Deadwood - DOA

This morning we took a short hike - about 1 1/2 hours - along Pactola Lake, a man-made reservoir about 15 minutes from our cabin. Very lovely. I wrote yesterday about the relative lack of crowds. Well, today we did not see a single person during the entire hike. And the weather was perfect.

The Happy Hiker, May 2012

We hung out at the cabin all afternoon. Sandwiches from a nearby cafe, the hot tub, relaxing and reading. Then it started to rain, which made me happy we weren't out somewhere.

After the rain stopped, we got ourselves together and drove up to Deadwood to see what there is to see and have dinner. Some of you may know Deadwood from the HBO series of several years ago - a completely untamed late-19th century gold rush town. Well, it's a real town in South Dakota that was dying until they got casino gambling legalized in 1989 in order to generate revenue to restore the historic district. Today, think Lake George with small casinos. Tres tacky. Many people told us to be sure to not miss it, and the guidebooks all talk about it as a place to go.

Well, here's Main Street in Deadwood:

Deadwood, SD, 6:30pm, May 2012




No crowds here, either. Only slightly more people in sight than we saw during the hike. And no, its not a pedestrian mall, either. In fact, they have extensive parking lots and structures surrounding this strip to handle all of the traffic.

Suffice it say, we were not overwhelmed. But we did have good buffalo burgers and inexpensive beers for dinner, and didn't have to wait for a table even without reservations.





Tomorrow morning we leave our cozy cabin to head towards Yellowstone. We're both sorry to leave this place, but I'm really looking forward to Yellowstone.