The Black Hills Trip, Day 1

Long story short: In early October I took a road trip. Like most single bachelors my age I decided to go where the action is: South Dakota! This trip also doubled as a visit with desi and rose and the kids. I flew into Denver, rented a big Suburban (free upgrades are great) and headed North. A few of my destinations included: the highest points in Nebraska/SDakota/NDakota, the Black Hills with Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave NP, Deadwood, Custer, Devils Tower and numerous other highlights. Basically what happened is I drove around for a week or so and saw what I wanted to see, then I drove back to Denver, picked up the Starr fam and drove back to the North and showed them some of the most interesting places. I just realized that this blog might end up being long so I'll divide it into several parts. Anyway, here it goes starting with day one. These first photos really aren't that exciting because, let's face it, Nebraska really isn't that exciting.







Here is the obligatory photo of my rental. Nice huh?








Welcome to Nebraska (notice the bullet holes in the sign).







Panorama Point 5424', Nebraska's highest point.






The Great Plains, the incredible vista from the highpoint.









Scotts Bluff NM is a place I had always wanted to visit because I remember reading about it in a travel book when I was a kid. A little disappointing. It's basically just a hill in the middle of the Plains. I'm not sure how it attained NM status.



Here is where I ate dinner in Hot Springs, SD. It was an old 19th century that's converted into a bed and breakfast with a little trendy restaurant and coffee house downstairs. I ordered the portebello mushroom burger which I assumed would be beef with mushrooms on it only to find out that the burger itself was actually a huge slimy mushroom. It wasn't terrible, but I didn't finish it... Anyway, it was a cool little place that I'd like to return to one day.