MWRT – 2025 – 2nd Day in Deadwood South Dakota

I started my day with a drive through Spearfish Canyon, a lovely scenic drive through the Black Hills National Forest. It is a deep canyon carved out by Spearfish creek. Two lane road all the way with no pull outs on my side the whole way so I have no photos. It was quite striking.

I returned to Deadwood to do a little more looking around, a little shopping, and a little Blackjack before having dinner at the Deadwood Social Club. Main Street was filled with bikers all day and about 3 pm there was event they all were waiting for as the Budweiser Clydesdales came right down the middle of the street. Remarkable beasts! Click on the play button for the short video.

Deadwood legalized gambling back in 1989, sparking re-growth in the economy through a vibrant tourism industry. Prior this, Deadwood is infamous for having legalized brothels up until the early 1980’s. When those were ended, the economy stagnated until the casino industry entered the picture. There is still an interest in the history about Deadwood’s past as a rowdy place to be and one of the main street buildings sports a few ladies on the 2nd floor looking out the windows.

This afternoon I stopped in the “Old Style Saloon #10” which is representing the saloon where Wild Bill Hickock played his last poker hand before being shot in the back while he held the now infamous “dead man’s hand”, Aces and Eights.

It was my last evening in Deadwood so I made a table reservation at the Deadwood Social Club which was situated above Old Style Saloon No. 10. I’d heard it had a great pork shank Osso Bucco and it did not disappoint. Got a different view of Main street from the restaurant patio.

After dinner I made my way back over to the Tin Lizzie casino, planning to meet the other guy I’d run into there a couple nights before. He was at the 2 deck table and invited me to join hime. As I’d said before, he and I share the same playing style so it was quite amusing to see how our play paralleled one another. It turned out to be a profitable hour and then it was time to get back to the room and turn in. I have a long drive to Helena Montana in the morning where I’m picking up Kathy at the regional airport. Can’t wait? I’ve missed her so much, We are going to have a great week in Glacier National Park.,

This is my little one dollar chip collection to commemorate my Mid Western Road Trip adventure. One chip for every casino I’d played Blackjack. All but one of the chips are clay, but the top chip from the Old Style Saloon No. 10 is a metal alloy chip in gold. Kinda cool.