Deadwood, Sturgis and Wonderland Cave

My heel pain has been better, so we are trying to walk again.  This fluffy glass was shining in the evening sun light last night.

Our "home" RV park isn't much, but we have enjoyed our time here and it's been centrally located for the things we have wanted to see.

We worshiped at Dove Christian Center yesterday and heard a good word from their Pastor.  He is a bull rider, too. We had breakfast out and then went to a movie in the afternoon and just took a day off from our sight seeing trips.

This is Monday and we drove up route 79 through the Black Hills to the town of Deadwood. 

We took a loop through Lead because there was some construction going the other way and a traffic backup.  We stopped to look at this quarry.

Deadwood's claim to fame is the town where Wild Bill Hickok was killed.  It's full of old shops and places to gamble. 

We looked around a little, but then decided to take a drive up to what was marked as, "Mt. Roosevelt" on the map. There was some explanation of how Mr. Bullock met Teddy Roosevelt in South Dakota and they became good friends for life.  So, Bullock decided to build a Monument to his friend.  We climbed uphill on this path with no idea of how long we had to walk.  We kept thinking that is was just around the next curve.

At one point we had this beautiful overlook out over Deadwood.

 It was about a mile before we saw Friendship Tower.

The Tower had a spiral staircase. 

There was a great view from there.

It was nearly time for lunch by the time we got back to the car.  We decided to drive on up to Sturgis.  This is the town that has many Motorcycle rallies each year.  We asked around to see who had the best burger in town and they sent us to The Loud American Grill.  The food was great and we could only imagine how packed the place would be during the rallies.

We headed back south toward Rapid City and decided to take a tour down the Wonderland Cave.  It was interesting, but a lot of steps down and then back up through the winding path.

We turned and saw that we were going through the town of Nemo.  So, I guess we can say that we found Nemo today.

We got back into town in time to see another movie and then to get back to the RV for a bite to eat before the sun began to set.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Rapid City.  We will leave Wednesday and head down the road to Hot Springs.  We are planning to meet our niece who lives in the area for lunch tomorrow.

Blessings,

Kathy

Wilderness Loop in Custer State Park

We drove another 100+ miles today through the southern loop of the Custer State Park.  We covered the Wilderness Loop and the Iron Mountain sections.  We came in on route 36 into the east side of the Park.  Beautiful rolling hills and tall pines greeted us on a warm, sunny morning. I hope you can enjoy today's trip with me.

The Buffalo pleased everyone looking to see them today but just parking out around the Visitor center.  The Park has a Buffalo roundup once a year in Sept. to check the number and health of the herd for population control.

A few miles further into the loop their were plenty of "wild" burros to please the crowd.  Signs everywhere say not to feed the animals and to keep a safe distance.

 This Mamma needed a cardboard sign around her neck that said, "Will pose for food".

Antelope were playing.

There are many horse trails and people taking advantage of a perfect day.

We had gone through most of the park, so we needed to cut through the middle, past Legion Lake to go through the Iron Mountain section. We stopped and ate a snack and enjoyed the lake.

The traffic was very light again, which surprised us for a Sat and we passed through several one lane tunnels along this route.

So many curves and cut backs and places to get a little peak of Mt Rushmore.

The Black Hills only appear to be black from a distance. It's all very green and lush although they are having an issue with a tree disease that is working through the pines.

One of the tunnels perfectly frames Mt. Rushmore as you come through it.

There are some very creative ways of building the roads to get back down off the mountains.

The town of Keystone is the heart of tourist country.

The Miner's Tunnel stands as an entry both in and out of Keystone.

There are all sorts of vehicles that run through.  This one is designed like the Bat mobile.

It is in the upper 90's today, but we got back to the RV before it heated up too much.  Tomorrow will be another hot one and then a cool down on Monday.  We are hoping to get to Deadwood City further north on Monday.

Blessings,

Kathy