Sylvan Love Affair

(This is part 5 of the Black Hills vacation series. If you would like to start at the beginning, click here.)

Lesson to live by when cohabitating with a horse? Don’t feed the horse. Especially not apples. I felt sympathetic to this wandering white horse named Aces, especially because he was camped out near our car or cabin nearly all the time. He was chained, meaning he had a long chain attached to his bridle, with a stake at the end that had probably been pulled out of the ground many times. The chain slowed him down, but didn’t exactly restrain him. He seemed fairly calm, but after we fed him apples, he became downright aggressive. My fault—he clearly just wanted more apples. But when he reared up and whinnied, and then gave me a push with his head, I wasn’t  amused. Neither were the kids. No more apples for Aces.

On the travel agenda for today is Sylvan Lake, which was undoubtedly the most beautiful destination of our trip. There is a path around the lake, unending picturesque scenery, and fantastic climbing. We found a little waterfall on our climbing expedition, hiked to the top of boulders, and succeeded in restraining the kids from death defying heights.

When we left Sylvan, we drove into Custer State Park, following Needles Highway. The “highway” is actually a slow winding road up the mountain with many switchbacks. I suppose the scenery was great, but I was too absorbed fighting my carsickness to enjoy it. After about a half-hour, we pulled the car over for some air, and then decided to turn back. You've seen one granite spire, you've seen them all, right?

After abandoning our Needles Highway drive, we were in the mood for dinner out. We’d read good reviews of the Alpine Inn, so we headed into Hill City at about 5:30. Little did we know that the Alpine Inn is renowned for their filet mignon (which happens to be the one and only item on the menu), and seating for dinner is at exactly 5 o’clock. We learned there was a line for dinner at 5pm, and when we attempted to get a table at 5:30, it was a 45 minute wait. What a let-down. Luckily there was a restaurant up the road (I believe it was the Slate Creek Grill) that had great family atmosphere, a round table for our troops, and great service and good food. And beer. Score.

To continue reading part 6, click here.