Deadwood & Sturgis

In hopes that I might finish recapping my vacation before, say...Christmas, I give you Part II of our trip to South Dakota. We headed to Deadwood Saturday morning with the intention of only staying a couple of hours. Not thinking there would be THAT much to keep us there longer. Oh, were we mistaken! Did I mention that we were there the weekend that the motorcycle rally in Sturgis was to begin?

This was just one of the many parking lots reserved for motorcycles only. It was very cool. They were everywhere, on the highway, on the street, in the parking lots. At times, it also meant that it was very loud, but for the most part I'd say it added to our trip.

There were very cool buildings and again...lots of motorcycles. We went to the museum and walked around a little, then headed to the main street in Deadwood. Wild Bill Hickok is a central figure in Deadwood's history as he was shot to death during a card game in a saloon in town. We saw a recreation of the shooting and got a picture of the kids with the actors.We had lunch in this saloon right before the recreation, and took some pictures. Here I am with my lovely wife who is, you might notice, smoking. She was thrilled that she could smoke inside. This is what it looked like walking up and down the main street.

Across the street from where they did the recreation, was the actual spot where the saloon once stood and where history was made.Also on the main street, was a very small casino with pop culture memorabilia scattered throughout it. Some of the highlights included:

Musical Intruments~

Cars~

And some other stuff~

It was fun and FREE!

Next, we headed up a very steep road to the Mount Moriah Cemetary where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are buried. They aren't buried far from the entrance, but it's a bit of an incline that you have to walk up. But it's really beautiful with the tall gravemarkers and the tall trees.

After spending many hours in Deadwood and really enjoying ourselves more than we had planned, we headed back to the motel. But on our way, we drove through the town of Sturgis. It goes without saying that there were motorcycles EVERYWHERE. It was still 2 days until the official start of the rally, but the party had definitely already started. Something that caught my eye- apparently Sturgis boasts both the World's Biggest Biker Bar AND the World's Largest Biker Bar!

Enough for now. Next up, our adventure at Bear Country USA before leaving South Dakota. And if I'm really ambitious, I might get you all caught up on the rest of August before September is over!