Americinn Deadwood

Then I drove down to Spearfish, So. Dak. Spearfish Canyon is in the Black Hills - so called because the evergreens on the hills are so dark green that they look black in the distance. Spearfish Canyon is beautiful any time of year, but is especially gorgeous this time of year, when all the aspen and birch turn golden. The gold trees are interspersed with the deep green evergreens ...

Today's drive was a lot better than yesterdays. South Dakota reminds us of home a little. Lots of mountains, trees and wildlife, beautiful. We made our way into the Black Hills Nat. Forest, and stopped in a old west town, Deadwood. Which is where Wild Bill was shot. Pretty much just another touristy town filled with shops and a few museums, which of course we ...

... We then ate lunch and went to the State Hot Springs Park and played in the disgusting pools and Mara slid down the slide. Both girls suffered injuries...Dessa - doubled scraped knees on the brush concrete floors and Zoe when Mara slammed her finger in a locker door. I was happy to leave and get on the road, We drove through Tensleep and over the southern Big Horn Range. I was literally on gas fumes when we hit ...

... I admire the hotel's uniqueness for being fashionably old, the rooms creeped me out just a little bit. How? For instance, the room that we stayed in was scary looking, and my sister rambled about ghosts and scary stuff! For instance, the bathtub was REALLY old and reminded me of the movie, "Psycho". Yeah, remember THAT shower scene? I had no intention of putting my entire body into that bathtub just to take a shower! No way! Not me! haha. It was interesting to see names ...

... village, and regular cabins. On top of that, half of them were out of order. Then, the showers that were available had NO DOORS. You got half a curtain. And behind that half a curtain you got one hook. Where are you supposed to put your stuff?? Christen had a traumatic experience when someone walked a little too briskly past her half-a-curtain, causing it to blow to the side and reveal her bare butt. It will take her years to ...

... Walk, Zac, walk. Don't stop. Walk. Surprisingly, we saw a couple of other visitors venturing out - and they were not persuaded by a persistent six year old. By the time the end came around, we had actually enjoyed the stroll, as cold as it was. The Tower was an intriguing site and we learned heaps. My favourite fact of the stop concerned George Hopkins from 1941 who decided that he was clever enough to parachute onto the ...

... the monument, with only the face being completed and it still cost $10 to go in. I think I was there for about 10 mins!! Mt Rushmore was $10 to get into as well.<br><br>I stopped for lunch in Keystone and then through the Black Hills area to Deadwood. Once I got to Deadwood I went for a quick drive around town to see what it was like before going back to the hotel to drop the car off and walk into town (in case I had a few beers!). Dropping the car off was a great ...

... the true west ( California doesn't count as the west)  I'm always impressed with the nice people I run into..  Folks in these parts seem to be happy with their lives and speak to you on the street as a friend...  I talked with an old guy at the bar in a casino and he was telling me all about working the gold mines and how it was done and why the business went sour, etc, etc, etc...  He was just full of tales and it was great to talk with him..   Yellowstone country on Monday..  DLD I

... St. game, so we head back. On the way home a deer runs in front of us,I honk and brake... we miss the deer. 2.We go to see Crazy Horse, the size of the monument is huge. We then go back to Mt. Rushmore and stay longer. 3. Motorhome problems... we get to stay in Rapid City,SD for a couple extra days

... condensor, timing, and saw the vacuum was low. <br> I have talked aobut the national forest campgrounds in a former blog, but to repeat, they were generally pretty basic-no running water, no bathrooms (sometimes portojohns), sometimes picnic tables and trashcans, but that was about it. And I liked it liked it like that, because aa a general rule they were always ...