I'm just now reading a friend (and relative!)'s travel blog and I'm so disappointed in myself. Mine could be so much better! Go easy on me, its my first run, I promise my next trip will awe and delight (most likely Cape Cod...who knows where else?). So today I am taking it easy, being my last day and all. I am staying at a place called The Big Sky Lodge. It was much cheaper than things in downtown Rapid City, its a Mom & Pop place, I get an AAA discount, etc. I have to say, I also picked it because of the cranky reviews on hotels.com. I love them! Clearly someone who was pissed that he didn't book early enough to get a chain hotel stayed here and was mad that it wasn't a Best Western/Radisson/whatever. Yes, the bed is old and creaky, but that has got to be my only complaint. I would've complained that they didn't give me any handsoap in the bathroom and I had to ask for some this morning, but well; turns out it was tucked into some lovely towel origami and I just missed it until today! So now I've already asked for extra soap and gotten some odd (but still friendly) looks. I think they think I'm a compulsive handwasher.

Regardless, it is the cutest place! It is on a service road overlooking Rapid City, the state's 2nd largest city (pop. 59,000, only about 10,000 more than Stratford). At night you can see the city lit up, but there's little light pollution out here and the night sky view over the Black Hills is pretty great. The cranky reviewer also commented on their lack of a "real" hot-tub. Actually, that is what it is- a hot-tub like you'd have in your backyard, in, well, their backyard. I was too tired to take advantage yesterday, but I hope to tonight. The owners suggested the CH restaurant for dinner, not sure what the initials stood for. It was very nice, homey, and bustling. They had local beer! I love it when my hotel recommends a place that serves local beer! (I had Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat in Wisconsin, so good!) Unfortunately, as is the case everywhere, the menu was meat, meat and meat-fried meat. I ended up with a shrimp pasta dish, again. It did however have actual vegetables in it, so I was a happy camper. I had to message Ben from my dinner table because I was so amused by this:
"Light" Menu (oh believe me, they're my quotation marks)
Fried Walleye, Fried Shrimp, Fried Chicken, a Half lb of ground buffalo, and Fried Clam Strips. There was a "light" children's offering too: Mac and Cheese.
I thought Ben's response was brilliant, "What's on the rest of the menu? Lard?"