beachlady - Thanks for the warm welcome! You either went to the South Dakota School of Mines of Technology or National College of Business (now known as National American University) in Rapid City, or Black Hills State University (used to be College and then it became a University) in Spearfish.
I live in Spearfish and was actually employed at the university for two years. I, too, love the Black Hills. I started out living in Lead, then moved to Deadwood, and ended up in Spearfish because the winter of driving back and forth was enough to convince me to do so since I did not have a 4-wheel drive vehicle. The fall color in the Spearfish Canyon this year was absolutely fabulous.