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Monday, July 4, 2022
In the morning we stayed in and watched Wimbledon on TV. For lunch we walked a few doors down to the Mt Rushmore Brewing Company. Deborah had the Chicken Yakisoba. It was a little on the sweet side but tasty. I had the eggplant sandwich. It came with lettuce, tomato, and onion. The lettuce was a little weird so I removed it. The eggplant was also very tasty. The soft drinks were served in plastic tumblers that had obviously been used to serve beer. There was a distinct aftertaste. It was a little off-putting. The waiter never checked up on us until he decided we were ready for dessert when we shared an order of butterscotch infused bread pudding topped with vanilla ice cream. It was quite good but we were surprised it lacked any sort of alcohol flavoring.
In the afternoon we binge watched the last two episodes of Stranger Things. The series is so repetitive that it is getting tiresome. The series will wrap up next year with the next and final set of episodes.
Around 9:00 pm we heard what sounded like thunder outside. We peaked out just in time to see the ending flourish of a fireworks display. Happy Fourth of July!
Tuesday, July 5, 2022
This morning we visited Sylvan Lake, located within Custer State Park. It’s a small, incredibly picturesque lake that was formed in 1891 when a dam was built across Sunday Gulch Creek. The lake was featured in the movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The movie implied that the lake was just behind Mount Rushmore. It’s really about five miles away.
We hiked the trail that goes around the lake. At first the path was an easy walk over a paved surface that lead to the dam. We walked over some stones to get to a bridge that straddles the dam and provides a view of the lake on one side and the forest on the other side. The next part of the trail was over stones and uneven rocks and required some scrambling. Eventually it lead to a steep set of stairs and another overlook. We scrambled down and found a nice gravel trail that lead the rest of the way around.
When we started walking the sun was out and the temperature was well into the 70s. As we walked clouds started rolling in, obscuring the mountain tops, and dropping the temperature into the 60s. It reminded us of a scene from the movie, “The Fog”.
Next we drove into Hill City, the town we stayed in when we visited in 2004.
Extra points if you can identify this quote and determine why it is here..
Yutan, two of those who killed my wife have escaped. Track them down. I will kill them.
The town has changed a lot in 18 years. It has been built up quite a bit. Now there is a Main Street with all sorts of galleries, clothing stores, ice cream shops, and restaurants that weren’t there before. We walked up and down the street and poked our heads into quite a few places before heading over to the Alpine Inn for lunch.
Last time we were there someone in town told use we had to eat at the Alpine Inn. We were told that they served, “Dinner”. Dinner consisted of a steak, salad, baked potato, drink, and dessert all for a very reasonable price. The restaurant opened at 5:00 pm and by 4:30 pm there was a line of people waiting. They still do “Dinner” every night starting at 5:00 pm. For $15.95 you can get a nine ounce bacon wrapped filet mignon, baked potato, salad, and Texas Toast. Drinks and dessert are now extra.
We didn’t recall it but the entire Inn has a very distinctive German ambiance. We shared an order of the pork schnitzel and the bratwurst. Both came with kaese spaetzle (German mac and cheese), sour kraut, red cabbage, and onions. We also got an order of their German potato salad. It was just like being back in Europe. We enjoyed it immensely. It was a lot of food and we cleaned our plates. Unfortunately, they had a huge dessert menu and everything on it was calling to us. We finally decided on “only” two things: a warm dark chocolate cake covered with chocolate ganache (really chocolate syrup) and topped with vanilla ice cream and the milk chocolate mouse with dark chocolate brownie pieces. The mouse was okay but the cake was amazing. We tried our best but weren’t able to finish either of them. We felt ashamed. The service was excellent. My one complaint: it’s cash only.
Wednesday, July 6, 2022
We finally got around to going back to Mount Rushmore. There is a road that leads to the monument that winds its way through mountain roads where there are strategically located tunnels, and various pullouts that frame the mountain from different angles. It’s an absolutely lovely drive.
The monument was free to enter but there was a $10.00 charge for parking. It’s funny how little we remembered about this place. We walked up the main access way, through the hall of flags, and snapped some selfies in front of the mountain. The visitor’s center had a nice little movie describing how the project was conceived and how it was implemented. There were also some general information materials about the presidents who are represented.
We also walked down many flights of stairs to see the sculptor’s studio. The only thing there was a large scale model of what was to be the final version of the carving. A ranger gave an informative talk that echoed everything we’d heard in the movie. The mountain clearly isn’t finished and only vaguely looks like the model. The project was halted in 1941, after being dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt, because the sculptor had died the year before, there was a problem with funding, and World War II was beginning.
Lastly we visited the cafeteria. It still strongly resembles the place where Cary Grant was shot in the 1959 movie, “North by Northwest”. They now have an ice cream shop featuring hard packed flavors inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s own recipe, which is on display and can be purchased for $1.00. Deborah had a cup of praline pecan and I had a waffle cone with twist soft serve. The praline pecan was first rate. The soft serve was flavorless.