The Journey Museum & Learning Center

We added the Journey Museum to our trip, seeing as we had a couple hours free and had seen signs around Rapid City — why not?
Plenty of parking, and for a weekday trip in the off-​season, there were very few people there with us. The Journey is lot like many regional/​city museums around the country (very reminiscent of Red Brick museum in Dallas), deeply detailing the landscape and history of the region.
They really take you waaaay back, to the various geological formations that created the Badlands, Spearfish formation and the Black Hills. Dinosaurs do feature heavily, along with the other archaeological facts about the area. They do a good job of integrating the history of the native Americans before and after Europeans arrived in SW SD — a bit more white-​washing, but it does serve to demonstrate that both groups did interact with each other right away. Business and civic leaders, doctors and soldiers — again, lots of details and artifacts. They do have kid-​friendly areas and interactive sections, plus a nice gift shop with toys and other items.

This might be great for field trips, but for the average bear, take a pass. It was chocked full of info you’d be better off reading. Geologists might enjoy, however. But I was expecting Rapid City’s history, not the history of feldspar.

It wasn’t awful, but I guess after going to several other great museums on our road trip, this one was just so-​so. There was some interesting interactive learning, but there were some things that were empty (like a box to show a type of rock). My 5 year old was interested, but we didn’t feel like it was worth it. There were cardboard boxes with hand written notes on them as things from a covered wagon, which was a little… amateur. A local told us to go, but we didn’t see the excitement, and we love history.

Color me impressed!!! This is a must see before you start touring the Black Hills. And the collections are extensive. The Sioux Indian artifacts alone are worth the admission. My only thing I could possibly say is that there is so much I doubt you could take it all in a day. Great gift shop too. And pull-​through RV parking.

I kinda liked it. Wasn’t bad, wasn’t awesome, but pretty good.(11 years old by the way) but it was pretty fun, I learned a lot more than I already knew. Good mix of heritage, rocks, dinosaurs etc… But pretty good

Not one of my favorite museums of the Black Hills, but this opinion is entirely subjective as I like museums in old buildings with fascinating architecture. The design of the building is rather odd, reminding me of pyramid, maybe it’s to emulate Bear Butte in Sturgis? Who’s to say.
Personally, I like my museums to be more along the lines of historical society museums and less Smithsonian in nature. I like little grannies running the place.
This is more what I would call institutional in feel, cold-​feeling. However, if you don’t know much about the Lakota, settlers, etc. this is a good starter museum of the area.
The exhibits have a look-but-don’t-touch feel. It’s not like the Heritage in Spearfish where most of everything is hands-​on.
However, they have many interesting events worthy of attending. For example, I got to see an early screening of John Trudell’s film (an ex South Dakotan Lakota who was involved with A.I.M.).
Particularly nice was its gift shop. Lots of very tasteful items and good books.

F*ing sad that no one has ever reviewed this place! Must an oriental boy from chinatown be the 1^st? LOL
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Anyway, we went in the afternoon on a Saturday and the place was almost empty! They have a HUGE parking lot tho!
The museum has several exhibits that tell the story of the western Great Plains from different prespectives: Museum of Geology, Archaeological Research Center, Sioux Indian Museum and Pioneer Museum.
Worth the $ 7 admission!
The lowdown:
Admission:
* Kids (ages 10 and under) FREE
* Students (ages 11 – 17) $ 5.00
* Adults (ages 18 – 61) $ 7.00
* Seniors (ages 62+) $ 6.00
* Educational Rate (grades K-​12) $ 2.00
1 adult free for every 5 children
* Adult Group Rate (10+ people) $ 4.00
* Preschool Groups. Children admitted
Free, adults pay regular admission.
Summer Hours:
(Memorial Day — Labor Day)
9:00 am — 5:00 pm Monday — Sunday
Winter Hours:
10:00 am — 5:00 pm Monday — Saturday
1:00 pm — 5:00 pm Sunday
The museum will be closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, Easter Sunday & January 1 — 14 (Annual Cleanup).