Hearts in Hawai'i
Our Trip to South Dakota (2023)--Day 3
9/11/2023
Wall Drug
The morning started, as the next six would, with a tasty hot breakfast featuring a protein (either ham or sausage), some kind of hot egg (scrambled or an omelet) in addition to hard boiled eggs, hot coffee, fruits and yogurt. It would be plenty enough to fill us in preparation for the coming day's activity.
Plans for this trip initially called for a "rest day" today as I had assumed I'd be tired from driving the previous two days. A trip to Wall Drug was certainly in the plans (Patty wanted some Black Hills Gold!) and we had initially thought we'd stop there after our trip to the Badlands, since the circle route through that national park would bring us back to I-90 right at the Wall exit. So what to do today? I wasn't as tired as had been expected. Originally we had planned a trip to downtown Rapid City for some sightseeing and an early dinner but that activity would take three hours at most. Patty wanted to get out there and do something besides sit in the passenger seat of our Malibu! And so did I. But Wall Drug? My impression of the place was that it was a pricey tourist trap filled with souvenirs, baubles, Black Hills Gold and the like.
As it turned out, it was exactly that. And it was a fun place to check out. Patty and I happily filled our bags with T-shirts, caps, key chains, refrigerator magnets and, of course, she scored her Black Hills Gold! Wall Drug was a fun place to wander in and out of the various shops, and we eventually ended up at the cafe. As far as cafes go, this is perhaps the largest one we've found, with a capacity of 520 people. We had arrived in mid-morning so it wasn't very busy. You order at the counter, find a place to sit and wait for your order number to be called. The food here is fairly good albeit a bit expensive. But anyone coming here with the notion of a cheap meal may need a reality check. You gotta know it won't be cheap here! Except for their five-cent coffee, of course.
On the whole, we were glad we visited here, although what I thought about this place before-hand wasn't going to matter. Patty wanted to go, and that was that. 
Cows came down the hillside to feed near the hotel every afternoon!
Tonight's dinner was at Que Pasa Cantina downtown on Main Street. It was our first exposure to downtown and the area has quite a nice feel to it. It's not like any downtown area we had visited before. Each US President has a bronze statue displayed on street corners in their honor. We didn't take the time to visit all of them but saw several of them during our stroll after dinner. Main Street Square is a large open area with music playing from speakers on the opposite side of the square.
As for dinner, I tend to compare every Mexican place I visit to the standard bearer in our hometown area, Pedro's Grill & Cantina in Cloquet. What this place had in common with every other place we've compared was that it came up short. That isn't to say the food here is bad, not in the least. For an appetizer, we selected the Queso Fundido, a fondue of cheese and pico de gallo. It comes with a basket of corn tortilla chips and was pretty good. My main entree choice was the Classic Enchiladas with beef and they were decent, not great.
Overall, we thought that Que Pasa stacked up well with Duluth-area choices--other than Pedros.
Our room at the Best Western Plus Rushmore in Rapid City--nice and spacious
Previous: 9/10/2023--Our Trip To South Dakota (2023)--Day 2
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last updated september 24, 2023
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