The Journey Museum and Gardens, Science and history museum with gardens in Rapid City, United States.

The Journey Museum and Learning Center occupies 7 acres of gardens in Rapid City, South Dakota. Its galleries follow the Black Hills in sequence: a Star Room on the formation of the universe, a geology wall recording 2.5 billion years of rock, fossils on loan from the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, five archaeology sections, the 5,500-piece Sioux Indian Museum, and the Minnilusa Pioneer Gallery with a trapper's cabin and a hardware store model.

The museum was established in 1997 to document the natural history and human development of the Black Hills region. The exhibitions follow a chronological structure from early geological formations through the different peoples who lived here over time.

The Sioux Indian Museum gallery holds 5,500 pieces regulated by the Interior Department's Indian Arts and Crafts Board. Most came from a collector who ran a trading post on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, gathered between the 1890s and 1930s. Look for beaded work, ceremonial objects, saddles, tipis and a holographic elder who tells three stories.

The grounds are easy to walk through with designated paths leading through garden and exhibition areas. Plan to spend several hours here, as the collections are large and there is much to explore at your own pace.

A special gallery connects the formation of stars and galaxies with how indigenous peoples understood the cosmos. This offers a rare view where two different perspectives on the same natural phenomenon come together.