When Joe and I began discussing a getaway weekend, many destinations came to mind. We wanted somewhere within a reasonable driving distance so eventually we settled on Deadwood, S.D.
We planned to leave home around noon on Friday and return Sunday afternoon or evening. Because I like seeing new places, I knew I would enjoy the trip.
We eagerly set off early Friday afternoon and made it to Sioux Falls before deciding to travel off our route. Oh, what the hay, we were on vacation!
We visited friends for a few hours in Dell Rapids, S.D., before backtracking to continue west toward our original destination.
Interstate 90 is littered with billboards for various tourist attractions in the Hills. They become more numerous after passing Sioux Falls.
Wall Drug signs are particularly prominent. After awhile, we joked we should make a list of the things the billboards say you can do, see or buy at Wall Drug and stop to see if all the advertising is correct.
Other signs detail other more dignified things you can do in the Black Hills area such as visiting Mount Rushmore or the Crazy Horse Memorial, touring a cave or two, or possibly a gold mine.
It was a good thing Joe was driving when we passed the exit for the six-ton prairie dog exhibit (I might have stopped). Two adults pulling off the road to see that sight couldn't have landed on the dignified side of the list.
As the land became flatter and the scenery less interesting, I jokingly asked Joe if he wanted to play a game I used to play as a child while riding in the car. The object of the game was to find a car with a license plate from every state in the union.
About midway through the state of South Dakota I flipped on the radio. After scanning for stations I soon realized only one station came in. I began singing the western favorite, "Rawhide," to myself and to an unappreciative audience member. I have also been known to sing a rousing rendition of "Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall" when I have nothing better to do.
I learned some interesting facts about farming and ranching on my trip. For instance, they only plant wheat every other year. I didn't know that! Also, it takes 20 acres to support a cow in mid-South Dakota versus one acre to support a cow and calf in southwestern Minnesota. My traveling companion shared all these facts with me. What a guy!
We reached our final destination of Deadwood around 9 p.m. Friday. We checked into the historic Franklin Hotel in Deadwood. Tired from our long drive, we decided to wait until Saturday evening to go out on the town.
The Franklin Hotel has beautiful antiques, and about $2 million was spent renovating the hotel.
We awoke Saturday morning to snow on the ground and predictions of more snow yet to come. We decided to leave Deadwood and drive into Rapid City. We knew the twisting, turning roads out of Deadwood would be treacherous with snow on them.
Once we arrived in Rapid City we checked into another hotel and went to the mall. Rapid City has a nice mall with many stores to choose from. I had a wonderful time shopping. I knew Joe was done for when he sat on a bench and wouldn't go into any more stores. It must be a man thing!
We decided to go back to the hotel (he wanted to take a nap) and I planned to continue on to Hobby Lobby after dropping him off.
I returned to our room after about an hour at Hobby Lobby. A message was flashing across the bottom of the television screen. The National Weather Service was advising no travel in the Rapid City area through Sunday. According to them, snow would begin falling Saturday night and continue into the next day.
This presented a dilemma; only two months before this trip I was stranded in the Twin Cities because of a blizzard. When we finally were able to leave, we were forced to drive home on horrible roads. I did not want to repeat that incident.
We checked out of the motel and drove back home. No fun Saturday night for us! We were relieved we left when we did when we found out more than 20 inches of snow had accumulated in the Hills.
My recommendation to anyone considering a weekend getaway (mine was more like a day getaway) is to make sure winter is long over before planning your trip. It will likely be awhile before I plan another getaway weekend. Every time I try to get away bad weather follows me. I hope my next travel experience sometime in the future will be better than this one!