Rapid City and Rushmore

Community Highlights North America Rapid City and Rushmore

Today was a nice, short drive and a pick up of Claire!

After a nice coffee and walk around Buffalo, I said goodbye to the Theodore Roosevelt Suite at Occidental and hit the road. For the second day in a row, I spotted a End of the Trail that I had missed in my first walk around town. This one was in the window of an art store.

On the way out of town, I was super impressed with how their high school looked! It's much bigger and more stately than I imagined, but it is often difficult to get a full idea of how big a town is when you're only in the tourist/ highway section. I really enjoy looking at the schools around the country as I travel. I'm usually looking at them during the summer when they aren't in action, but I try to imagine what it would be like to work there and how it might look during the school year. Yesterday, I cruised by Greybull's schools and liked the feeling there as well. The way schools look across the country are so varied. It;s really interesting. One in Oklahoma last year was so small and aged, then another I passed in Arkansas farmland was SO MODERN and big. Yes, I actually remember them. It's so interesting.

So, nice drive to Rapid City where Claire was arriving. I've been here a few times, but, due to various factors, haven't spent any time in the city itself- we DID really enjoy Reptile Gardens two years ago.

So, since I was in town early and before check in out in Keystone, I took the opportunity to eat at Firehouse Brewing! I've eaten at their "Smokejumper Station" outside of town a couple times and really enjoyed it- most memorably with Claire two years ago. So, I wanted to check out their home base which is an actual old firehouse. They've been very successful and expanded into wines and also physically into multiple buildings. The food and beer were good as was the staff and environment.

I'm telling things out of order, but after my walk I'll talk about in a minute, I came back through with a coupon for free wine tasting in their wine bar. Unfortunately, even in previous visits to the other location, their wine just doesn't grab me- which is too bad because I like the business and the names of their wines and the labels... In this tasting it was the same. There were a couple good ones, but my favorite was Sangiovese. When I asked where it was from, she said the wines were from California. So, I guess I do have my preference. It was a nice visit, just not my favorite wines despite my desire to!

Between Firehouse visits, I had a really nice walk around downtown. The main reason was to check out their "City of Presidents." Around about ten blocks of the city, you will find statues of all of the presidents through Obama. They are fun to spot and have good character to them. many different poses and props. Neat stuff.

As I walked around, I was excited by the variety of shops and signage! This the kind of city downtown I'd love to live around! Stores of all kinds, good art, neat signs, old buildings, variety of restaurants. In particular, I really enjoyed the comic store (and found some rare ones for Claire) and the hobby shop. Good places.

Then, on my way to our hotel in Keystone, I dropped in on the Fort Hays, which is a Western attraction with a number of activities. The centerpiece are three buildings and some props from Dances with Wolves, which was filmed about 16 miles out of town. I also rode the silly, but very tall, Buffalo Hunt roller coaster, which made me laugh. You go fast, then slow, then bumpy.. while trying to shoot buffalo with targets on their heads and butts. Goofy fun.

Checked into the hotel, picked up Claire (yay!), had dinner at Front Porch (one day I'll finally enjoy Ruby House), and then to Mount Rushmore for the lighting ceremony. Good history and feeling of patriotism, but the most affecting part for me both times was seeing the veterans from the audience get up on stage and perform the flag retreat. I was glad to share it with Claire and to have her back with me!

On Thursday, it was time to head to Medora.

So, we left Keystone SD and made our way up to the North.

We took a quick break in Sturgis to look around and pick up a Harley Davidson chip, which I'm not, apparently a collector of.

The drive was nice and I always spend it pointing out nice looking, isolated houses on the rolling hills that I want to move in to.

We took a little detour for lunch since we were ahead of schedule to check out Phat Fish Brewing in Dickinson, ND. Claire picked a good spot!. We were there at lunch, so the big place was fairly empty, which made it very comfortable. The local Northwoods League team, The Badlands Big Sticks, a Teddy reference, were having lunch there too. But we could picture it being full with rowdy kids having fun or a band on the stage. Very versatile.

Claire ordered a Mango Habanero beer right away. I was offered to sample some, so when our drinks came, it was rather comical.

I finally decided on a peach wheat for my lunch and picked up a six pack of the Smore Porter. Appetizer was some awesome pretzel bites with cheese and we each selected a good main course. Plus, they were showing Law and Order with captions on the TVs. Our kind of place!

This featured blog entry was written by JustinRiner from the blog Riner Road Trip.
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