Up at 6am this morning (thought it was 7am). Slept much better with the windows closed and the air on. Laid in bed until 9:45am updating my journal. Ate the orange-cranberry muffin I brought back from Perkins the night before. Tried the in-room coffee maker, but the coffee was swill so I poured it out.
Today's destination:
We got a late start - around 11am. It's normally about an hour and 45-minute drive from Rapid City to Devil's Tower National Monument. That's on a normal day.
The key word for this day was rain. Lots of rain. We had smatterings of rain along I-90, pouring hard no-visibility rain on the approach to Devil's Tower, pouring hard no-visibility rain on the way back to Rapid City, then steady rain all night. Miraculously, the rain stopped after we parked at the Monument, and held off during our visit until we were pulling out of the parking lot when we were leaving. We could not have timed it better.
 |
| On the northwestern outskirts of Rapid City |
 |
| On I-90 headed toward Sturgis. |
We stopped briefly in Sturgis to pick up a cheap tire gauge since we hadn't checked the pressure since the start of the trip. The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally isn't until August, so we only had the locals to contend with. The tires were all a-ok, so we continued on.
 |
| Near the SD/WY border |
We stopped at the Wyoming visitor's center after we crossed the state border. We picked up a couple of maps/brochures, and the woman manning the desk was kind enough to offer to pull up the weather radar on her computer to see what the weather at the Monument was like - it was bad at that moment, but she pointed out an approaching clear spot and suggested the route we could take that might put us there during the lull - it worked! Thank you Wyoming visitor center lady!
 |
| Wyoming border visitor's center - the vastness of the sky on this trip was something to behold |
 |
| Visitor's center statue |
It was pouring rain from the time we pulled off I-90 until we reached Devil's Tower. At one point the visibility was so bad I had to pull off the road and park in front of a mom-and-pop restaurant for a while. There was no one else there, and it looked like that was probably the daily norm. After about ten minutes we saw someone come out onto a screened-in patio on the side of the building and discreetly check us out. Maybe they were hoping we would come in, or just wanted to check out the car. Who can say? I didn't want to give them false hopes though, and the rain let up slightly, so we continued on our way.
 |
| First glimpse |
We arrived at Devil's Tower at about 2:30pm. Then the rain stopped. There's a paved path that surrounds the Tower and alternately veers close to the base and then further away. Walking the entire loop takes about an hour. I know it's really important for you to know these kind of things, so I will report that we went counter-clockwise around the Monument. ; )
There are a lot more photos than the ones included below, but I won't bore you any more than I already am with photos from every angle.
 |
| Devil's Tower |
 |
| The surrounding landscape |
As we came around to one side of the tower we heard people talking beside us on the path, but couldn't see anyone. A man was telling someone else to go slow, take their time, and watch their footing. We couldn't figure out where it was coming from, until I looked up and saw two climbers on the side of the rock. It was so quiet and the acoustics were such that even though they were speaking in normal voices, we could hear them down on the path.
We made it back to the hotel ok at around 7:30-8:00pm. Todd took a short nap to unwind from the drive while I transferred photos and made a few notes about the day. I added to those notes before going to bed that night - you can see them verbatim at the bottom of this post.
At 8:30 we got dressed and dashed across the street through the rain to
Tally's for fancy dinner. It continued to rain throughout dinner and into the night.
I had "Lava Lake Lamb Tumeric" which was accompanied by: "Smoked chick pea cake, leeks, tomato confiture, coconut bubbles, saffron syrup". The lamb was slightly tougher than it should have been, and the food was not as hot as it could have been, but I was too tired and hungry to send it back, and even with those detractions I still thought my meal was excellent. I also had two glasses of Napa Cellars Pinot Noir 2011. I should have ordered every bottle they had, because I am now hooked on this wine and it's hard to find. (I've since tracked some down, but that's a story for another day). I'm not a wine aficionado, so all I can say is it's very drinkable, and goes great so far with lamb, beef and spaghetti, or just by itself.
Todd chose "Pickled Pig" which was accompanied by: "Horseradish cream, mustard-pig skin crumble, sauerkraut, green apple, pearl onion, fingerling potato, whiskey butter sauce". Having no description in the menu of what "pickled pig" might actually consist of, this was a very brave choice for Todd. We joked while waiting about which part of the pig would arrive, the head, the feet, or "other".
 |
| Todd at Tally's; pre-pig |
While we don't know exactly what it was that arrived, Todd was game enough to eat some of it, and I tried it as well. Not to be gross, but I don't know of how else to describe it - it looked like small medallions of back fat or something - pale, white, glossy and slightly translucent on the surface. The flavor was good, but the texture for a meat was entirely wrong. I think that was the turnoff more than anything else; it was gelatinous and literally melted in your mouth - almost no chewing required. Just like a meat shouldn't be.
Dessert on the other hand was great for both of us. Todd had a selection of homemade ice creams which included flavors of whiskey ice cream, apple crisp/cobbler or something, strawberry cheesecake, and pink peppercorn cherry. I put this one last because I tried it, and it was one of the best ice creams I have ever had!
I had the weird dessert of "Buttered popcorn pot de creme: "Cheddar" caramel corn" (pictured below). This turned out to be a sweet pudding with a slightly popcorn flavor, covered in some sort of cheese or cheese-flavored crumble that was like a cheese snow. I think it may have been freeze-dried cheese, but have no clue. It was accompanied by dense caramel popcorn clusters. The whole effect was like Garrett's Chicago Mix popcorn from Chicago, and was just as delicious (see my June 10, 2012 post -
Chicago Trip 2012 - Day 2).
 |
| "Buttered popcorn pot de creme: "cheddar" caramel corn" |
Here are my notes from this day:
"Rain. Devils tower. Bear painting. Rock climbers. Fire. Aladdin. Gas. Rain. Rain. Rain. Gas. Hotel. Todd nap. Dinner at tallys. Lava lake lamb, cheddar caramel popcorn pot a ... 2 glasses of napa cellars 2011 pinot noir. Todd pickled pig, ice cream sampler. Whiskey ice cream, apple something, strawberry cheesecake, pink peppercorn cherry. The best."
No comments:
Post a Comment