As the chilly winter months continue, I’ve decided it would be fun to see if I can find out where in the Hills you can get the best cup of hot cocoa. My tastes may be discriminating, because I must say, I make a really mean cup of cocoa myself. The first location on my [...]

When snow falls, lots of people spend their workdays dreaming about weekend trips up to our ski slopes. Since I work in Deadwood, I am often used as a source of information about the quantity of new snow (though I think Dustin’s suggestion is probably more reliable). I’m always happy when I can inform my [...]

I was looking at the picture I posted in my last blog and got to thinking that the views around here wouldn’t be nearly so lovely if it wasn’t for our pine trees. There are three types of pine trees that grow in the Black Hills: Ponderosa, Lodgepoll, and Limber. Of these, Ponderosa is far [...]

I know a lot of people who are building houses out here. I have one friend who is building a house southwest of Rapid City, and one of my coworkers is building just outside of Deadwood. They’re not alone; areas all over the Black Hills are seeing new development. I am baffled by how new [...]

Deadwood’s Saloon No. 10 is probably best known as the place where Wild Bill Hickok met his untimely demise, but it has more to offer than sawdust-covered floors, blackjack tables, photo-covered walls, and shadowy nooks for visitors in search of Ghosts of the Wild West Past. Don’t get me wrong – all those things are [...]

Quick! Can you name the oldest building in Rapid City? Many Rapid City residents may drive past this building every day without even noticing it is there. Located in Halley Park (where Main and St. Joseph Streets split), the “Pap” Madison cabin is easy to miss as you speed by. In the summer, the park [...]

I attract car problems. I don’t know why this is my lot in life, but apparently it is. Nothing terribly serious, mind you. Flat tires, mostly. Every stray nail in the state eventually finds its way into one of my tires. Last time (before today), it was right before a mega-rainstorm. I had the extraordinarily [...]

My husband has a telescope. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a lot more effective than the pair of binoculars my folks had while I was growing up. We’d been watching a Discovery Channel program about the moon one day shortly before the moon was full, and I became inspired. We pulled the telescope away from [...]

Last weekend, my husband and I joined some friends for dinner. They had invited another guest as well, a gentleman who lives in the Boonies out near Sturgis. He was introduced to me as “the man who has dinosaurs on his property.” Triceratops and tyrannosaur parts, he says they’ve found so far. This identification makes [...]