Heading for the Hills

July 2

I slept in pretty close to 8am this morning, since it was such a late night.  I was a little afraid going downstairs we’d get dirty looks from the others for keeping them awake shooting off fireworks in the middle of the night, but our gracious team only was glad we had a good time.  Some had brought earplugs anyway…that’s always a smart move.  I also realized that it had turned out to be a good bonding time with Kia and Aryen and hopefully some time where they could relax and enjoy themselves.  They give so much of themselves everyday.  Kids call them asking to be picked up if they don’t feel safe, adults come over asking for food…it’s part of the reason the community around helped to fight for them when their lease of the land was being threatened.  They know Oyate Concern is a safe place . 

 I grabbed some of my leftover refrigerator oatmeal and coffee.  We headed in for our last morning devotional with Tyler.  We had been able to use the showers again last night.  I’m not quite sure what was going on with the septic tank, but they have a week off of mission teams so that hopefully it will get solved.  A third of our team was gone by this time. 

All we had left this morning was cleaning the place.  I helped sweep the floors upstairs.  When we finished, they all wanted to finish blowing up our pack of fireworks.  I watched for a bit, but it really had lost it’s appeal in the daytime for me.  What hadn’t lost it’s appeal was walking around trying to get some pictures of the wildflowers lining the property. 

Somehow the discussion got on the topic of guns, and so Ayren brought out her .22 handgun and some targets.  I have shot a .22 rifle before and that didn’t scare me too much, it felt a lot like a BB gun, that I can handle.  The heavier powered guns scare me – I’m always paranoid something is going to ricochet or something will malfunction.  Plus, the kick on the guns make it a bit hard to control.  So, I thought I’d try my hand at this.  Ayren showed me how to do it all – the safety, loading, etc.  Then I took aim and tried pulling the trigger.  The first attempt did not work.  That trigger was harder to pull back than I thought!   I repositioned my hands and pulled back harder.  There is a tiny kick (for me, used to a wimpy BB gun, that was a kick).  I managed a bullseye and most everything else was in the black – I think I missed the target once totally because I only had eight holes.  I had nine shots.  I’m not sure what happened, but I still had decent aim.  I think it’s from all those summers of decimating stink bug populations on my grandma’s farm and shooting milk jugs and pop cans.  Chris shot too, and he also had pretty good aim.  There is really no point in owning guns where we live, so we don’t have any and rarely ever shoot. 

We left the reservation after saying goodbye to our friends on both the team and at Oyate Concern.  It was a very short mission trip, but I felt like it was a good one.  I’d love to return at some point.  Chris enjoyed himself too, and agree he would be willing to return… not move there, but do another short term trip like this. 

The drive to Mount Rushmore took us north through the reservation.  The drives have all been so beautiful.  The prairies are just covered in wildflowers.  We passed the badlands, and pulled over at a viewpoint.  We weren’t the only ones stopping.  To me, the badlands look like a miniature Grand Canyon.  It’s pretty incredible how you are driving on this rolling prairie and then it opens up to these sharp canyons and gullies or painted rock. 

Badlands Viewpoint

We left the reservation, and went through quite a few farms.  We noticed at lot of colorful plastic looking boxes stacked on top of each other.  I’m pretty sure they are beehives, but I’m not sure.  We passed through Hot Springs and started climbing into the Black Hills.  The Black Hills were green with dark trees covering the hillsides.  I think they are mostly a type of pine, but I really don’t know my trees.  We wound around little valleys that had farms tucked away, creeks that ran along the roadway, ponds settled in the low points, and cattle or horses could often be seen grazing.  The hillsides were covered in purple, pink, and yellow, and sometimes white wildflowers.  We worked our way up to Keystone where we stopped for lunch.  We walked through the main street.  It’s fun because Main Street looks like you would imagine 150 years ago except for paved streets and people in modern clothes.  I’m sure it smells much better too without the horse poop lining a muddy street. 

Beehives...I think...in the Dakota prairie

We had a deep dish pizza up on the second story overlooking the street purchased from Jane’s.  After lunch we did mostly window shopping.  There are so many great handicrafts to look at – jewelry with the Black Hills gold and different types of stone or gems mined from the area, Minnetonka footwear (which I love…I’d have three or four different pair if I could…I only have one at this point bought on the way back from my last trip to South Dakota), art with either Western or Native American designs.  Chris found his souvenir – a blowgun.  The salesman took one out and showed Chris how well it shot on a piece of cardboard with and X taped in the middle.  It didn’t take much to sell Chris on it. 

We exhausted the stores and walked the mile back passing a creek, a wood carving place and a presidential wax museum.  Mt Rushmore was only a few more miles from there, so the quick drive up led us past the gate and into a parking lot.  We walked between the columns of flags from all the 50 states and up to the viewing terrace.  The day was very pleasant.  I’m pretty sure it was at least 100 degrees the last time I was there.  This day had some puffy clouds and a cool breeze. 

We took some pictures and then decided to walk the presidential trail.  We walked down the path and it gave you some very interesting views of each of the faces of the four presidents.  Depending on the angle, you could focus specifically on one particular face.  Plus, you were surrounded by the natural beauty of the area with the trees and rocky outcroppings among the hills.  We walked down a whole bunch of stairs…which made me a bit concerned about what going back up was going to be like.  At the end of the trail was the sculptor’s museum.  They had the miniature scale used by Borglum and some further information on how they did the project.  We didn’t stay too long and then proceeded to walk up the stairs back up to the viewing deck.  It really wasn’t too long of a walk or two many stairs, which was good because we were both dragging at this point. 

Presidential Trail

We went into the gift shop and I settled on buying a necklace that had an oak leaf that was dipped in gold.  The gold was more of a burnt orange color, but you could see the lacy effects of the leaf through the gold plating.  I like it because it’s nature and also because each one is unique to the shape of the actual leaf dipped. 

I had seen a sign that showed an ice cream cone and an equal sign with Thomas Jefferson on the other side.  Apparently Jefferson wrote down the first recipe for ice cream in the US.  I wanted to try this, so we went into the snack shop, waited in line, got up there and found they had run out!  So, I guess I wasn't getting my ice cream.  

We headed back down to Rapid City and our hotel.  We had been told they were having summer nights with music and food trucks, booths, etc. downtown.  We came into the downtown and since the streets were blocked to our hotel, a nice policeman directed us to the top of the parking structure, that was about a block away from our hotel, the Alex Johnson.  We could see and hear the party in the square down below.  Downtown Rapid City looked pretty exciting.  We gathered our belongings and walked down the three flights of stairs (I was glad Chris was carrying the one suitcase we had for this part of our trip) and past all the people and commotion to our hotel.  We walked in and I took a look around and said to Chris I had been in there before.  I really could not remember our time in Rapid City from the last trip, but small memories had started to return as people had talked about it.  I began to realize this was actually the hotel that Vic, Jamie, and I had stayed in, though I couldn't remember the rooms at all, just the lobby.  The lobby has a very distinct feel with it's dark heavy wood, Native America decorative designs, buffalo head and a heavy metal chandelier.  It's an old historic hotel, with a cool vibe and right in the middle of things.  

We went up to our bedroom, which had a hallway to enter, a bathroom off the hall, and then a small room with a comfortable bed and a view of the square.  We were really happy with it. We returned to the car for a few items, and while Chris walked them back I went into Prairie's Edge, a huge store filled with all kinds of unique arts and items that were either Native American or Western.  They had a beading and fabric section as well.  I bought nothing, since I needed nothing, but I'm sure I could have done some damage had I the extra money!

Downtown Rapid City Summer Nights - our hotel is the tallest
building in this picture, on the right

 Back at the hotel, we relaxed.  Chris napped as I soaked in the bath since my feet were very tired from walking several miles that day.  For dinner we decided on the Firehouse Brewing Company, just around the corner. We walked outside and there were many people lining the sidewalk either sitting on the patio of the hotel pub or youth just chatting.  An alley on our left had more alternative music coming from it with more alternative looking youth streaming in and out.  The alley walls must be a place where people are allowed to paint at will.  In fact, earlier I had seen two young adults spray painting on part of it.  It had all kinds of pictures, statements, etc; nothing offensive necessarily or gang related that I could tell.  I liked that it was there and a way for people to express themselves without damaging property.  We walked down it to see what was going on, and I wasn't sure the purpose behind the gathering other than music, but even more of the alley had painting.

Art Alley, Rapid City

  The Firehouse was very fun looking restaurant with an outside patio equally as large as the inside.  The patio was nestled between the buildings and at the inner end was a stage with a blues/rock style band playing loudly.  It was nice, but Chris and I didn't talk much since we would have had to yell. A huge mural of a fireman fighting a fire covered the outside part of the wall, and other murals then continued down toward the stage.  Ambiance was great, the food was just okay.   

After our food we went for a short walk down the street and then returned to the hotel.  We have not had internet on this trip through our cell phones because T-Mobile doesn't come out here.  We have had cell service on other providers, but our internet would only work on wifi, so our hotel was one place we could get it.  I went to work on my blog for awhile.  I was so far behind!