SD Tuesday July 12 Afternoon

In the car and on to Lead (pronounced "leed") to visit the old railroad roundhouse, now art gallery, restaurant, and gift shop, of course. Cutest in there was the store clerk's baby, but she was not for sale. Further in old town was The Big Cut, remnant of the Homestake Gold Mine. Big and deep it was indeed.
Noticing that it was the proverbial five o'clock somewhere and the actual five o'clock here, we thirsted. For wine. Checking resources, I found two tasting rooms nearby, and wouldn't you know it, they were both back in Deadwood. What to do but backtrack. SD vineyards are much like MN vineyards in that they love their sweet stuff, especially berries and rhubarb. Gingerly trying not to step on toes, we chose drier varieties and bought a bottle at each place: Dakota Breeze from Belle Jolie and Blackberry from Schade (family name originally pronounced "shay-dee" but moved accent from first syllable to second syllable to create "sha-day" and thereby eliminate any references to a shady business making and selling shady wine -- oops). We'll share with daughter and sil this weekend. For dessert.
With day ending, we drove to Rapid City for the Prairie Edge experience: spacious tri-level store, art gallery, books, jewelry, beads, craft stations, clothes, moccasins, toys, and most items high quality and pricey. One silver ring caught my eye, and after learning the story behind it, I was a buyer. It tells the story of First Rain with a lightening-bearing raven and ten smaller birds flying randomly.
Ready for dinner, we found the Firehouse Brewery next door, waited for a table, drank a brew, and ate. The place was packed, and all the kiddos got red plastic fireman hats, us included. Noise included the baseball game on multiple screens, so J was okay with that. Looking around the area afterward, we checked out the Wine Cellar Restaurant across the street but knew we would be too far away from town for another meal there.
Finally we landed at the hotel for bedtime and planning another day. Cool weather continues with heavy skies.
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