Sightseeing around RC

Nothing exciting today except for the snow. It came down lightly for a couple of hours. Didn’t stick.

We had a waiting day today, awaiting our big tour of the monuments tomorrow. After that, we’ll head for Cheyenne, Wyoming. To occupy the time, we collected brochures of interest from the lobby. After making sure we wouldn’t duplicate any of tomorrows’ tour, we decided to go to Deadwood.

Deadwood’s about thirty miles northwest of Rapid City. It was advertised as one of the classic old west towns where legends were born. It was a disappointment. The historical section didn’t appear at all to be an old west town. Looked pretty new and was almost entirely devoted to gambling and restaurants. Through every storefront window we could see casino style lighting and slot machines. Good if you want to do some gaming but I had my heart set on a bit of the old west.

We took the interstate to Deadwood. We decided to take state routes back through the Black Hills. It was a pleasant drive. The hills are high and gently rolling, not dissimilar to Western Holmes County. They are predominately blanketed with pine and fir. Occasionally an entire hill would be scared by a forest fire—blackened and covered with tree skeletons. It started snowing right after leaving Deadwood. The snowfall picked up and continued until we arrived at Keystone.

We were at Keystone yesterday for the train excursion. It’s is a version of Berlin except the basic attraction are the presidents heads-carving. We went through all the stores and bought some souvenirs.

After Keystone, we decided to go to Wall. Wall’s attraction is “Wall Drug”. I don’t blame you for being put off by the name. Those of you who have gone through Statesville, North Carolina may have seen a similar phenomenon—JRs. About fifty miles out from Statesville, JRs starts advertising and continues will all kinds of hawking until you arrive at exit 50. Wall Drug does the same; the ads become more and more intriguing. It started as a drug store but is now a full block with old west looking building fronts on both sides of the street. It is packed full of attractions, souvenir stores, restaurants and saloons. In addition to the stores, many of the walls and hallways are covered with old west photos, drawings paintings, documents and stories. I found it fascinating.