Rapid City Home Tour & City Highlights

We have less than a week left in Rapid City before we head even further north. Just about the time we get to know our way around, it’s time to move on! This past Sunday we visited the Journey Museum, which gave us the history of the area. Mining, buffalo, native Americans, outlaws, homesteaders, these are just a few words that will stick in my mind when I remember South Dakota.

I really like this town. It reminds me a bit of Oregon with such outdoor beauty and amazing climate. It is the largest town in South Dakota and has every thing we’ve needed, except for Chick-fil-A, which has been hard. Ha! There is a historic downtown that features life-sized bronze sculptures of all of the presidents. Each one has a QR code that allows you to hear about the particular president as if the president is speaking to you. There is even a piece of the Berlin Wall in a park with interesting information about the Cold War. That was kind of cool to see.

Our apartment is fairly new and located close to the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology. I think our building is primarily for students but since it is summer it seems fairly empty. We are on the third floor and have a nice view out of our windows. Here is a video tour.

For groceries and supplies we have used Walmart mostly because it’s more affordable, plus I just love Walmart. Safeway also has stores here, as well as a couple of other local chains, which is where we bought our meat, produce and breads, but they are expensive!

For entertainment we’ve played disc golf at Jackson Park, went to a painting class, walked the local parks, walked downtown, went to the movie twice – once at a movie theater that’s been showing movies since the 50s. As we waited for the movie to start we chatted with a couple who had their first date at the theater in the 60s!

We’ve also worked from Harriet & Oak Coffee Shop twice. We are sitting upstairs right now. We’ve also attended two different churches, both very good.

There are some trails within 15 minutes drive from our apartment that are stunning. We’ve really enjoyed the long summer evenings that give us time to do something outside when Dale is done with work. We also walk around our “neighborhood” a couple of times a day just to get out of the apartment. We are actually surrounded by public buildings like the post office, courthouse, police station, etc.

I think the most challenging thing about this stay has been the food smells in the hallway outside our apartment. Someone on our floor must be running some ethnic restaurant. The smells are soooo strong!! And, not very appetizing in my opinion. The last couple of days I think they’ve been cooking and reheating fish. It doesn’t help that there is a one-inch gap under our door that allows smells and sounds in. It has also been a little hard that the only windows are in the bedrooms. The living area is cave like, which is hard for me.

We have three more days left. Today is Wednesday and we are going to play disc golf this afternoon, have dinner downtown tomorrow, go to Rushmore after work on Friday and spend all day Saturday back in Custer State Park. We want to do the wildlife loop again and hike the Cathedral Spire’s Trail. We will head to Duluth, Minnesota Sunday and then head east across the upper peninsula.

My mission for the next couple of days is get this blog caught up on our activities from the past weekend.