July 27th-July 28, 2014-Pancake breakfast-Keystone-Mt. Rushmore-Spearfish Canyon-Deadwood

 Sunday July 27, 2014 This morning was FAR from routine!!!! What a pleasant surprise, Lennie & I are going to ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKES (for 99 cents!) at Hays Chuck wagon Supper! They also have dinner shows & tours you can take....we were just there for the pancakes!

They had a regular assembly line going!

It was all you could eat, but 2 pancakes filled                                                                                       me up! Lennie did go back up for seconds!

The parking lot was quite interesting!

I'd like to drive away in that!

A part of the movie,Dances with Wolves was filmed here, I                                                                                             wonder if this was one of the props!?!

We went back inside the breakfast/showroom because  Cowboy Church was going to take place. It was only going to be a singing sermon. The guy singing was a local & had been doing a singing ministry or over 25 years.

This was Earl, he was running the show, he may have even been the owner?

We take advantage of Otis NOT being with us, at the same time, we don't want to be gone too long since Otis isn't with us. It's a no win situation!!!!We drive to Keystone, a tourist city of less than 400 people & I think they all own a T-shirt shop!

We looked in several shops but didn't by                                                                                                                anything....not even a postcard!

We want to drive back to Needles Highway, the other end this time, we have to hurry before Otis calls! On this end of Needles Highway you can see the Mt Rushmore busts through the highway tunnels. It's cool how the tunnels perfectly frame the busts!

 

Having never been on a family vacation, by Jr High age, I thought places like Mt Rushmore, The Statue of Liberty, Niagara Falls, etc,etc, were just places you read about in books! I didn't know you could actually drive there & see them in real life!!! Therefore I have a tendency to take too many pictures of things that impress me!!!

I think Otis called, he must of because we're heading back to the RV now!!!! Don't worry Otis, we're home now, & we're not going anywhere the rest of the night!

                                               He's sooooooo spoiled!!!!
Monday July 28, 2014 I want a re-run of yesterday, where's the pancakes.....I could eat two more of them now!?! No re-run! We have our breakfast, pack our picnic & away we go, our last day of sightseeing in South Dakota!

Today we are going to take a scenic drive through Spearfish Canyon. but first we drive a little out of the way to a town I bet most people have never heard of.....BELLE FOURCHE, S. Dakota & it's claim to fame is....it is the Geographic Center of the Nation!!!! (This should be a Trivia question!?!)

         H-m-m-m-m I always wondered where the center of the US is & now I've stood on it!!!!

Pretty interesting that piece of history information, but now let's get back on track to Spearfish Canyon!

Bridal Falls

Not bad for canyon scenery!

"H-m-m-m-m this looks like a nice place for a                                                                                                                                 picnic!?!"

Nice view!

Roughlock Falls(I took a lot of pictures of these falls!)

Bottom of the cascade.....

Too bad we're leaving now, it was so relaxing here....

We drive over to Deadwood, another old historic mining town. We were here a few years ago & poor Otis got scared to death when a scripted western shoot off was going on in town! Otis wasn't expecting gun fire in town! He jumped behind Lennie's back, he was sooooo nervous we had to leave(we were done looking around anyhow!?!).

Lennie & Otis "shopping"!?!

It's a week before the Sturgis Bike rally

Wonder what the streets will look like during                                                                                                                  the actual bike rally!?!

One more stop.....

This church is the exact replica of the famous 800 year old church Borgund Stavekirke(Stave Church) in Norway

 Needless to say, it was not a PET FRIENDLY tourist attraction, but one of the 2 volunteers, volunteered to hang on to Otis while we went inside the church. There's a video to listen to inside the church, so Lennie & I were gone at least 10 minutes.......

Otis was sooooo happy to see us coming back,                                                                                                  I think the volunteer was too!?!

There was also this cute little Norwegian Museum on the property, this was pet friendly! Otis was sooooo happy he could go in the museum & look around with us!

For our last day in Rapid City, I think we pretty much filled it up!! tomorrow we leave, that means we have things at the RV to do in preparation of leaving! Back at the RV park I start dinner while Lennie puts all the outside stuff away, & the bikes back on the bike rack. After dinner while walking Otis, Lennie finally got to talk to the Vietnam Veteran camped here at this RV park who also served in the same brigade Lennie did while he was in Vietnam, the 199th Light Brigade. This is the second time this trip we've seen a fellow 199th Light Brigade! I kept walking Otis while Lennie & his fellow Vet talked!

                   Good-bye Rapid City, South Dakota, our time here was short, but definitely busy!?!