South Dakota Trip Day Ten and HOME

Hello Family, Friends, and Blog Followers!

We are writing to you today from home, in NE Wisconsin. As you can see, it is still green for the most part in Wisconsin, just a few leaves are beginning to turn.

We arrived home last night, and have been spending today recouping from the trip, as well as unloading the car, doing laundry, and sorting through the stuff we brought home. I've taken photos of some of the things we brought home from South Dakota. After scrolling through the pictures, please see the final paragraph at the end.

The ultimate and must-have souvenir...the t-shirt:
A red clay pot from Sioux Pottery in Rapid City:

More pottery pieces from Sioux Pottery:

This is a print of an original painting by a local artist who lives and works in the Black Hills. We purchased it in a lovely art gallery in Hill City. The scene is Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park.

This is an amusing print we picked up at Pioneer Auto Museum. You can see how it appeals to Denis' engineer's mind:

We brought home some reading material:

This necklace is just gorgeous, and the photo just doesn't do it justice. The stone is a Fairburn Agate, which is mined in the Black Hills area. This piece was also made by a local artisan.

Denis has begun a new collection: flattened souvenir pennies. We have pennies from Wall Drug, the Corn Palace, Mt Rushmore, the Badlands, Ft. Hays, and the Air and Space Museum. These are fun!

What trip out west would be complete without a collection of wooden nickels?

Here are some stone pieces that appealed to the both of us. The vase and the wine holder in the next picture are made by a gentleman who lives in Spearfish. They are of Black Hills alabaster, which he mines himself. The egg on the holder is a polished stone, and is the newest addition to Denis' rock and mineral collection.

We also brought back some little trinkets for the grandkids, but since they are reading this too, I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Final thoughts. We had a grand time on this road trip to South Dakota. The one thing that struck the both of us the most was the wide-openess of the prairie. We thought about the pioneers who came to live here...those who survived and stayed on, and those who didn't. I wonder about the "broken dreams" of those who lived in the abandoned homesteads that remain along the roadside. The natural beauty of the plains, of the hills, rivers, and rock formations thrilled us. We were very impressed with the city of Sioux Falls. We spent our entire time there in the downtown area. It is a vital downtown that blends both the old (and preserved) and the new. Our least favorite place was Deadwood. Yes, the town is rich in old buildings and steeped in history, which appealed to us. What we weren't thrilled with, though, was that it has turned into something of a "mini-Vegas", with slot machines and table gambling in almost every store-front. I did notice, however, that clinking sound of real coins dropping into the trays of the slot machines.

Many thanks to those who traveled with us through this blog. Thank you for your comments and for letting us know that you were watching. Please come back again soon. Denis and I are going on a weekend trip to northern Wisconsin in a couple of weeks. Fall colors should be at peak, and we'll send some photos of our weekend in the woods.

Susan and Denis