Thursday, July 12, 2012

"CITY OF PRESIDENTS"…RAPID CITY

Tuesday, July 10 – We moved the motorhome over to Rapid City, SD, this morning, a short one-hour drive. Where's the rapids? We imagined the city having rapids much like Spokane, WA. Now someone tell us, how did Rapid City get its name?

We are staying at the Rapid City Elks Lodge. There are ten sites with electric and water. We will need to use the Flying J dump station when we leave. It is only a short drive from the Lodge and we need fuel in the motorhome anyway. The sites are a bit tight but will be fine for our two-day stay.

Site 5
Site 5

DSC08677

Looking right.
Looking right

Looking left.
Looking left

We walked all over the historic district of town, taking pictures of many of the bronze president statues on every street corner. Some of the statues were very well done, but others were a bit iffy to us. Marsha just loves stuff like this.

So you think you know your presidents. (We are referring to our USA followers.) Here is little quiz. We will start you off very easy and then get much more difficult. The answers are way down at the bottom of the blog. No cheating. Remember, you click on any picture to make it larger.

Rapid City Walk of Presidents

Now for some fun.
Rapid City Walk of Presidents2

It's a very nice historic downtown with most of the old building on about six city blocks of the historical district are still intact and thriving as unique shops and, of course, neat taverns. Marsha even found a place to get her hair done!

In Memorial Park there are two 12 ft. segments of the original Berlin Wall.

Berlin Wall sign

Berlin Wall

Main Street Square is a fun-filled public space that features special events, arts and culture, live concerts, seasonal ice skating and interactive fountains.

Main Street Square.
Main Street Square.

Kids running through fountain.

Downtown features an entire alley to any and all who you like to leave their artistic mark.

Painter's Alley.
Painter's alley

1919 Original Elks Lodge and Opera House.1919 Elks Building and Opera House

1889 Buell Building.
1889 Buel Building

Left: 1915 Rapid City Fire Department Building. Right: 1886 Clower BuildingLeft: 1915 City Fire Deartment Building.  Right: 1886 Clower Building

While Marsha was getting her hair done, Paul was home trouble shooting a satellite TV problem. Upon arriving here, we could not get our Winegard Traveler automatic satellite dish to lock on the satellites. Paul called Direct TV. They said it was an alignment problem, and the automatic dish would have to be adjusted. Paul then called Bill Adams, the gentleman who originally installed the dish over two-years ago, to get his input. After some tests and trouble shooting from Bill, and a couple trips up on the roof to switch some wires, Paul was able to get the satellite up and running. The fix solved the problem, and it should not reoccur. 

We then drove out to the Chapel in the Hills. We will post more on that stop in the next blog.

Correct answers to the Presidents.

Rapid City Walk of Presidents

Rapid City Walk of Presidents2

How did you do? We did not get a photo of every president, but if you would like to see some of the other presidents, please click here.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y'all back real soon. Have a great day!