Our drive from Denver took us through Wyoming and then past Mt Rushmore, traveling 2 more miles to downtown Keystone, SD. Keystone is the postal address for the Mt Rushmore Monument. We turned left at the only traffic light in Keystone and followed a winding country road that meandered alongside the old railway and actually crossed the tracks 9 times in the 5 miles to our destination, the Elk Ridge Bed and Breakfast. We were greeted warmly by our hosts Lesley and Ron. They have converted their split level home into a bed and breakfast with 3 suites. Our assigned suite was the Big Jake room for 3 nights. Despite the many amenities, soaps, towels, etc provided for us the one thing that was iffy was the WiFi. Since they are out in the country, Internet is via satellite which had throughput equivalent to a dial up modem. The next morning we actually drove to downtown Keystone and parked in the street to use the free public WiFi which is available anywhere downtown.
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| Elk Ridge B&B |
We asked for a dinner recommendation for the evening and were told the Alpine Inn in Hill City has a limited menu of 2 items and is very popular. We decided to give it a go. The winding road our B&B is located on connects Keystone with Hill City. We now get to try the road going in the Hill City direction. We easily found the Alpine Inn in downtown Hill City and even found street parking in front. The late hour of 8 PM worked to our advantage since the restaurant usually has a long line of people waiting for a table. I initially had reservations about the facility when we arrived at the front door and saw a long stream of extremely obese people leaving. I was hoping this was not one of those all you can eat buffet establishments.
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| Alpine Inn |
At first peek into the dining room it looked like there were no open tables. The Hostess took us back through this room to another and then yet another room. I was amazed at the number of dining rooms there actually were. We were seated in the 4th of four dining rooms we walked through.
The menu consists of 2 items: a Filet Mignon and a vegetarian dish. We chose the Filet which is available in 6 ounce or 9 ounce portions. A 6 ounce is good enough which also comes with baked potato. Buttercrunch salad and Texas toast. The salad is exactly 1/4 of a Buttercrunch lettuce head with a side of ranch dressing. Our service was prompt but hurried. The waitress had many tables to serve and did so very quickly, practically throwing our food at us. A 1/2 liter of a very nice Coastal Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon complemented the meal. The food, which we wouldn't consider the best we ever had, was fine and served 2 very tired travelers well.
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| Downtown Hill City |
