Thursday's Adventures (last week)

Last Thursday's Black Hills adventure began with breakfast in Hill City, some shopping, and photo ops.

metal works sculpture called Iron Star

hidden farm tools within the sculpture

I did not look for the farm tools

I just admired the skill, creativity

and beauty of the sculpture

two donkey/mule sculptures

also with hidden and not so hidden items

I am sure I can not afford either

After breakfast and shopping we headed northwest

to a place Hubby and I (& Jon & Sherry) had

found last summer while geocaching

The Black Hills natives wanted to see it for themselves

communication satellite from the Cold War era

the canvas covering has disintegrated with time

the entrance, but not for us

the satellite is no longer used

it is secured behind a very high fence

Hubby and I found the cache container and the original log book as it had some history to this Russian/American site. This time I took photos of the log book information.

(June 2003)

this is the underground site where Russian and 

Americans monitored nuclear bomb testing in Nevada

tress and bushes are beginning to cover the area

the underground site is used today by the

US Dept. of Energy to study earthquakes

only machinery, no humans, are housed at the site

in reading more of the logs in the log book

we uncovered some new information...

the Mallo Motel

off we went to check out the motel home

for the American & Russians

(our native friends knew of the Mallo Motel)

in Mallo WY

two entrances

one for the Russians, one for the Americans?

rooms can be rented 

it is an active motel in the middle of NOWHERE

this was the only creature around

when we visited

Then it was a lovely drive along the WY/SD border in a gentle rain as we headed north to another adventure in eating.

another little roadside joint in the Black Hills

popular during the Sturgis Rally and ski season

we all chose Indian tacos (of varying sizes)

but while waiting for our food...

we played

the waiter had to give us a demonstration

of the twisted nails and T puzzle

I finally got it

used to do these with school kids all the time

I was a bit 'rusty'

I flipped the next photo so you can

read the instructions

the puzzle is set before you with 3 nails in the 

right hole, 1 in the center & 3 nails in the left hole

and the carrot cake to finish off the meal

and another fabulous day with friends

exploring the beautiful

Black Hills

The Rest of Wednesday's Adventure

Wednesday started with a tour of the Homestake Gold Mine in Lead, SD. (See the previous post)

Our next adventure involved

Chocolate

The building was once a gas station

It looks like a 'dump' on the outside

I would never have stopped and would have 

missed some of the BEST homemade chocolates

I have ever tasted

Chubby Chipmunk Chocolates

has a chipmunk theme

acorn tins

gold bar chocolates

porch rocking chairs

the place has an outside vending machine

for its chocolates

you can get a 4-pack of truffles or 

an individual truffle for $3.00

more chipmunks

After having dessert,

the smoothest, creamiest chocolate ever,

we motored to Lewies,

a hole-in-the-wall hamburger joint.

Lewie's is very popular during the motorcycle rally

and ski season

Hubby took the pen anyway

the burgers were awesome

huge, hand-patted & very tasty

one of the beer can walls

somebody was practicing their chain saw

carving skills

Much laughter. Great conversations.

Ready for Day 2 ~ the next post

Adventures on Day 1

After the weekend's geocaching event and van/deer incident we were looking forward to our 3 day reunion with friends from Sioux Falls and Black Hawk. We all winter at the same resort in AZ and met through the resort's hiking club. Last spring we made plans to camp in the Hills and spend 3 days together. That happened this week. We met Tuesday evening for an awesome meal and made plans for Wednesday.

Our first touristy agenda item was to ride the trolley (similar to the one pictured below) in downtown Rapid City. I would do that again, knowing the places it stops, and the cost for the ride. We then motored to Lead to tour the Homestake Mine.

tour started at the open pit gold mine

started in 1876 when George Hearst purchased

promising gold mine claims in the area

(The Black Hills Gold Rush began in 1875 and ended in 1877.)

our wheels to the mine buildings

tour guide sharing history & progression 

of underground mine equipment

Yates Hoist Room

control room to the underground mine

and now the underground laboratories

the Yates shaft has transported miners and equipment

to 8000 feet underground for 75 years

interesting to see the mine cage operator at work

the cages used to work on a bell signal system

interesting questions

knowledgable tour guide

the cone-shaped pulley cable system for lowering

and raising the cages was installed in 1938

 still being used today for researchers, scientists

and their equipment

the flow chart explaining how gold was extracted

from the rocks

the crate holds 1 ton of ore

the crate would produce 1/7 ounce of gold

7 crates were needed to produce an ounce of gold

(a Hershey's Kiss)

Homestake Mine began in 1876

it closed January 2002, as a gold mine

"Before its closing in 2002 Homestake Gold Mine

was the oldest, largest and deepest mine in the

Western Hemisphere, reaching more than

8000 feet below the town of Lead."

It is now the Sanford Underground Science

and Engineering laboratory

More of our Wednesday adventure in the next post.

It would make this one WAY too long.