the vacation that wasn't

a short run down of our vacation, that wasn't, in south dakota:

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friday night drive to hot springs, sd with J at the wheel

first hotel room together was anything but fancy...just the way we like it

geeked out for about an hour watching american pickers: we don't have cable so this was a treat

i spent the early morning running errands alone while J slept in (small town garage sales rule!)

spent our afternoon oogling mammoth bones-real ones!  still in the ground!!

took our time LOVING the drive through custer state park to our campsite

big ol' herd of buffalo
sweat bees!!
camped right next to center lake

early evening in the tent reading side by side under lantern light

chilly morning wake up
still sweat bees

perfect day for a trip to the badlands

car trouble :(

wasted a few hours eating lunch in a park in rapid city, sd while we waited for help

car can't be fixed by duane (super nice guy)

back to custer to salvage the day with a 2 hour hike

more buffalo!
a few doe here and there
lagoons a plenty

windy rainy early evening spent in the tent playing MASH (can you believe he'd never played it)

up early to break camp

tried first repair shop...won't touch his foreign car

second repair shop will see us at 1pm (it's 9:30)

headed to the public library (why not?)

wandered downtown rapid city, sd

fresh coffee, used books, antique mall, brass deer, records

car can be fixed!

drive to mt. rushmore (hooray!)

2 miles from entrance car acts up again (not hooray)

back to rapid city, sd

fix it again

back to mr. rushmore...we see it!!!

drive home starts at 7pm monday evening

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i'd never trade a moment of my weekend with J for a different one.  we had a rough go of it with the car but in turn we were able to explore places we hadn't even planned on getting to.  rushmore was everything i remembered it to be when i saw it as a child.  glad J was able to experience it.

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take a vacation. learn something new about your significant other. laugh. take it all in.

oooh and pictures to come.  i'm only working on 3.5 hours of sleep here.