Day 6 Hill City to Badlands

 We got up this morning and decided we wanted to stay another day so we could go to see the town of Custer or maybe actually go up to Mount Rushmore. Unfortunately the hotel was booked up for the weekend, so today's the last day in the metropolis of Hill City (Population 862).

The plan for the day was to drive to Badlands National Park and stop off and finally see the town of Wall and Wall Drugs. First of all, we had to decide which entrance we wanted to take to enter the Badlands, and his was no easy task (i.e. lively discussion). Somehow, someone , no one know who, decided on the Northeast entrance and then we would drive the 39 miles through the park and come out at Wall, SD where Wall Drugs is. What a plan, it actually worked out okay. The park was not at all crowded, and we used our National Parks pass, so it was free. I'm not much of a sightseer, but the drive was really very interesting and well worth spending the hour and a half it took to get there. The views were unlike anything I had ever seen before.  It's hard to believe land can be that massively scarred and still be beautiful. Plus we saw Bighorn sheep, Bison, and Prairie dogs. You could take a thousand pictures and not get a true feeling of the sights, nor a sense of the size of the park it's self. The stop at Wall Drugs did nothing but satisfy my curiosity.

Badlands

The hour and a half drive back to the hotel went by fast, maybe because the speed limit is 80.  Once there Sylvia did laundry and I got the car washed. Later we went to dinner at a neat old hotel, the Alpine Inn (alpineinnhillcity.com). It's supposedly the best pace to eat in town. They open at 5 and people start lining up before 4. Well, it was interesting, the menu consisted of no appetizers, two entrees, no side selections, and 23 desserts. The entrees were a 6 or 9 oz Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignons for $14 and $16, and Spaetzle Primavera for $14. We ordered the steaks which came with a baked potato, lettuce wedge, and Texas Toast. There were no other options, that's just how it comes. The steaks were actually good as was everything else. I don't think things get too complicated in the kitchen. We split one of their 23 desserts and that was also good. The place sat 151 people and was packed. We were in and out of there in 45 minutes and as we left people were still lined up waiting to get in. Amazing! 

That was it for the evening as we're going to Billings, Montana tomorrow with a stop to see the Devil's Tower.

Alpine Inn Entertainment