We're Off Part 2.... AZ-WY-MT-SD-AZ

[AzScorpion]

I've seen that same old relic many times. I think it may be the last on in existence here in town.

This one was at Safeway on North Ave/ East Rushmore St right odd I-90. Annie was like "hey look at that you gotta take a pic". lol We've seen a few here in Hill City and there was another one at Jewel Cave. Looks like you guys are going to start a pay phone museum here. ?

BTW...How'd you make out the other night with that storm? We got a lot of thunder/lightning but no hail.

Sponsored

 

[MXGOLF]

I think this was one of my favorite displays inside besides Crazy Horse of course.

Dave I am pretty sure there were no lights in Tepees back then? Just saying. LOL
Awesome photos and thanks for doing this WOW history is amazing!

 

[canyonslicker]

I'm standing way down in a valley below the tree line and DT still towers over the trees.

I couldn't figure out why it was called Red Beds trail until we came to this section at the base. There's sections like this all over the area which almost looks like a mini Sedona.

Annie liked this purple plant . Andy @canyonslicker how do you use the phone to identify plants?

Go to camera roll, scroll to picture and hit the center info button then then tap look up plant

 

[NeilP]

This one was at Safeway on North Ave/ East Rushmore St right odd I-90. Annie was like "hey look at that you gotta take a pic". lol We've seen a few here in Hill City and there was another one at Jewel Cave. Looks like you guys are going to start a pay phone museum here. ?

BTW...How'd you make out the other night with that storm? We got a lot of thunder/lightning but no hail.

Thank goodness round two of that storm fizzled out and all we got was more rain. But the first round was rather nasty!

2.75" of rain & hail in a very short period of time. Parts of the lower areas in town got hit with a flash flood. The lower levels of some apartments on the south edge of town had water deep enough to cause cars to be floating around in the parking lots. On the north-east side of town (close to Safeway) the lower levels of 3 senior apartment complexes were flooded. A lot of basements throughout town also got water in them.

My place is on a hill side (thank goodness). We've been in this house for 6 years. Last month after having over 9" of rain and again in this recent storm is the first time that I've ever heard the sump pump kick on. (It is an odd system, but one that is very common around here. Drain tile is placed around the outer perimeter of the foundation footings and piped INTO a sealed pit that is buried about 3 ft below the footings inside the basement. It doesn't make sense to me to pipe runoff into your home but they do)

I had enough time to rearrange all the junk in the garage before the storm hit. I moved the Ranger up tight against the F250, then tucked the Escape up against the Ranger, and luckily I was still able to squeeze the Jeep Wrangler in between the Escape and the wall. It was a tight fit for a 3 stall garage, but I made it work. The next day I was visiting with the neighbor lady next door. I told her about fitting all the vehicles inside. She was kind enough to give me the code to her garage doors and showed me where she keeps her car keys. She has a 3 stall garage but only has 2 cars in it, so next time I will be able park one of mine at her place.

I'm enjoying all of your photos. After seeing your adventures in WY, I think I am going to have to make another trip over there again. It is beautiful country.

 

[MXGOLF]

Keystone is a very small town which is the gateway to Mt Rushmore. Mostly everyone stops here (we did last year) and there's only a few gift shops and restaurants there. The one reason we wanted to go back was to get a pizza at Cruizzers Pizza. We had got one there last year and it was really good. I've had better when I lived back east but since moving to AZ this is hands down one of the better ones I've had in years.

Don't blink or you'll miss Keystone.. lol

Cruizzers is right across from the 1880 train depot on the second floor. You can eat inside or out and the staff there is great!

When making the train reservations you can take any train back. Some just turn and burn back and we chose to stay for 2.5 hours which is more than enough time to see the shops and grab bite to eat.

That pizza looks awesome!

 

[AzScorpion]

Thank goodness round two of that storm fizzled out and all we got was more rain. But the first round was rather nasty!

2.75" of rain & hail in a very short period of time. Parts of the lower areas in town got hit with a flash flood. The lower levels of some apartments on the south edge of town had water deep enough to cause cars to be floating around in the parking lots. On the north-east side of town (close to Safeway) the lower levels of 3 senior apartment complexes were flooded. A lot of basements throughout town also got water in them.

My place is on a hill side (thank goodness). We've been in this house for 6 years. Last month after having over 9" of rain and again in this recent storm is the first time that I've ever heard the sump pump kick on. (It is an odd system, but one that is very common around here. Drain tile is placed around the outer perimeter of the foundation footings and piped INTO a sealed pit that is buried about 3 ft below the footings inside the basement. It doesn't make sense to me to pipe runoff into your home but they do)

I had enough time to rearrange all the junk in the garage before the storm hit. I moved the Ranger up tight against the F250, then tucked the Escape up against the Ranger, and luckily I was still able to squeeze the Jeep Wrangler in between the Escape and the wall. It was a tight fit for a 3 stall garage, but I made it work. The next day I was visiting with the neighbor lady next door. I told her about fitting all the vehicles inside. She was kind enough to give me the code to her garage doors and showed me where she keeps her car keys. She has a 3 stall garage but only has 2 cars in it, so next time I will be able park one of mine at her place.

I'm enjoying all of your photos. After seeing your adventures in WY, I think I am going to have to make another trip over there again. It is beautiful country.

When I looked at the radar that night I saw a huge band of dark red and purple heading up you way. Down here it seems to split up right before hitting us and luckily (for us) some went north and south. It's always nice to have a neighbor like that! I had access to my neighbors house from May - mid September. He was a snowbird and I'd watch his house for him and check it every week for him. He told me if I ever need his garage or if my ac ever crapped out on me to just use his house anytime. Sadly he passed away 18 months ago.

When I built my house I had drain tiles (it's code there) all around my house back east. But I had a good size hill in the back and even with that I'd get water in the basement especially after a bad winter. The water table was very high there so my second year I had them install more drains inside where the worst was coming in and a pit and sump in the corner. This took care of the problem and that thing would run constantly from mid January into May. I think when they backfilled the foundation they must've crushed the exterior drain in that area because the rest of the basement was fine. One thing to keep in mind is if yours runs like mine did make sure you have a generator if/when you lose power. The first time our power went out I was bailing water out of the pit for 4 hours with a 1 gal bucket into 5 gal buckets. Then throwing them out and repeating until it came back on. Of course the sump pit and the hatchway were at total opposite ends. After that I bought a whole house generator so I didn't have to stress about it while away.

Yes, WY and really every area we've been to has been beautiful! If I had known earlier I'd have seen if you had wanted to maybe meet up, even just for dinner at Cheyenne Crossing. We really planned this last minute before going to bed Saturday night and going through Spearfish Canyon was a last minute audible by Annie. But, I'm sure we'll be back next year as we both love it here in SD. It's just stressful this year with all the storms. Last year was perfect weather and I think it only rained on night. You're right, there really is so much to do and see in this country yet many don't appreciate what we have here.

 

[AzScorpion]

That pizza looks awesome!

It really was good Mark. So good we're going to try and get back one night for another before leaving. We really don't eat like this but on vacation we tend to splurge a little more. Good thing all out rentals have had full kitchens and bbq's so most of the time we're still eating pretty good. I'm going to need a good cleansing and back to healthy food once we get back home. lol

 

[NeilP]

One thing to keep in mind is if yours runs like mine did make sure you have a generator if/when you lose power. The first time our power went out I was bailing water out of the pit for 4 hours with a 1 gal bucket into 5 gal buckets. Then throwing them out and repeating until it came back on. Of course the sump pit and the hatchway were at total opposite ends. After that I bought a whole house generator so I didn't have to stress about it while away.

The power company is installing a Generlink unit on my meter next week. I have a new Honda EU7000is sitting in the garage along with a Honda 2200w portable . Hopefully I'll never need them, but they are there just in case! The winter months are more of a concern for me. It doesn't take long for things to cool down when it is -24° with a -46° wind chill & the power goes out.

If I had known earlier I'd have seen if you had wanted to maybe meet up, even just for dinner at Cheyenne Crossing.

I haven't been back to Cheyenne Crossing since they re-opened. They had a pretty devastating fire last fall. It was rebuilt on the original foot print to retain the 'historical" designation and everything was restored back to the way it was. They reopened right before Memorial Day weekend. I am glad they are back, the steak tips are incredible!

 

[AzScorpion]

The power company is installing a Generlink unit on my meter next week. I have a new Honda EU7000is sitting in the garage along with a Honda 2200w portable . Hopefully I'll never need them, but they are there just in case! The winter months are more of a concern for me. It doesn't take long for things to cool down when it is -24° with a -46° wind chill & the power goes out.




I haven't been back to Cheyenne Crossing since they re-opened. They had a pretty devastating fire last fall. It was rebuilt on the original foot print to retain the 'historical" designation and everything was restored back to the way it was. They reopened right before Memorial Day weekend. I am glad they are back, the steak tips are incredible!

Yes winters must be brutal out here! We would get a few of those with sub zero day temps along with sub zero wind chills but they would only last a couple days, maybe sometimes a week.

I was looking at the steak tips and our waitress Kim talked me into the Indian Bread Taco. I'm glad she did as it was different and really good! I didn't even know about the fire until she told us about it and they did a really good job restoring the inside. Keep in mind they're closed on Tuesday and Wednesday which of course was the day we stopped last year.

 

[AzScorpion]

Go to camera roll, scroll to picture and hit the center info button then then tap look up plant

Thanks Andy, that's a cool feature! I tried it on Devils Tower and it worked there too. I also tried it on the dinner I had but there's no * next to the info button. I guess it had no idea what it is. lol

 

[Scottopia]

I'm not sure what's living up there. Probably the relative of Scotts @Scottopia that was living in that hut back in Grand Tetons.

Oh, absolutely, the entrance to family housing!

 

[Trigganometry]

https://identify.plantnet.org/en/k-world-flora/species/Penstemon glaber Pursh/data

 

[canyonslicker]

Thanks Andy, that's a cool feature! I tried it on Devils Tower and it worked there too. I also tried it on the dinner I had but there's no * next to the info button. I guess it had no idea what it is. lol

It works with dogs too ?

 

[AzScorpion]

There were several reasons we chose to come back to SD and spend 2 weeks here. We love the area and last year only having 5 days was not enough time to do/see everything here. Going to Crazy Horse and seeing Mt Rushmore at night and the ceremony were our two top priorities and the rain finally held off last night to see Mt Rushmore at night.

This is a really moving ceremony and the park ranger was excellent! He started with George Washington's life as a boy and told his story up 'til he was president then went on to touch on Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. Then there's a the film, "Freedom: America's Lasting Legacy," which tells you all about each U.S. President depicted in the memorial. They end by having all members past and present come onto the stage for the flag lowering. Talk about having goosebumps!


When you walk up from the parking garage you'll enter here.

 

[AzScorpion]

You just can not take less than 100 pictures here!

Sponsored