Black Hills 2023

Black Hills Vacation 2023 started about 9:00 this morning! Dropped off the Puppy at Puppy prison, picked up some water at the grocery and we were on the road. Yes, this is a picture of the Lincoln fully packed for two people for one week. I never claimed to be a good packer...

Lots of road construction along the way but thankfully no back ups. We were able to sail right through even though you need to slow down. After going 80, 65 feels like crawling. It was cute on one stretch of the construction the car ahead of us put their window down so their dog could stick his head out. We could see him enjoying the ride and barking at the other cars as they were going by. He was having a great time and we enjoyed watching him!

Stopped in Chamberlain at Arby's for lunch and made it to the Badlands National Park around 1:30 (we gained an hour). Stopped at the first overlook just to get my first sight of one my favorite places on Earth. I just love the Badlands. It's like being on a whole different planet. Today's hike was part of the Castle Trail. Total it is a 5 mile each way hike. I wanted to do about half of it. Ended up going out about 1 1/2 miles, we almost made it to where I had planned to turn around, could see it ahead so I figured we did good. I was HOT. Full sun, no breeze, and I sweat like my Dad so I was done. But the terrain was amazing. I loved walking out among the formations. If it had just been a bit cooler would have gone for a bit longer. I could post all my pictures but here are just a few.

Got back to the car all sweaty. Drove through the east side of the Badlands stopping at the two gift shops looking for a long-sleeve Badlands T-shirt and ice cream. Found neither so headed for the hotel, Badlands Interior Motel and Campground. Checked in and unpacked. Surprisingly decent little room, much better than I expected. Nothing special but clean. Walked into the little town of Interior and was a bit early for supper so went to the Wagon Wheel for a cold beverage. Norm had said he thought he had been there and put a signed dollar on the wall (seems it's a thing here) so Kurt looked for it a bit. Would have been awfully lucky to find it as they are everywhere.

Decided we were hungry so walked back up to the gas station - Cowboy Corner. I had read they were a gas station that served amazing food so decided to try it out. We got there and they weren't serving for about another 15 minutes so sat to wait. In the meantime people started walking in. There were at least 10 people or so waiting before they even started serving at 5:00. Saturday night was Prime Rib night and they only serve the one thing. So Kurt got prime rib and a baked potato and I had his salad and got a bag of peanuts. I actually tried his (I am not a fan of prime rib) and I must say it was excellent. Was a very neat place with very good food served by extremely nice people. It was one lady who cooks every night but Sunday. I would HIGHLY recommend - but get there early or make a reservation as they were sold out by 5:15! Next time we are coming on Friday night as that is chicken fried steak night.

We had planned to go back to the Badlands to watch the sunset but as we had a couple beers that wasn't an option. Instead we sat out on the patio at our hotel, Kurt had a cigar and we watched the sun go down. Was nice but don't see all the hype, for the most part it was just the sun in my eyes...  Glad we didn't drive into the park to watch. 

Early night to bed as didn't sleep the best last night, as usual the night before vacation. Great start to vacation!