Six Word Saturday (7/6/13)

Memories from Our South Dakota Trip

I had counseling on Monday (7/1).  It feels irrational now but I was very anxious that something bad was going to happen to me on vacation and I'd never see my therapist again, so I was really adamant that he always remember he was important to me.  (In hindsight, it just upsets me when people die who I love and it feels so final and uncomfortable not having them loving me back anymore.)  Anyway, my therapist promised me he'd remember.  We also practiced sticking up for my kids in case somebody made mean comments to me about them at the family reunion.

We left at 5 a.m. on 7/2 in a rental car (SUV) and my husband drove to Cheyenne before we checked into a Holiday Inn Express motel.  It had an indoor pool so the kids got to swim.   The hotel looked new or newly renovated and the beds were super comfortable.

The next day was more driving till we got to Custer, S.D.  We went to the Crazy Horse monument that is still under construction (still charged $27 a carload to see it though!).  Just his face and part of an extended arm is finished.  My husband told me they blast another chunk off every year.  We saw the monument back in 2003 too, and I couldn't see any difference at all.  At this rate, it's going to be a thousand years before they get it finished.

Then we drove to Hill City and checked into our hotel (another Holiday Inn Express with indoor pool).  We had lunch at a 50's style place called Hubcap Diner.  We drove to my husband's grandmother's house close by.  My husband's parents, sisters, brother and their families were all there already.

On the 4th we went to Cabello's outdoorsman store because my husband was looking for bullets for his gun back home (stores around here run out of ammo fast).  The jaw-dropping thing about this store was a huge display of all kinds of real animals (stuffed by taxidermy). 

We also eventually went to Old McDonald's Farm, a petting zoo, but rainy weather delayed us going for a while.  I was looking forward the whole trip just to go there since we had such a blast there in 2003 but my husband was being a jerk ("Last thing I want to do is touch a bunch of wet animals").  The kids acted bored.  My husband wouldn't give us money for the animal food.  We barely took any pictures.  I didn't get to hold a baby turkey this time.  I did get a t-shirt though.

The kids wanted to play go-carts so they really perked up when my husband drove us there.  It was hilly and had stairs everywhere so I just sat and watched them race.  After that we went to my husband's aunt's house for dinner and his brother and sisters and their families were there again.  At dusk all the kids took turns lighting sparklers and other minor fireworks, except for my son who sat in the same dining room chair the entire night.  I think someone teased him and I wasn't there so I couldn't stand up for him after all.

On the 5th my husband took the kids to Mt. Rushmore and they hiked the trail around it and got some great pictures.  I had been to Mt. Rushmore 10 years ago so I didn't want to go again (plus with all the hiking they did, I'm glad I didn't go).  They got me a t-shirt though.  We all went to a small museum downtown that had two full dinosaur skeletons on display.  I'm not sure how I feel about dinosaurs but I was a good sport.  We ate at Hubcap Diner again for lunch (the first time I had a BLT and this time I had a cheeseburger and both were excellent).  We went to my husband's grandmother's house for dinner with his whole family again and she fixed spaghetti with buttery cheesy toasted bread from the broiler.  My kids loved it.

The 6th we spent the day at my husband's grandmother's house for her 90th birthday.  It was a beautiful day for it.