SD trip - final days!

I need to stay on track, I've left you in suspense with the final days of the SD trip. Heavens! On July 1, we rode into Hill City and ambushed the Alpine Saloon for a great lunch of more German food, got to observe a thunderstorm outside while we ate and then explored some of the merchantiles in the burg. The boys and I ended up at the end of town in front of an old time photo studio. I sent them back to roust the troops and all 8 of us partook in a 1/2 hour of revelry posing as the outlaw in-laws. J was less than enthusiastic and N was all over it because he was equipped with not 1 BUT 2 GUNS!!! Talk about a s**t-eating grin on his face. The photo shoot was a hoot and I thought we'd have to twist arms to get my parents to participate. Not so. I've been trying to get a good scan of the photo, but it always comes out sideways. When I get it right, I will post. We took the 1880 steam train from Hill City to Keystone through the lower Black Hills of SD and lots of rustic homes, ranches, old decrepit farms and mines. Some new and interesting construction in the mix as well. A brief stop in Keystone and we saw we should make a return trip in the next day or two.
We arrived back at Palmer Gulch in time for a potluck to eat up any remaining leftovers at Rick and Mary Lyons cabin. This is one of the PLUSH cabins with several rooms, a big porch and large dining table which heard many great stories and much laughter that night - and saw a few empty wine bottles as well. We did a good job clearing out the leftovers - like a hoard of locusts.
The morning of July 2, Dan wanted to get us up early to go to Mt. Rushmore, into Keystone for some entertainment and onward to Custer State Park to our next lodging so he and Joe could run down to the Badlands for the sunset. The Presidents were foggy, so we skipped the tour and saw them later in all their glory in the tunnel view in Custer State Park. We had seen them at night all lit up due to several wrong turns the first night in so the novelty had worn off at that point. In Keystone, the guys tolerated some shopping with Mom then wanted to do the Alpine Slide. A ski lift takes you to the top of a small mtn., and you ride down on a luge sled in a concrete track. You really get zipping. Dan took a film of one of his runs and if I can get him to post in on YouTube, I'll post the link here. It was a hit for all 3 boys and I found my commemorative t-shirt "Don't make me open this can" of Whoop-Ass. Well worth the cost.
We headed onward to Custer State Park and found our cabin to be cozy but quite plush with a heat pump and satellite TV, much to Nick's amusement. I had a nap, Nick watched an informative outer space show and Dan and Joe headed for the hills. Moseyed in to Custer for dinner and caught a street corner Indian dance performance with the rents and the newlyweds, and returned to the lodge for pie for dessert. While walking back to our cabins, the forward group grew suddenly quiet and moved rapidly. There was a bison the size of a mini-van 25 feet from D/D's cabin, so we watched him for about an our out the back windows, 1/2 of us in the bathroom and half in the bedroom. So nice to have a close family. At 10:00 it was too dark to see if he was lingering and we used camera flashes to return to our own cabin. Joe and Dan returned about 11:00 and Joe had sat on a cactus in one of their hikes, he wasn't hurt but his jeans were handled gingerly. They stopped at Wall Drug and Joe drove for a bit in the middle of nowhere, so they had a bonding experience.
Early on the 3rd, we ventured back into Rapid City for our return flight home via Salt Lake City. We found cooperative flight personnel who cut our layover time by 5 hours and got us in to Seattle by 5 p.m., so the return trip kept me a happy camper without spending much time in SLC. I'd learned my lesson and napped from Rapid City to SLC. I sat next to Joe, who is not a social flight partner. Overall, the trip was good, we made some cool memories for our parents, ourselves, our relatives and the boys. Safe travels, no major mishaps and good times.

Peace and Blessings,
Michelle ;-P