Black Hills Day Three

Thursday the 25th

A lazy day, sunny and 70 degrees at 7:00 AM. After a leisurely morning we decided to take the 1880 Steam Train from Hill City to Keystone City. After walking the kids and setting the A/C for them, off we went. On the way into Hill we wanted to find the Post Office and get the car washed before catching the train.

Arriving in Hill City we quickly parked at the depot and walked into the station to get our tickets. Surprise! The 10:30 AM boarding was all sold out. Bummer! Well that pretty much put the kibosh on a ride through the mountains pulled by a steam locomotive. I walked outside and got a couple of shots of the train pulling out of the station.

Since our train ride was scrubbed, we went to the P.O. and mailed our post cards, then went and found a brand new automated car wash. With all the traveling we’ve done and with the car sitting under trees so often, it really need the super duper wash. Since we had a few minutes while the car got washed we looked at the map and decided to make the drive over to Keystone along SD-353.

Fifteen minutes later we drove out with a clean (on the outside) car and started on our cross country trek. I wasn’t sure but I thought we might be following the same route as the train and sure enough, about five miles out of town we caught up with it. Quickly getting the camera out I took a couple of shots as Tina drove along side. Then we got stopped at a crossing. And another. And another. Either the road was really meandering or the train was, must be the road.

Eventually we got ahead of the train and made our way into Keystone, which calls itself “Home of Mt Rushmore. Driving from one end to the other covered about five blocks. The town is nestled up against a steep rock cliff on one side and rolling forest on the other, so there is only Main Street. We parked at the south end of town in front of the Borglum Museum, dedicated to the Mt Rushmore sculptor. Since we’d already been through the exhibits at Mt Rushmore we decided to wander through town and check out the shops.

Turns out there were about ten restaurants/eating places, fifteen jewelry/gift shops, three hotels, two real estate agencies several western wear shops and assorted miscellaneous businesses like lawyers offices and dentists. We checked out all the jewelry shops as they all were running sales on Black Hills Gold. I was looking for a pinky ring, Tina was looking for a dragonfly pendant. I found a ring that I liked but decided to wait until we got home before getting one. Tina finally found a pendant she liked and we got that.

Going up one side of the street and back along the other side we decided to have lunch at a sandwich shop. Mmmmmediocre, but, as my Dad always used to say, “ it’s only one meal.” Arriving back at the car we reversed our rout and returned to Hill City which is about ten blocks long and three blocks wide. Tina found a parking spot and we got out to go for a stroll, checking out the stores for presents. Unfortunately, the only presents we found were two chocolate ice cream cones – heheheh!

Leaving Hill city we returned to camp so I could try and catch up on the blog and Tina could take a nap. So went the rest of the afternoon.

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