Day 15 - July 16, 2020

Amber DeBono
Jul 17, 2020
3 min read

Not only have we crossed the great Carl's Jr./Hardees divide, we have now returned back to the Central Time Zone.

Today, we started out in Rapid City and there were actually quite a few outdoor sites to visit. We started at the Chapel in the Hill - a wooden chapel in the Black Hills. It was very tastefully constructed - I'm sure Jesus, being a carpenter, would appreciate the woodworking and attention to detail.

Afterwards, we went to Dinosaur Park, which is really a place for kids to climb on dinosaurs, but it was neat to see - especially when we saw a brontosaurus on a hill from the road. Next, we visited downtown Rapid City which was actually much nicer than we expected. There were quite a few stores and restaurants for multiple blocks - even a fountain area for the kids to enjoy. Throughout, they had statues of presidents on every street corner. In the middle of downtown, there was an art alleyway where we found some very interesting and well-painted murals. After our downtown visit, we headed to the Berlin Wall memorial where we saw a large piece of the Berlin Wall. Next stop: Bismarck, SD (with the possibility of going to Fargo).

There were very little signs of life during our 5 hour drive to Bismarck. We pulled over to visit some cows at one point, but we just scared them. We saw an IGA and were getting pretty hungry - I was hoping they'd make a sandwich for me or have an egg salad sandwich already prepared, but I was disappointed. At least we got to use the facilities.

Bismarck's downtown is not as nice as Rapid City, but we ate at a good Irish pub, The Blarney Stone. We both enjoyed a mug of beer while I had a Florentine sandwich and Ian had fish and chips - he's been wanting that for a few days now. We walked around downtown a bit, but we wanted to go to Walmart to stock up on some soda and snack supplies (they close at 8:30 pm). By this time, we had decided to call it quits in Bismarck - our hotel was super cheap here - $49 + tax for a Fairfield Inn and it is quite nice (although the front desk clerk did not wear a mask, he was very friendly and explained that people naturally social distance in ND so they don't need to wear masks!).

After our Walmart trip and dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we went to Stonehome Brewing which was only about a mile away. I got a flight of sours that was very good (although he put a pesky cider in there, he replaced it with a sour). It looked like they had really good food there and regretted not going there for dinner. Our dinner at the Blarney was OK, but nothing to rave about.

Afterwards, we saw the capital building which looked pretty much like any downtown building. We also stopped at Laughing Sun Brewery, which was listed on multiple websites as a good place to visit. I got another flight of sour beers and hated 1 of the beers - it turned out to have 11% ABV, so Ian liked it and finished it for me.

Back in the hotel room - we plan to get to Fargo sometime between noon and 1 pm. We hope to make it all the way to the Minneapolis area (we originally thought we'd stop in St. Cloud). We will see how it goes!

Chapel on the Hill - Rapid City, SD: