I was leaving for my annual visit to Connie's on Friday so the week flew by. Beside making lists and getting little things done here and there during the week, Wednesday was the bright spot.
I got a call from Lori that she would be in town for a hair appointment so we made plans for a late lunch and I ran to get our regular Chinese food - broccoli and rice - because Lori's a vegan. It was a quick lunch on the deck but nice none the less. Then I had a professional development zoom with Paul of Ripples fame at 2:00. I always look forward to those. Then it was back to my to do list after work. I finished everything up Thursday and was ready to go.
I was taking a different route to Connie's just to mix it up. I was going via Wayne because I wanted to hit Thrift Warehouse, which Andrea and I have shopped at before. Alas, I didn't buy a thing and the other thrift shop in town was gone, replaced by a shop full of things with words - mugs, wall hangings, etc. Blech! After failing in Wayne, I failed thrifting again in Yankton, which has a nice downtown that I'd like to explore sometime. Then it was on to Mitchell, where I got Starbuck's before hitting I-90 for an 80 mph blast across South Dakota. I stopped at the river town of Chamberlain to get gas and hit a thrift shop, where I finally found something - yarn from New Hampshire and a couple of nice masks.
I was at Connie's by 5:30, which wasn't bad since I'd stopped so many times along the way. Connie made pasta for supper with sauce from her home grown tomatoes and we spent the evening chatting and catching up.
Connie had to give a presentation at Custer State Park (the other side of the hills from where she lives) at 1:00 on Saturday so we had protein for breakfast and then headed east. We stopped in Rapid City for some shoe shopping (Connie found some cute ones on clearance) and the we stopped at Starbuck's for her free birthday drink. That didn't go well. There was a huge line at the drive thru so we went inside. My drink came right away but Connie's didn't and after waiting as long as we could and getting zero satisfaction from the barista who said they had to prioritize the drive thru and not even her birthday would get it made sooner, we left without Connie's latte. Lame!
Her presentation was in a tent and did I mention it was 90+ degrees? There were only 4 people there so I sat at the entrance where there was a little breeze and knitted while she talked. We attempted to do the art festival at the park but it was just too hot and all western stuff (it was the governor's buffalo round up event after all) so we headed to Hill City and grabbed a burger in a little cafe because we were pretty hungry by that point. We went into a couple of shops but found nothing and then headed home via Needles Highway, which winds through the southern hills and is gorgeous. That night we watched Come From Away on Apple TV and I absolutely LOVED it. It's exactly the kind of musical I like and I'd put it up there with A Chorus Line. Now I want to see the play live.
Our plan on Sunday was to drive up Spearfish Canyon - one of my happy places - and go wading at Roughlock Falls - definitely one of my all time favorite things. The canyon was gorgeous, as always, but the falls was packed. We couldn't find parking and Connie wasn't willing to wait a minute for the people who were leaving so no wading for me. I was not happy with her impatience and had to talk myself out of a pissy mood. We then went to Cheyenne Crossing, a cute little restaurant at the top of the canyon, which was packed to the gills. I put our name in and we were about to give up when the hostess asked if we'd be willing to share the big table with 2 other parties of 2. We've had good luck with this in the past so happily agreed and had some good conversations over our lunch, which was breakfast for all of us.
After lunch, we went to Lead for a bit of shopping (I found these fun Scandinavian fabric panels - love them!) and then to Chubby Chipmunk for truffles. I was getting a big box for Cindy (she'd put in an order), a couple for Andrea as a thank you for feeding my cats and of course some for me.
Connie had thawed rib eyes so went home for dinner and Hamilton. The steak was not the best and then I absolutely hated Hamilton. It's exactly the kind of musical I abhor - all singing with no spoken words. Phantom, Les Miz and now Hamilton. Ick! Thankfully we stopped watching it and then started Hacks with Jean Smart, who just won an emmy for it. It was so good that we stayed up late and binged the entire series. Watch it if you have HBO.
It was a late night since Connie had to work the next day and I like to get an early start since I lose an hour driving back. And since she had to be zoom ready at 7:00, I packed and got as ready to leave as I could before bed. It was a fun weekend but I wasn't looking forward to the drive home. Oh well. That's what happens when your friend moves 500 miles away. Worth the effort for sure.
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