Sunday, May 27, 2012

The view from our window

It's Sunday morning, Memorial Day weekend and there isn't much moving  on the highway outside our hotel window.  We had a quiet night despite having hoards of teenage girls in town for the track meet down the hall from us.  Thankfully, their coach must have enforced the curfew for the night. After a very long day in the car yesterday, it felt luxurious and indulgent to lounge in the room all morning.  We don't have far to travel today and Bob and Noreen won't be in till late afternoon, so we can take our time in Rapid City today.

  
We had an 11:00 checkout time, loaded up the car, and went in search of a good Mexican restaurant.  It's amazing when you're traveling to have access to the internet on your phone to find what you want...we found a list of restaurants with reviews and maps, chose one and we drove right to it.  On the Border is a chain, but it was pretty good and I found a dish I had never had before: a teriyaki fried, chicken stuffed avocado, that I had to try.  Some things just shouldn't be messed with and an avocado is one of them. Turns out, it is just superfluous to put batter on an avocado and fry it.

Thomas Jefferson

We left home without coffee beans and with the promise of an espresso maker waiting for us, we went in search of a Starbucks. Once again my phone proved invaluable, plotting out a course for us and we got our beans and an iced coffee to go.
We drove downtown to kill some time and check out an area we had been to on our last trip through Rapid City.  Being a Sunday and a holiday weekend, we weren't expecting much to be open, but you just have to get out and see what you can find.  Being so close to Mt. Rushmore, Rapid City is, of course, going to be overrun with things presidential and we found these bronze statues on almost every corner.  The sign on the salon shop door in the background informed customers that the shop was closed due to the smoke from the hookah shop rising up from the basement driving the owner from the premises, but she would accommodate clients by appointment . I just got a kick out of Mr. Jefferson with his quill pen defining freedoms for a new nation, and the fight over rights going on behind him...who's rights should prevail?  The rights of local women to get  facials and mani-pedis with out getting fumigated or the rights of the smokers to sample product before they buy it?  

Art Alley, Rapid City

We literally stumbled into this alley without any prior knowledge of it's existence.  One expects to find graffiti  everywhere these days, it's ubiquitous, I've seen it near the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Vatican in Rome, but this was totally unexpected. This is just a monument to graffiti art in all it's rebellious glory, and in such an unexpected place, I felt a little sense of displacement, like falling through the looking glass and landing in Brooklyn.  Who knew that out here in conservative South Dakota there would be an obviously thriving art community that could commandeer a section of prime downtown real estate and declare itself? We 
really enjoyed checking it all out and taking photos and video 
and wondering what the story was.  So far, I can't find much info 
on the internet about it, being a holiday weekend there weren't 
many people around to ask.  I understand that there are weekly 
gatherings here and it's officially listed on the city's web site as 
a tourist destination.  Now that is progress! The mere existence of such a place gives me hope! 
We continued our explorations of downtown, checked out the lobby of the venerable Alex Johnson Hotel, with it's decorative ceiling and and hearth, searching out vintage shop signage, finding more of the bronze presidents.  David ducked into a fishing outfitters hoping  to find  the owner of a vintage VW bug parked out front. Amazingly, the owner was the shop keeper and they had a great time sharing adventures in car and motorcycle restoration.

Heading for the Hills

   
We took care of a bit of grocery shopping  before we got out of town and then, connecting with Bob and Noreen about timing our arrival, took leave of Rapid City and began our assent into the Black Hills.  


The conditions for driving were drastically different than the previous day and we really appreciated the gorgeous views and brilliant skies to guide us to our destination.
Once again, our phones proved invaluable with their ability to access maps, with their little blue dots to show you where you are.

You can't beat this setting for cocktails

Upon our arrival, Noreen and Bob  greeted us warmly, with kisses and open arms, invited us in, gave us the quick tour of the house, and ushered us out to the deck and patio to reveal the promised view of Mt Rushmore...they weren't kidding, it is phenomenal!  Pinching ourselves at our good fortune, we made a quick job of unloading the cars, and depositing our baggage so we could take advantage of the evening sunshine and enjoy a margarita.
We watched as the sun set behind the hills and the the lights came on to illuminate the monument.  

Bob got out his guitar and he and 
the birds provided a wonderful 
soundtrack to the evening. 
It was well past 10:00 before 
we realized we missed our 
dinner and Noreen and David 
pulled together a great feast of 
chicken burritos and scalloped 
potatoes....
I swear, it was a delicious, 
if odd combo! 

Just the first 

of many evenings 

to come, we are 

grateful to be here 

with our friends 

and having the 

time of our lives!  

Thought for the day

Lesson:  It is great to have a plan and map,
but it is important to get lost and allow serendipity to guide you.