Days 56 and 57 - Of Bison and Chocolate

Day 56 - Sunday - finding our next place to stay

Today we start by driving down to Tatanka, just outside Deadwood.  It's a museum and park built by the actor Kevin Costner after his involvement with the movie "Dances with Wolves".  It features a 1.5 times life size bronze sculpture made by a local artist depicting a buffalo jump, a method used by the Lakota people to kill buffalo before the arrival of the white man.  (The word Tatanka is Lakota for buffalo or bison).

The museum , featuring Lakota handicrafts, bison exhibits and costumes from the movie, is quite small, but what made it for us was the talks by Billy, himself a Lakota, describing the history of his people and their relationship with the white settlers.  We learned so much from Billy that we stayed for a second presentation which turned out to cover different information.  If you're ever in the area, this place is definitely worth a visit.

Later we drive 10 miles up the road to the town of Belle Fourche, named by the French for the beautiful fork in the river.   The local pronounce it Bell Foosh!  Vicky found a State Recreation Area called Rocky Point outside town where we may be able to stay for free.  We drive out and find a state campground.  Once past that, 4 miles down a gravel road brings us to a beautiful area where there are several places by the water we could park and also a large parking lot with water on both sides.  (This is the Belle Fourche reservoir).  We decide we'll be back.

An otherwise lazy day back at the campground.

Day 57 - Monday

We leave the campground and drive across the highway to the Walmart parking lot where we'll spend tonight.  It turns out to be quite busy and hence noisy, but the price is right for one night!  Leaving the RV, we drive the car down the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway.  Scenic it is, with high cliffs and several sets of waterfalls.  At first it's a state park but soon there are large houses in the canyon, many of which are for sale.  e decide people must have fallen in love with the area, and then given up after living through a snowy winter!

The canyon ends at the town of Lead (pronounced Leed for reasons nobody could explain to me).  The weather has cooled down but I persuade Vicky to take a walk down its historic main street,  We discover this was a gold (not lead) mining town, and the Homestake Mine (which closed in 2002) was the largest, deepest and most productive gold mine in the western hemisphere.  The buildings are charming and include an Opera House which still houses productions although it suffered several fires, but the town has obviously seen better days.  Completing our walk, we return to the car and head for Deadwood where we discover the chocolate shop is open.  2 truffles later (one raspberry, one hot pepper) we continue into town, this time finding the main street and confirming our first impression that, although the town has a lot of history, in its present incarnation it's primarily a tourist trap, so we don't stop.  We return to Walmart for the evening.