Have to give the quick run-down of our little mini-vacation to South Dakota. Kayla and I set out on Sunday morning (a half hour later than planned, because Kayla didn't get up on time) and made it to Spearfish by 5 pm. Found the college and Becky's car, then called her to find where she was. She met us at the door of her dorm and was kind enough to let us in :) We sat around her dorm for awhile, I took some pictures and when the girls got sick of the camera flash we decided to go for a drive and some supper. Becky took us to Spearfish Canyon and it was gorgeous! I took lots of pictures there as well. After supper the girls went back to Becky's dorm and I went to my motel room...nice and quiet and HGTV to watch!
Monday morning we all slept in and then met for an early dinner. Becky had class in the afternoon so Kayla and I went to Mount Rushmore. The drive was through the National Forest most of the way so it was beautiful, very curvy roads and lots of going up and down the mountain. When we finally got there, after going through several quaint little towns, the view was breathtaking. We walked to the viewing area and took some pictures then walked around about half of the trail so we could get closer to the faces. We saw two people walking up near the faces, they looked really tiny! By the time we got around the trail to be close to the faces the two people were walking down the mountain...it was two police officers and they were looking for "evidence"...they were very excited when they found paraphernalia! Imagine, getting high on Mount Rushmore! After that excitement we went to the museum and learned some new things about the faces...for example the face of Teddy Roosevelt had to be blasted several times before the workers could get to good enough rock to carve it. Kayla was surprised that the faces didn't go in a straight line, but we learned why! After we were done there, and a visit to the gift shop of course, we headed back to Spearfish for Becky's concert. We had some extra time before she had to be there so she took us on another drive and we checked out the local cemetery (I love cemeteries). There were some beautiful areas fenced in around 4-7 graves and a couple of areas that had cement liners around the graves. One area even had a huge cement slab with little headstones on the top. Three of the graves had domed cement where they had to break the concrete to bury the people and then cement it closed again. One was so tiny, maybe 1 foot by 3 feet...a baby's grave.
The concert was awesome! The band played 8 songs and Becky was right on the end of the row so we had a perfect view of her :) It was so weird for me to see her playing in a college band. After the concert the girls went back to the dorm and me back to my hotel.
Tuesday I got to the dorm about 9 am and Becky took us to the BHSU bookstore. Kayla and I both got some shirts to show our BHSU pride and Becky even conned me into buying something for her. We told her good-bye and headed for home. On the way home we stopped at Wall Drug and got a few souvenirs and pictures, then we stopped at the Corn Palace and took lots of pictures there as well. At Wall Drug they had a giant jackalope so Kayla sat on it and I took a picture...it was a hoot!
We got home about 9 pm after a long day of driving. The way out was a lot more fun, we got to drive into the scenery, but on the way home the scenery was behind us so not as much fun. We are already making plans to go visit again, this time with Dan and Brian along. I keep teasing Kayla that she will be in college when we go so we could just go and she would never know... but of course we will take her along as well :)
We had a great time seeing where Becky goes to college (beautiful campus) and watching her in the concert. We also loved her taking us sight-seeing and doing some on our own. It was a great mini-vacation!
April 13, 2011