Holiday Inn Express 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 ...

... as we were running out of daylight, we decided to pull over in the next town to camp...refer to entry "Heaven" for that experieince. <br><br>This morning I was up before the sun, breaking down camp and we were loaded and on the road by 8am. Devels Tower was there. We were very entertained by the prarie dogs. Mara took some fun pictures. I love that part of WY...it's so beautifully green with rolling hills. We are now ...

... famous people in front of the doors, and then see their obituary and picture in the middle of the room. Yeah, I actually got freaked out after seeing that for the first time. But I ended up not thinking about the scary stuff since I was hungry and wanted to check the town out. <br><br>When we went out of the hotel to go around town, we saw how gambling became a necessity in this city by checking out every store that had slot machines and what not! Furthermore, we ended up ...

... We spent the day driving around the Black Hills, seeing Crazy Horse Monument and Mount Rushmore, Custard National Park, and then doing a tour of the cave at Wind Cave. Wind cave was very neat and completly different than Mammoth Caves. Leigh and I really enjoyed the formations inside this cave and were glad we did it. Our guide was very nice and informative. We came back after a long day and took it easy relaxing at our camp site.

... in Deadwood.<br><br>As I was on my own, they invited me to join them for dinner so I went along and we had a couple of bottles of wine and a nice meal, which they ended up paying for!! After dinner I went to the Silverado casino and played on the tables for a couple of hours before finally stumbling back to the hotel. The couple I met didnt come along to the Casino as by the time dinner finished the Mrs was hammered, so they went back to their hotel instead.

... Clark's Crossing was just a block or so from the gas station so we headed there. Named after explorers (Lewis and) Clark, we loved the coffee.... and that was the end of the good meal. They mixed up our orders and Neil's toast came unbuttered while mine was soaking in it (yecch!). For some reason Neil got the orange slice garnish, and I got nothing. My hash browns were partially cooked and Neil's was overcooked. Both our bacon order had been deep-fried ...

Hi. Steve again. Dad's now been moved to a really smart room on a normal ward with views over the Black Hill of South Dakota. It's actually much nicer than our hotel room - we asked if we could have the two rooms next door but they weren't too impressed with that. He's slowly being disconnected from the tubes and wires but as you can see, there are still quite a few to go! The main worry now is ...

... before we had a talk from a park ranger about it. We went our separate ways and explored the section of the field where Custer made his famous last stand. There is a monument at that point under which they buried the soldiers in a mass grave. Dotted all over the field are small gravestones which have been placed where the soldiers actually fell. Some markers have been placed where the Indians fell but after the battle the victorios Indians removed their dead so it is unknown ...

... had finished working on the van I washed and shampooed in the creek. Then I started on the second painting of the trip. One of the little creek that ran behind the campground. Later as dark came on I started a campfire and had plenty of firewood because of all that was leftover by the weekenders. With dark night coming on I enjoyed the sound of the fire crackling and the ...