With our stay in Custer at an end, it was time to get back on the road to visit the kids in Colorado. Under normal “hurry up” conditions, we would have cut down directly to Cheyenne and then picked up the Interstate to Colorado. But we’re retired now – so we planned a bit of a side trip, a more leisurely and scenic drive.
But first things first – we needed a good breakfast for the road.
Because we were camping and a good breakfast makes for a lot of clean up, we opted for a local restaurant conveniently on our route. It had been recommended by the camp ground host when he stopped by our campsite the night before we left. He said it was a good local diner in Custer that was famous with the locals for their breakfast. He couldn’t exactly remember the name of the place (“It has ‘Place’ in its name”), but he said it was on the main drag through town on the block just past the food store.
The information was sufficient. Just after passing the food store, we saw the small orange and black clapboard sided restaurant just off the corner, the sign out front announcing “Our Place – Good Food, Good Friends”. It was obviously a locally owned establishment and, based on all the cars and trucks parked nearby with South Dakota plates, a favorite in town.
We parked the truck and went on in. Greeting us at the door was a large Betty Boop statue. Little did we know that the statue was setting the tone for the overall decorating theme.
As we stepped inside, it became apparent the place paid homage to anything Betty Boop, Harley, and Dead Head rock.
Even past the morning rush, the restaurant was busy with only a few tables open. A waitress rushing by took a few moments to give us a friendly welcome and point us to a table. She came back shortly with waters and menus, promising to come back shortly for our orders. We ordered our food and Kathy used the wait time to take a tour of the restaurants collection.
Although Betty Boop was the primary decorating theme, things Harley and Dead Head Rock weren’t far behind, and sometimes they all came together in a glorious mix of memories.
Besides the entertaining décor, the food was classic diner fare, very good, with healthy servings. If you get to the Black Hills and find yourself in Custer State Park in need of a good local place for breakfast or lunch, we can definitely recommend Our Place!
With a good hot breakfast in our bellies, we headed out to Wyoming by going north in South Dakota along a scenic byway through the Spearfish Canyon and then cutting west towards Wyoming to make a stop at Devils Tower.