South Dakota Road Trip

July 2006

First of all I need to say I was born and raised in South Dakota. In July my two girlfriends met me in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and we started a fantastic road trip across the state of South Dakota. The day we all arrived we met up with a few of my high school friends, Butch and Chuck. We visited for a while and then went to dinner. We were met there by my sister Brenda, her friend Tim, her daughter Alicia, and Alicia's boyfriend Andrew. After dinner we went back to our room and viisted some more. At that time Brenda, Tim, Alicia & Andrew went home. From there Jim, Judy, Tanya, Chuck, Butch and I went dancing at Borrowed Bucks. That was so much fun.
We danced until 1:30 a.m. We were exhausted!
The next morning we all met for breakfast. Butch had to go back to Oregon, Jim headed to Rapid City, Chuck was driving his truck, Judy, Tanya and I were in our rental and we headed to Gettysburg. This is my hometown. First we stopped in Mitchell to see the Corn Palace and to eat lunch, then we headed for Gettysburg. This is where my mom and step dad live.
This is a 3-4 hour drive so us girls had plenty of time to chat and giggle and talk. We get together and start getting silly and have alot of fun. By the time we got to mom's we were hungry and in need of a drink. We went to pick mom and Ralph up and went to get dinner. Dinner was delicious, the steaks in South Dak. are always so good. It is good to be home again.
Gettysburg is a very small town, about 1700 people. We stayed in a little hotel. The first morning I got up to go walking and visit with mom. Tanya rolled over and asked for some McDonald's breakfast. There is no McD's in Gettysburg, did I tell you there are about 1700 people there??? Tanya was worried she wouldn't have anything to eat. We were staying right next to the Medicine Rock cafe so no need to worry. Later we did main street and played Scrabble with mom. That night we went out to the river to eat steaks again. YUMMY!
After eating we dropped off the parents and went bar hopping. We danced and giggled until we were exhausted.
Off we go to the next leg of our trip, we headed to Rapid City. That took about 4 hours. We were greeted by big sister Paula and friends and family, they cooked for us and we sat around enjoying the beautiful weather and getting to know each other. The next day we piled into Cammy's suburban and went sight seeing. For those of you who are not familiar with Rapid City that is where Mt. Rushmore is. Tanya and Judy had never seen the faces so that was fun to take them to see that and stopping and eating and drinking whenever the mood struck us.
One night we met up with my aunt and uncle and some cousins. The next day Judy and Jim left, it was sad to see them go.
Then Tanya had to leave. Our trip came to an end. I stayed a few more days and visited with more family. My aunt and cousin from Wisconsin came to visit and of course I had to see my step mother and catch up on her life.
Coming back to Baton Rouge was sort of a let down but it was good to be back home. Although I love visiting with mom and my sisters it is good to be home with hubby and see the boys and the grandsons.