What a week! It started with 100 degree weather (OK, 94 but it felt like 100 with the heat index) in late September and ended with a wonderful trip to the Black Hills for Amanda's wedding. In between was my thumb.
You've heard be talk about The Warehouse, the funky little store in Wahoo where I often get deals on produce and such. Well Cindy had asked me to keep my eyes open for Naked Juice when shopping and on Tuesday evening I found lots. I was on my cell asking her what flavors she'd like at $1/quart when the owner came over and started wheeling and dealing. I bought her 3 cases of various juices for $9 total. He loaded them in my car and I went home to reorganize my fridge to fit them all in overnight. In a normal September, I could have left them in the car but it was too damn hot. Anyway, fast forward to the next morning when I got my biggest book bag and loaded it all up to take to work. It was heavy but I drove to the loading dock and someone took it in for me so I wouldn't have to walk with it.
When I was at UAAD at lunch, I noticed that my right thumb knuckle was odd. It didn't hurt but when I bent it, there was a click. I forced myself to stop playing with it and only later did the swelling begin. I iced it all day on Thursday and kept it straight. It wasn't horribly painful but I didn't have time for it since I was leaving first thing Friday for Amanda's wedding. It's always something!
I was at Anne's house on the south side of Lincoln at 7:00 on Friday morning, packed and ready to go for Amanda's viking themed wedding in Hill City. We picked up Rene and were on our way. Rene drove the whole way there - 11 hours. We stopped for lunch in a small town cafe then got Dairy Queen and stopped at Carhenge in Alliance. It was a straight shot north from there to Hill City and we got there early enough that we could do a Rushmore drive by before the dinner that night, which was a cook out at Amanda's friends house right next to the wedding venue. It was chilly and we were tired so we didn't stay very long, opting to head back to the hotel. We got to the market at 8:00 just as they closed so we ate the snacks we'd brought and chilled in the room. Saturday would be a busy day.
I had called Connie earlier in the week to give her an out on meeting us on Saturday. I'd be seeing her in Chicago next weekend and since she was flying out super early on Sunday, not having to drive 4 hours to see me took the stress out of her Saturday so she did opt out. This left us free as birds in the Black Hills until the weeding at 4:00. Add the hour time difference and we were ready to go early. With no ideas of where to go from Anne and Rene, I offered to drive and show them the stuff I like to do in the Hills.
We headed north to what I was familiar with from all my trips with Connie, starting with Chubby Chipmunk for truffles in Deadwood. We got there before they opened so went to the Lead Visitors' Center, from which I called Connie, who said we should head her way. After looking around there, we got some Chubbies and then went to Connie's. Despite telling her I'd keep in touch, I didn't call until we were in her driveway. My bad. She got dressed and we headed to the harvest festival in downtown Spearfish, after which we had a lovely lunch. After dropping Connie back home, we drove up Spearfish Canyon, which is one of my favorite places, and even waded at Roughlock Falls. Heaven!
We had a long drive back and took a wrong turn after stopping for gas so ended up rushing to get ready for the wedding and got there right at 4:00. It was a viking wedding so there were people dressed in chain mail, furs and such. It was a wonderful ceremony with two people who clearly love each other. I was so happy to have been included. Our viking attire was more cartoon than authentic. Oh well. We left before dark so we could see to walk back to the car, which was across a muddy ravine from the wedding field.
Rene had to be at the Rapid City airport late morning on Sunday so we got an early start and went to Sylvan Lake for a walk. It was harder on my knee (still not recovered from the jogging incident) but it was gorgeous. We drove towards the airport via Custer State Park, where we saw all kinds of animals and different terrain than we'd seen in the northern hills. We dropped Rene a bit early because there was nothing to do around the airport and Anne and I headed south.
We had booked a hotel in Scottsbluff so headed in that direction. We were on the lookout for High Plains Homestead, which a friend of Anne's had mentioned but when we found the sign, it meant driving 18 miles out of the way on gravel roads. When we couldn't get cell reception to make sure they were open, we opted to skip it. We went instead to Fort Robinson, which was underwhelming. Despite paying to get into the park, we would have had to pay again for each museum so we walked through one building that was free and then drove the scenic loop. Of course they'd moved the bison to winter fields the day before. Oh well. We stopped at a drive in for a late lunch (there we 2 in Crawford and those were the only restaurants) then kept south, getting to Scottsbluff in the evening. We went to bed looking forward to Brown Sheep in the morning. It had been a whirlwind weekend but home was a day away.
We had a long drive back and took a wrong turn after stopping for gas so ended up rushing to get ready for the wedding and got there right at 4:00. It was a viking wedding so there were people dressed in chain mail, furs and such. It was a wonderful ceremony with two people who clearly love each other. I was so happy to have been included. Our viking attire was more cartoon than authentic. Oh well. We left before dark so we could see to walk back to the car, which was across a muddy ravine from the wedding field.
Rene had to be at the Rapid City airport late morning on Sunday so we got an early start and went to Sylvan Lake for a walk. It was harder on my knee (still not recovered from the jogging incident) but it was gorgeous. We drove towards the airport via Custer State Park, where we saw all kinds of animals and different terrain than we'd seen in the northern hills. We dropped Rene a bit early because there was nothing to do around the airport and Anne and I headed south.
We had booked a hotel in Scottsbluff so headed in that direction. We were on the lookout for High Plains Homestead, which a friend of Anne's had mentioned but when we found the sign, it meant driving 18 miles out of the way on gravel roads. When we couldn't get cell reception to make sure they were open, we opted to skip it. We went instead to Fort Robinson, which was underwhelming. Despite paying to get into the park, we would have had to pay again for each museum so we walked through one building that was free and then drove the scenic loop. Of course they'd moved the bison to winter fields the day before. Oh well. We stopped at a drive in for a late lunch (there we 2 in Crawford and those were the only restaurants) then kept south, getting to Scottsbluff in the evening. We went to bed looking forward to Brown Sheep in the morning. It had been a whirlwind weekend but home was a day away.
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