blackhills adventure, day 2

Yesterday was a whirlwind trip through the Black Hills, we started out with a little retail therapy in Rapid City, they have a wonderful downtown and I found an amazing bead shop (the owner offered me coffee, and told me I should just stay at her store all day and bead while the guys went exploring!) Mike and Charlie found a 'cool' hobby store, and an 'unbelievable' gun shop, but since it was such a gorgeous day we decided to check out the rest of the shops on our way back through on Friday.

We jumped in the truck and headed north to Lead, where we explored the Homestake Gold Mine, and the tiny downtown.

The drive through Spearfish Canyon was beyond beautiful (I will share shots of that when I can pull the pictures off Mike's camera), and Spearfish itself was worth an extended stop. I explored an antique shop where I found buttons and books and old sewing notions, while Mike wandered through a book store and Charlie checked out a bike shop. After a coffee break, we journeyed to the circus that is Sturgis.

Even though the rally doesn't officially start until Sunday, people are already pouring in to the little town, and the vendors are busy setting up. People watching was very interesting, Charlie got to see his first public drunk, who wound his way across the street on a red light, the bikers just wound there way around him.

Our final stop was Deadwood, we checked in to our room at the Mineral Palace Hotel and Casino, then explored the streets and gambling halls.

We had dinner at Diamond Lil's, in Kevin Costner's Midnight Star Casino. Charlie was hot to gamble, and was trying to figure out how to split all of the money we would win. We agreed to spend $20, and after a few small wins, we decided to quit while we were ahead!

Today, we travel south to Hot Springs, where we will check out the Mammoth Site, and explore Wind Cave National Park. It's raining, and cool, so we are going to do the inside activities today.