We are now in South Dakota after a fantastic 6 weeks in North Dakota. We pulled into Spearfish S.D. and set up camp at Chris's RV Resort.
What is that big structure? Is it a mountain? Are those longhorn cattle? How did they get there? Or..DO.DO DO DO are they actually...DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO...ALIENS! Where could this be.Is this earth or.....are we on an Alien planet? Naw, were at Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.It is only an hour and a half from Spearfish.We are back on sightseeing mode.
Jeni and I were in awe of this massive rock.We took the 1 mile hike around Devils Tower for a Birdseye view up close and personal. The movie "Close Encounters of the 3rd kind" was filmed here.They had these telescopes set up along the trail so you could get a close up view of the rock and the mountain climbers.If you look close at the picture you can see a black speck mid point on the rock. That is one of the rock climbers.
The park had a nice visitor center and cafe.The best thing as with all the National parks and monuments we have been to....They are all free entry for us! Before we left.on our trip we went to Yosemite and bought a Lifetime "senior Pass" for $10 bucks which is available to anyone 62 years of age or older.This pass gets you into all the Parks and monuments for free and half price camping at most all the national park and monument campgrounds.We have really got our money's worth out of the senior pass.
Hey I didn't find any funny stuff going on here. No aliens,no extra terrestials,no E.T. Hey.......Wheres Jeni.....that is strange!
Well back to Spearfish where we are staying while we tour the area.We hit Perkins for dinner and were very impressed with this place.We have been to the Perkins in the Fresno area and it was so-so but the,food,the service,and the price at this Perkins was fantastic.We will be back.
We will probably be here for a few days before we head to the Black hills and Custer.
We drove the scenic Spearfish canyon byway (hwy-14) which winds thru the foothills that leads to the town of Deadwood S.D.The scenery was breath taking at every turn.The steep canyon walls of granite and the ponderosa pines were a striking contrast of dull grays and vivid greens.At every turn it was a Kodak moment.
Water falls dotted the area,and they had some nice hiking trails that we took full advantage of.Of coarse we took our "high dollar"walking sticks to aid us as we traversed to trails.
The weather here has been great as with the weather on our travels so far. We hope this nice weather holds while we are in South Dakota.
More scenic shots of The Canyon,and a pretty lady too. NO I'm not rocking the cradle,The years have just been very kind to my lovely wife.She just gets more beautiful with each passing year.
OK back to the trip.We are heading out of the canyon and headed to Deadwood.
If you watch HBO you have probably seen the western series "Deadwood".It was a notorious western town in the1860's.As with many western towns that prospered back then gold was the
fuel that made them prosperous
We walked the historic downtown area to get a feel for the area.Most of the buildings have been restored to a more modern look which kinda took that western flavor away from this place.To us it was more tourist trap than old west.We were a little disappointed.
More restored buildings on "ole main street.
A shot of the downtown main street.A little modern a little western.
This was where "wild" Bill Hickock was shot. But the saloon is gone.
The western looking sign is a nice touch though.
Well we are off to the wild and woolly motorcycle mecca Sturgis S.D
Our kids told us if we go to Sturgis stop by the Full Throttle Saloon and get them a Tee shirt.Well we found it! A very large saloon in fact it is probably the biggest and strangest bar we have ever been in Wild is the only way to describe this place.They have a big gift shop on site with a variety of clothing options.Jeni sent pictures of some of the items they have and by the time she got off the phone she had bought the kids a ton of merchandise from the bar.The kids told her "buy it we will pay you back".Man I hope so as I pulled out the old visa and tabbed $500 to it!
The sign says it all. Plus,as I was enjoying a cold brew in this odd colored lounge chair recuperating from that harrowing shopping spree,a little burro strolled up next to me I hollered to the bar maid "what the heck is this burro doing inside the bar"? Her reply..."he lives here. oh, her name is Emma"."JEN,were outta here"!
I guess to really appreciate Sturgis you have to be a biker.
Heading back to Spearfish tired and hungry we decided we would give Perkins a shot again to see if everything would be like it was the first time we ate there.....It was.
Our last day we decided to check out Wall S.D. Many RVers have told us "you gotta check out Wall Drug" so we decided to see it.
The place was huge.Anything you want or need is probably here.It has been here since the 40s.The story goes that at first wall drug could not get interstate travelers to stop in so the owners placed signs on the interstate offering free ice water to anyone who stopped in.The rest is history.It was a fascinating place that we really enjoyed.We had lunch in their 545 seat restaurant that is under the same roof as the many other stores.wow,you have to see this place!
Tomorrow we will head to Custer south Dakota for more adventures.
When we were driving from North Dakota to Spearfish a rock hit our windshield and put a ding in it.when we arrived here I set up safelite glass to come out to the RV park to fix it.They came out this morning and did a great job.you can't even see where that rock hit.
We will give Wall Drug our thumbs up for best place for us in the area.It was assume.
Well all for now as we continue on to South Dakota.
