Advertisement
Published: September 2nd 2007
Edit Blog Post
turtle
macturtle 24th
Left for Minneapolis, met on arrival by Larry and Kay, lucky word had spread about the luggage, they hired a van instead of a car. They both looked fantastic. Went to Cracker Barrel for yet another big feed, with the two hour time difference, we were eating dinner at afternoon tea time, mind you that’s never stopped us before. Back to the “Hilton” to crash.
25th
Once again we hit the jackpot by being in the right place at the right time for the Renaissance Festival. The equivalent of the Buskers- Medieval style. Puke and Snot, are an act that’s hard to beat. A must see if you stumble over them, this is one time we should have bought their cd. Hundreds of townspeople dressed in period clothing, getting right into atmosphere . The theme for that weekend was Highland Fling, so there were ‘Brave Hearts’ of all shapes and sizes, even a tortoise was dressed in a kilt and had a set of bagpipes on his shell. We then set off to Larry and Kay’s. I was given the opportunity to drive Larry’s Corvette. Holy tit it was great. Reached 205kph, WOW. If I’d got a speeding ticket,
it wouldn’t have mattered as I was leaving the country anyway. According to Larry that is. Our daily happy hour was had outside under the hackberry tree where we were joined by a regular visiting baby rabbit, and birds at the feeder, neither giving a rats ass that we were in their garden. This signifies just how pleasant the surroundings were. Off to bed early for our 8hr drive to Rapid City, South Dakota.
Confession time Shirley and I went for a walk to the local shop, on our return she noticed a road sign which read BLIND CHILD AREA so she remarks “ Gosh, they must have a lot of blind children here” With a population of 251, I very much doubt it, are you blonde or what was my reply.
26th
Miles and miles and miles of corn and soya bean fields. Our music was 50s - 70s. Eight hours driving and we still hadn’t gone through the stack of cd’s. Some of the music, I’m sure, Larry has visited his great grandmothers wardrobe for. Our first breathtaking sight to behold was the Badlands. Words cannot explain the beauty, hopefully the photos do it some justice. The temperature
corvette
ngai's ride was 103º F or 36º C at the peak of the day, so our photo opportunities were limited by mutual choice. We saw our first Prairie Dogs, sooooo cute. Hated by the ranchers because when their horses and cattle step into the tunnels that the prairie dogs dig, they break their legs. Rapid City was our base for the next three days.
27th
We went to Mt Rushmore early to beat the multitudes- great idea as it turned out. Here the sculptured heads of four past presidents are carved into the stone cliffs, absolutely magnificent. Now here’s a bit of trivia from Tom that even Larry didn’t know - the original idea by the sculptor was to have famous Indian Chiefs and outlaws of the region, but once politicians became involved in the project it changed to presidents. Then onto Keystone for lunch, Larry our tour guide was hungry for his hot beef commercial. He classes this as a light sandwich, we class it as a full blown roast meal, sliced beef, mashed potatoes, on thick slices of bread, then drowned in thick gravy.
Confession time - the special for that day was Rocky Mountain Oysters and a beer for
$6.95, so when Ngai saw that she goes, that’s me I just love oysters. Of course we go off into fits right there in the doorway, and Ngai is looking at us as if we are nuts until we tell her what rocky mountain oysters are. Oh I thought they were rock oysters! They use pigs ball instead of lambs though and would you believe it they come pre battered ready to cook!
A workmate of Larry’s had recommended the train trip from Keystone to Hill City, so we booked for that. Big mistake - not on any of our must do list. 2 ¼ hours wasted at $21 pp. We decided to detour through Custer State Park, keeping an eagle eye out for a glimpse of buffalo. Before we had even got into the park, we came up on herds of them. We were so close we could smell them and then nearly touch them when Tom had the sliding door open to video. It will be interesting to hear the unscripted commentary given by Kay from the back seat. She was most concerned that we were going to be rammed, which we probably could have been.
28th
We
have discovered the benefits of hotel gyms!!!!! Hard to believe it, but the 3 of us were in there by 6:15am on equipment none of us had any idea how to use. But when we discovered the meter that showed the calories burnt we were away laughing. 45 minutes later, Ngai worked out that she could have a waffle for breakfast without putting on inches. Drizzling with rain so we planned for the inside things today. Toured the Black Hills Gold Jewelry factory. The area has the patent on the grape leaf design in jewelry in pink, green and gold. Onto the Christmas decorations shop. Such a huge selection of beautiful things it was too hard to choose what to buy. Drove through Sturgis, which hosts a 2wk long motorbike rally. Brass Monkey stuff but on a huger scale, like 350,000 bikies.
29th
Yay rest day, with one little exception. We’ve become so good with the gym that we are now exercise junkies. Beating the feet on the footpath at first light, jandals that is, we both forgot to take gym shoes, but hey we’re tough. Half an hour later we’d covered most of Frost. Kept the other 2 by
1 blocks for tomorrow Went to the local Post Office to send clothes home that fit someone else better than me along with my Trailer Trash road sign. Boy have I got places for that wee sucker. Happy hour has started a tad early, Larry has made delicious Bloody Marys all round.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.158s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 10; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0523s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.2mb