2013 Western Trip – Mt. Rushmore & Black Hills Institute

In putting this trip together, I tried to accommodate requests from each of us and for Madison, I’ve included the things she needs to see and do plus the things I know she enjoys.  For today we visited Mt. Rushmore (she needs to do) and the Black Hills Institute of Geologic Research Museum as her want to do.

When we were out her last year, Bev and I just drove by Rushmore and took a few shots, but this time we went in, saw the mountain up close, watched the movie, and looked around.  It was a dreary morning so the shots are not that great but its’s still pretty impressive and a great output from a couple of men’s vision.  Here are some excerpts from Wikipedia.

“South Dakota historian Doane Robinson is credited with conceiving the idea of carving the likenesses of famous people into the Black Hills region of South Dakota in order to promote tourism in the region.”  “It was Sculpted by Danish-American Gutzon Borglum and his son, Lincoln Borglum, Mount Rushmore features 60-foot (18 m) sculptures of the heads of four United States presidents: George Washington (1732–1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) and Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865). The entire memorial covers 1,278.45 acres and is 5,725 feet above sea level.”

“After securing federal funding through the enthusiastic sponsorship of "Mount Rushmore's great political patron", U.S. Senator Peter Norbeck, construction on the memorial began in 1927, and the presidents' faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. Upon Gutzon Borglum's death in March 1941, his son Lincoln Borglum took over construction. Although the initial concept called for each president to be depicted from head to waist, lack of funding forced construction to end in late October 1941.”

From the entrance back to the mountain, you pass through the Avenue Of Flags with one for each state.

“The U.S. National Park Service took control of the memorial in 1933, while it was still under construction, and has managed the memorial to the present day.  It attracts nearly three million people annually.”

From Rushmore, we went into Hill City to visit The Black Hills Museum which is small but packed with minerals, fossils, petrified wood, and dinosaur bones – most of the bones are from the area.  

Madison seems fascinated by rocks so maybe she’s a budding geologist.  They have the second largest complete T Rex after the famous Sue  which is located at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

Compare this ancient alligator  mouth to the chair next to it.

This seems to be a sea creature - ancient turtle perhaps.

After this, the ladies drove me the three miles back to the campground and they went back to town for, what else, more shopping.  We finished off the day with tastings at two local wineries, The Naked WinerSD which is a franchise for the original in Hood River, OR, where the wine is made and the Prairie Berry Winery, where they make mostly non-grape fruit wines including the locally famous Red Ass Rhubarb (too sweet for me).

I believe we got our moneys worth from this day.

The night before we left the area, we drove back up to Mt. Rushmore to see it lit up.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/18/2013 event date

2013 Western Trip – Brule Contemporary Native American Music

Our first full day in the Black Hills was spent with me attending to the RV and dog sitting while the girls went shopping in Hill City.  When they got home, Bev said she’d like to go to a Native American music show that night as it was highly recommended by some folks in town.

My first thought was to not want to go out at night but just sit around the campfire, especially since a show ending at 9 pm Mountain Time is way past me bedtime.  But since Bev really wanted to go and  it sounded like too unique of an opportunity to miss out on, I grilled up some of the brats we’d brought from Wisconsin and off we went.

Man am I glad I did – please take the time to read a little about them on Wikipedia – this is their first year with a tour stop at the High Country Guest Ranch about four miles from Hill City.  They are award winning, have sold over a million CD's, and have appeared TV.

Beside being a French dessert, Brule is the smallest of the seven bands within the Lakota (Sioux) Nation and most reside on the Rosebud Reservation in southwestern SD.  I took 86 shots (digital cameras are great) and here a few of them.

After the show, they were available for photos and greetings and all I could say was “magnificent performance.”  The outstanding music was very contemporary but still Native American and the dancers were incredible, especially the tall guy in yellow.  The dances were all a named ceremonial dance.

They perform Tue-Sat in an open air theater and for $25, I consider this a must see if you’re in this area.  Once again, Madison elected not to go and after we told her she may have just missed one of the big highlights of the trip, she said she would go with us from now on – time will tell.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/17/2013 event date

2013 Western Trip – Steak and Corn

We had’t cooked much on our trip west, so we celebrated our arrival in the Black Hills with grilled steaks and corn we’d picked up in West Salem, Wisconsin.  I don’t generally like to wait two days to cook corn, but this was a super sweet and picked the day we bought it from the folks who grew it.  We got the steaks at a store named Woodman's which is a 15 store chain in Wisconsin and northern Illinois and is employee owned.  At Woodman's, we also picked up some cheese made by a local Coop and some local sausages then stopped at the local IGA for some in-store made brats.

In addition to an RV kitchen, we travel with a little Weber Smoky Joe, an old fashioned (and 40 year old) Coleman Store, and a fancier Coleman propane grill that I hate to get out due to its size and weight. Since I'm more of a camper than an RVer, I like to do as much outside as possible and use the coach more like a drive along motel room.

So for this meal, I used the Smoky Joe and cooked the meals in shifts – Bev and Pat then Madison and me.  The steaks got oil and Montreal Steak Seasoning (check the marbling in those rib eyes) and the corn got the same plus a butter basting (they were nearly perfect ears).

I gave no thought to plating presentation but the food was very good and eating it outside surrounded by the South Dakota Black Hills made it really special.

Note: Since we're traveling and I have lots to write about and want to chronicle our trip, I'll probably post every day.  In some cases, it may be too much information but some of what I write is for other travelers who may want to visit the area.  Feel free to skip over the uninterested stuff or just look at the pictures - as if I needed to tell you this.  I'll try to make my posts a mixture of where we went, what we did, and what we ate and hope you can top by often.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/16/2013 meal date

2013 Western Trip – Rafter J

After our one day lay-over in West Salem, WI, we continued our journey west with an overnight stop at Camp America in Salem, SD then pressed on to our first big stop in Hill City, SD.  It was hard to believe how different SD looked this year as the lush green crops and pastures and full farm ponds had replaced last years everything-was-brown look and the ponds were empty.  The difference is dramatic.

We stayed at the Rafter J Bar Ranch Mountain Resort (5200’) just south of Hill City, SD and chose it because our friend Russ and his daughter, Cynthia, stayed here last year and spoke favorably of it. 

It's a bit pricey at $54/night, less Good Sam's discount, but it is ideally located for what we want to do.  It's two miles from Hill City, about eight miles to Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse, eleven miles to Custer State Park, and 45 miles to Deadwood (Casinos).

The campground is huge with seven different camping areas for different kinds of rigs, both open and wooded sites, and two of them have cabins for those without camping gear.  The amazing thing to me is the amount of space between these areas and the amount of space between the camp sites.  

These shots are from our site across a large field (150-200 yds.) to three of the other areas, with the office on the right of the last one.

There is nearly enough room between our neighbor and us to put in another site in the big rig area that we are in – Line Camp site 267.

This shot is from the other side of the campground back to our area with our rig on the far left.

It appears that the perfect site for us is across the field, where the big Prevost is parked, as it has a clear shot at both the TV satellite and the wi-fi tower and it has a wooded hill side to the west for afternoon shade.  We are facing west and have to keep moving around to stay in the shade – I’ll request site Lower Ranch Camp site 176, if we stay here again. 

While it would ruin the ranch feel of the place, they could easily triple the number of sites if business dictates– I hope they don’t.  They have a very nice pool, playgrounds, and even have on site fuel pumps.

The one sad note is the devastation the Mountain Pine Beetle continues to inflict in the West as seen on the hill above the camp.
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Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/16/2013 event date

2013 Western Trip – Features In West Salem, WI

One of the things Bev likes to do when we travel is eat out and leave the cooking and clean up to others so she ask about potential places at the Neshonoc Lakeside Camp Resort office.  With a population of 4900 in West Salem, WI, the list of options wasn’t long and after some concerns about eating breakfast at a sports bar, we headed down to Features Sports Bar and Grill.

As it turned out there was a decent sized restaurant with outdoor patio on one end, a large sports bar in the center, and a bowling alley on the other end – only in the North J. 

The service was good and we each ordered a different meal:

Bev – Mexican Omelet - Seasoned beef, black olives, and onions all smothered with salsa and cheese. Served with sour cream, toast, and hash browns. $7.99

Pat – Hunters Platter - Baby red potatoes lightly fried, topped with scrambled eggs, fried onions, and peppers served with bacon or sausage and toast. $5.99

Me – Farmers Platter - Grilled Klement's Italian sausage and hash browns, topped with fried onions, and peppers with two eggs and a side of sausage, served with toast. $5.99

.All meals were very good and after talking with the staff and looking at the evening menu, we decided to come back for supper and try the burgers and fried cheese curds they are noted for.

We started the meal with an appetizer of Homemade Cheese Curds -  12 ounces of hand dipped fresh Westby cheese curds served with a side of marinara sauce. $8.99.

They would have been great except they were way too salty.

For our entrees we all had a Steakhouse Burger - Steakhouse Burgers - All steakhouse burgers are served on a grilled ciabatta bun with lettuce and tomato. Served with our famous loaded potato skins, smothered in monterey jack or nacho cheese sauce, spicy waffle fries or french fries.

Pat – Curd Burger - Our 8 oz. steakhouse burger is crowned with a slice of American cheese and a mound of deep fried Wisconsin cheese curds. $8.99

Bev – Monster Mac and Cheese Burger - An 8 oz. burger on Jalapeno cheddar bread with grilled homemade Mac & Cheese, bacon and jalapenos. $9.49

Larry – From its description and the obvious photo op, I ordered the Frat Burger - This is the talk of the town! A juicy 8 oz. steakhouse burger, pressed between two grilled cheese sandwiches with fried onions and mushrooms. $9.49

We all ordered the loaded potato skins as our side dish.

As you can see, the meals were huge and none of us ate more than half of theirs.  While the burgers were all good and definitely unique, I would not say they were blow-me-away special from a taste standpoint, and definitely not as good as our breakfast meals.  However, I would eat both meals there again if in the area.

There was nothing shown for Madison and she chose not to join us and we took something back to her.

Between meals, Bev snuck in a little afternoon nap.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/14/2013 meal dates