours through their parks.
FRIDAY AFTERNOON TOURS
2:15 pm to 5:15 pm
Friday afternoon is MPMA’s traditional “local touring day” where you’ll get behind-the-scenes
tours of area museums and landmarks. This is also the time to shop for those presents for the folks
back home! Spend a few hours touring or shopping before the Sturgis Party. All tours depart from
the Conference Hotel at 2:15 pm and return by 5:15 pm.
T5 Presidential / Early Tourism Tour
Visit the Museum of Geology (and Paleontology) at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology
and get a special behind-the-scenes tour of its new federal repository. See Rapid City’s historic
downtown with its distinctive shops and life-size bronze sculptures of U.S. presidents in what is
called The City of Presidents. Drive by the endearing Dinosaur Hill, a 1930s WPA sculpture project,
that most tourists miss. Finish at Reptile Gardens, a great family-owned business that dates back to
1937 and that invented the concept before zoos of viewing reptiles. Not your ordinary Snake Pit!
T6 Hard Core Shopping Tour
The first shop stop is Mt. Rushmore Black Hills Gold, a top destination for factory prices on
jewelry, silver, diamonds & gemstones, and watches. Start with a factory tour before shopping in its
retail store. Then it is on to Rapid City’s historic downtown for an extended stay. Say hello to the
Presidents as you visit galleries and antique stores. Be sure to drop in to Prairie Edge Trading Co.
which features a gorgeous collection of Native American art, crafts, books, music and cultural
artifact reproductions.
T7 Lights, Camera, Action Tour
Visit the 777 Ranch that was featured in two famous western movies. “Dances With Wolves”
introduced South Dakota’s wonders to the world and the beauty of the state’s never-ending western
prairie. It was filmed entirely in South Dakota, and in part at the 777 Ranch. Another film, “Wyatt
Earp” was also filmed at the ranch. Get up close to the buffalo herd on a tractor/trailer tour to see
the herd filmed in “Dances with Wolves.”
T8 Gallery Tour
This tour begins in the heart of Rapid City’s historic downtown with its distinctive shops and lifesize
bronze sculptures of U.S. presidents on every corner. You’ll visit Prairie Edge, a beautiful
Native American Art Gallery that features American Indian artists & their crafts, and other downtown
galleries including the new Heron’s Flight Studio which is quickly becoming the new gathering
place for local artists. Then it’s on to the galleries in Hill City, one of the most historic towns in the
Black Hills and home for many well-known artists including nationally recognized artist Jon Crane.