look | hapa | summer 2006
Friday, August 4

Wind Cave National Park
Got up early in the morning and drove into Rapid City, South Dakota. We went to Dunn Brothers Coffee to take a relaxing break after an extremely busy day. They roast their own beans too. After our long coffee break we returned to Mt. Rushmore for a quick stop for more pictures. Then we headed south through Wind Cave National Park. New picture:

Didn't get to go in the cave since no pets are allowed, but we did run into all sorts of South Dakota wildlife along the way.

After that, we turned west and crossed the border into Wyoming at mile 5407 and continued south until we got to Cheyenne where we spent the night.

Post Office Buildings
Remember the statement about post offices? Here's a perfect example. We passed through the town of Hot Springs, South Dakota, population 4201, just before crossing the border to Wyoming. We passed the police station first:

Then several blocks later we saw the post office:

One thing about this town is that it had a really cool coffee place called Flatiron Coffee, so named because the shape of the building resembles the Flatiron in New York. They roast their own beans, but no free wi-fi. But what was striking about this place was that it seemed so out of place in this otherwise rather desolate town. There was a very large, beautiful, grassy patio area where they apparently have a BBQ every Friday afternoon. There was a girl grilling burgers and stuff for the customers. When you stepped inside, it was like you walked into a very cool cafe in the city. Like the doorway was a portal into another city or something. Cool music playing, cool atmosphere. All the customers were 20-somethings, who didn't seem to be locals. But this town was so remote, could they have been passing through like us?

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