And yet another snowfall in South Dakota...

Paul sent me some more pics from South Dakota this past weekend. It was snowing on Sunday, so he went out for a drive and took some pictures. I know a lot of people across the country have had it up to their eyeballs with snow, but since I was sweating buckets working on my yard on Saturday, I could appreciate some photos of the white stuff. I thought he did a pretty good job and I love the "blueness" in all the shots.

See that profile in the middle of the picture? That's George from Mt. Rushmore. It's a side shot that most people don't know about as you drive around the backside of the mountain.

These lake shots are of either Lake Sheridan or Lake Pactola. It's hard for me to tell because of the vagueness of the photos...which I think is a cool effect.

You can actually see some of the snowflakes in some of these.

I miss the beauty of it, but I don't miss praying my Ford Escort would get up the hill.

This is one of my favorites...

This one just makes me feel cold looking at it.

I don't think we have to worry about not having a lifeguard here...

And here's some history if anyone is interested.

Thanks for another diversion from Texas, Paul.

A ride through the Black Hills...

My friend Paul from South Dakota went for a ride this week and sent me some pictures he took along the way. It was a ride down memory lane for me and I enjoyed the trip back in time. When I said in my last post that Texas isn't the "best," this is what I meant...there is beauty in every state. When it comes down to it, very few people have actually been to the great state of South Dakota. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere (like a lot of the towns in Texas that I've mentioned), so you actually have to plan to go there...you can't just drive through it on the way to somewhere else. But it's definitely worth the trip.

The Black Hills have remained a very beautiful, pristine, sparsely populated area of the United States. Since there are no major cities nearby, it isn't a place where people go to pursue careers or educations. The main source of income is tourism, but it's a hit-or-miss kind of deal where a people go there to start a restaurant/hotel/business, etc., and either make it or don't. A lot of them don't. This was my beautiful drive from Hill City (population of 650) to Rapid City to work every day. No rush hour traffic...only rush hour deer.

Here's Paul's stop for a Mt. Rushmore pic. (And, yes...he has to get his motorcycle in most of the pics just to make me feel bad.) Mt. Rushmore is truly awesome. Everyone should see it at least once. You really can't appreciate it unless you see it in person and take in the incredible scenery around it.

Here's his cabin which sits on Black Hills National Forest land. That means no major improvements can be made on the property.

Which also means the outdoor "biff" has to remain outdoors...spiders and all. You gotta love that door handle. It's actually pretty comfortable inside...minus the spiders, of course.

Here's Hill City's equivalent to Applebee's. (A small travel tip: I would recommend caution before trying the Hill City Cafe. You have to be an adventurous and frequent small town diner type of customer to appreciate its "charms.")

Here's the new Harley-Davidson store they added after I left. This picture was taken from in front of First Western Bank where I used to work. Sometimes I can't even believe I used to live there...it's so different than my life before then or after...like something from the old west.

But I'll have to say one thing. Of all the places I've lived all my life (and there have been many)...this deck is probably the one thing I enjoyed (and miss) the most...where you could hear and feel the wind whistling through the pines.

Let's go to Luckenbach, Texas...

I decided to take a little trip to Luckenbach, Texas. We've all heard of it, thanks to Waylon Jennings. And like so many other places in Texas, it's out in the middle of nowhere. I visited Luckenbach a few years ago when I first moved to Texas...drove by it three times before I realized that was the place. The next few pictures are literally all that's to it. It's kind of a biker place to go, but there were hardly any bikers there today...mostly just yuppy types. Maybe all the bikers are in South Dakota...which is where I wish I was. This is the little gift shop...anything you want with "Luckenbach" printed on it is here.

This is the dance hall.

The feed lot.

Howdy. Yep, that's how they greet folks down here in Texas. "Howdy, ma'am. I'll be fixin' to holler at y'all." No lie.

Side of the post office/shop.

Their bathrooms are covered with license plates from all over North America. I found South Dakota.

A little Texas music type band was playing.

And you could board the neighborhood bull if you got the hankerin'.

So much for Luckenbach.

Passed by the Gruene (New Braunfels) Harley-Davidson dealership and it looked like they were having a little "rally" themselves (emphasis on "little"). Hardly anyone there, but I took a few pics.

They had a parking lot full of bikes...most of them had to have been for sale because there weren't enough people there to be riding them. Didn't find many unique ones, though...just a few.

Reminiscing about South Dakota

Thought I'd post something different for a change. Before moving to Texas in July of 2004, I lived in the Black Hills of South Dakota. If you've never been there, it's definitely worth a visit. Yeah, it's a little out of the way and kind of in the middle of nowhere, but still worth it. Mt. Rushmore is truly awesome (in the true sense of the word), not to mention the panoramic views, huge pines and rustic beauty. I miss it very much, especially my little house in Hill City. Hill City has a population of about 650. That's right...not like in 650,000, 65,000 or even 6,500...just 650. It's known as "The Heart of the Hills." My house sat on a hillside overlooking the town. (By the way, all but two of the pictures in this post were taken by my friend Paul, who lives in South Dakota. He sends me pics every now and then to revive my memories.)

But what I miss most about it is the back deck. Oh, my gosh, I loved that deck. I'd sit out there with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and listen to the wind whistle through the pines. And the sweet smell of those pines is something you never forget.

Going to the Black Hills is like stepping back in time. Life is slower and everyone is friendly and helps each other out. I had a job as a loan assistant at the local bank. One morning after a big 12-inch snowfall, I heard some noise outside. I looked out the window and there was my boss, the bank vice-president plowing my driveway. Go figure. Even though it doesn't snow in Texas, I doubt if my bank vice president (or my ex-boss) would plow my driveway if it did.

Everything is rustic...no streamlined steel and glass here. It's all about wood and warmth. This is going down the road by my house into town. It's one of those towns where if you're on a road trip, you pass by and say, "Aw, isn't this a cute little town? Let's stop here for lunch."

So you drive down the main sreet. And it actually IS called Main Street.

...and find a place to eat lunch. There it is...the Hill City Cafe. Now this is what "Americana" is all about...the little diners in the small towns. Run by locals, you're not going to get Outback Steak House quality food. No way. As the sign says, you're going to get steak and shrimp for $7.95. Of course, there's no guarantee what quality that steak and shrimp is going to be, but it is $7.95 so you take what you get. The Hill City Cafe definitely has a history. The "regulars" sit at a booth near the kitchen and gossip. Don't try to sit in that booth...it's off limits. When Paul and I went there for breakfast one morning, it turns out there was a fire in the buffet table. After waiting for awhile, the volunteer fire department decided it was safe for customers to come in. We enjoyed breakfast while watching the local electrician fix the buffet table with a view similar to that of the Dan Akroyd's portrayal of the Norge refrigerator repairman from Saturday Night Live. I'm not going to go into any more details on that one. I still have visions of it.

Maybe it's just best to drive on by the Hill City Cafe.

Here's the school sign. It's worth noting that the Hill City High School is the only school in the country allowed to use "Rangers" as a name. During a forest fire many years ago, students from the high school helped to fight the fire and after that, they were known as the Rangers, with Smoky the Bear as their mascot. An honor only they can claim.

Since the Sturgis Rally is so big in the Hills, Harley-Davidson put in a little store in Hill City a couple years ago.

Out of Hill City into the Hills. Iron Mountain Road, near Mount Rushmore, is a twisty-windy road through the hills. You go through little tunnels dug into the hills which give a pretty cool photo op to Mt. Rushmore.

Then you come to the "Pigtail Bridges" which were built in the 1930s to allow the road to negotiate sharp changes in topography in limited space, having the road crossover itself.

Then we get to Keystone, which is actually the location of Mt. Rushmore...well, just outside of it. Remember "North by Northwest" with Cary Grant? Yep...this is where it was filmed.

If you go around the back of Mt. Rushmore towards Hill City, you get this view of George. Kind of a different perspective that most people don't know about.

If you think Hill City is small, well Keystone is half that size. These towns thrive on tourism during the summer. When winter comes around, they roll up the sidewalks and become ghost towns. Kind of an eerie feeling. You can tell from the pictures that they sell themselves on the "old west" attraction. There's a lot of history here.

This place is just a couple miles northeast of Hill City on the way to Rapid City. It's actually pretty famous for being the "ultimate Christmas store." You can get any type of Christmas decoration ever made at this place...and it's open year-round. Definitely worth a stop if you get out that way. I still have some ornaments that I bought there that I take very special care of. (And, yes, Paul likes getting his bike in the photo ops as well.)

This is a sad one. My son used to work at a restaurant in Hill City called the Chute Rooster. He enjoyed working with the people there, one of which was a drifter named Torb. About six months after we moved to Texas, we found out that Torb had been hit by a car while walking home one night. This is his gravestone. There are a lot of people that come and go in the Black Hills. It's hard to make a living there...wages are very low. People come in to start a business...many of which fail. And yet, it is one of the most beautiful areas in the country I've ever lived in.

I'm sorry that I wasn't more into photography when I lived there. I did get some shots after a snowfall one morning. I have them hanging on my wall to remind me of the beauty of nature I don't see anymore.