On our last night in the Black Hills, we hit another roadfood.com joint — the Bumpin Buffalo in Hill City. We all ordered buffalo burgers. I got mine with onion rings and was very pleased with it all.
We wandered up the street in search of dessert and found this place a few doors down.
A sign out front said they feature Purple Pie Place pies. I was content with a double cone of huckleberry and chocolate ice cream. My friend ordered a piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie, but when it came, it turned out to be bumbleberry. He was OK with this, but the old guy who owned the place wasn’t. He came over and apologized and talked with us for about 10 minutes. He’s owned the restaurant for 15 years but is looking to sell it. He closes it every winter, donates the leftover ice cream to the local church, and heads for California. He said Hill City shuts down totally in the off-season. The only place that stays open is one bar because “there’s enough drunks in town to keep it going, but they all park in back so Main Street is deserted.” That’s him in both photos with the blue shirt and hat.
We headed back to the lodge, found a table in an alcove and played National Park Memory.