Whoa

Whoa.

So last night a few of us went for a walk around Skyline Drive (a spot in the middle of Rapid City that happens to include a wilderness area and a bunch of trails). It was gorgeous weather -- sweatshirt and a fleece jacket and I was good -- and about right for a walk.

The walk itself was something else. Through town, into a residential area ... and then, rather suddenly, we cross a barrier into a wilderness area. Literally up someone's driveway and then off into the woods. It was crazy.

You get up onto a hill and you're above the lights of town. The truly odd thing here is when you realize the full expanse of Rapid. It's not a big city, population-wise, but in square miles it's mildly massive.

We sat on the side of a hill for awhile, doing very little. Eventually (around 2:15) we headed back down ... and we popped out of the woods into a cul-de-sac. Quite random.

Tonight, I'm really glad we went up there, because today it snowed. Beautiful wet snow fell for several hours before it turned to ugly cold rain-sleet. (Yes, that is generally rather backwards. I can't explain it.) I was, shall we say, enthused. I love snow. It embodies all things that are happy and wintry. Tonight I had the fun of hanging out with three little girls who were just as enthused about the snow as I was (well, two of them were enthused about snow -- the 5-month-old probably didn't much care).

However, after hanging out at Boston's to pick on Darren (for a couple hours), Barb went in the ditch on her drive home. Thankfully, she's okay (I actually just got off the phone with her). Sounds like it was more scary than anything.

And so begins winter!

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