Quick Trip

... or so it felt.

Okay, so it's not tomorrow. It's not even the day after tomorrow. It's actually the day after the day after the day after tomorrow.

It's been a busy week, okay?

Here's my trip:

Friday. Went to work early, worked through lunch, raced home hoping that the UPS guy hadn't already been through. Sighed with relief when he hadn't. Packed and cleaned until shortly after 5:00 when he got there, cheered when I opened the door (scared the poor guy a bit with my enthusiasm), and left about ten minutes later with my new Chacos. (Yeah, I finally caved and bought a pair ... Found them on super-sale online, and I'm quite happy about it now.)

Sophie and I hit the road. Drove to Minneapolis, picked up my sister, and proceeded as far as Sioux Falls. We got in around 1:30AM on Saturday and I was unconscious shortly after 2AM.

Saturday morning started with breakfast with a family friend. My mom, sister and I hit the road around 11 and stopped in Salem to pick up a tractor part for my granddad (and I chatted with a guy there that used to own farmland not too far from Wausau). We made it out to the ranch (after three more stops, including two grocery stores and a gas station, making that the most breaks I've taken on that stretch in many years) mid-afternoon.

Supper, etc. My brother and I went for a drive and ... found a lake. Keep in mind, neither of us really knew A) where we were, B) exactly how far away from the ranch we were, and C) that there was any place out there with the capability of holding water. But we found a lake! It was pretty funny, actually.

Spent that night hanging out with my siblings and my uncle until about ... 2AM? 3AM? It was late. Or early. Whatever.

In any case, I woke up at the crack of 7 in my grandparents' camper ("the bunkhouse"), a little disoriented and a lot confused about what time it was. Didn't actually know until I stumbled into the house. Spent the day cleaning, helping in the kitchen, playing with a cousin or two, and talking to various family members. The kind of day one has at one's grandparents' place. Or at least the kind of day I have at my grandparents' place.

My sister and I took off that evening after eating a mini-supper and went out to Storm, arriving about five minutes late for that night's worship service. Got a rather warm reception from the people there. Very cool.

That night we joined in on the campfire and the general festivities (it was the 50th anniversary "Extravagaaanza!" for Storm) and crashed in the cabin attached to the staff cabin.

Monday. Breakfast. A walk along the creek. And then my sister and I took off, meeting up with Darren and Rod and heading to Prairie Berry, the winery Hill City. Much fun. Thirty seconds from dropping Darren and Rod off again, we decided to also go to Keystone. After that, we really DID drop them off and returned to Storm for lunch.

After lunch, six of us left Storm and headed for Sheridan Lake to go cliff jumping (again meeting up with Darren and Rod). Much fun, although after my first jump I hyperventilated a bit and had to talk myself into jumping again. The second one went much more smoothly. On top of that, it was rather hot out and it felt GREAT to spend some time in the lake.

Back for the groundbreaking for the new lodges. Supper, worship service, campfire, Gaslight. Slept really hard that night.

Tuesday. The big day at Mt. Rushmore. Five of us were there by 9:15 to start saving seats. They had been threatening to cancel the fireworks show for about a week by then, which is probably what made the crowd so thin for so long. It took until after noon for the seats in front of us to start filling up (they're usually packed -- or at least "reserved" -- by ten or so). It was rather nice to not have to chase people off and defend our seats, I have to admit. By two, most of our crowd was there.

And the fireworks happened. Amazing, as always. A few fires DID start, however ... Considerably less cool.

Dropped people and stuff off at Storm, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the ranch.

The next morning at 10:30, we started the trek back. I rolled into town around midnight, having watched various fireworks shows from Minneapolis on. It was a good drive.

Since then ... well, yesterday I went back to Minneapolis to pick up my mom so she could reclaim the Contour (the car I had previously been driving). This afternoon I was rather happy to stay home. Finally got to take a nap, too.

It was a great trip. Excellent trip. Not very vacation-like, however. One of these weekends I'm going to go camping ... and sleep as much as I can. That would be super.

For now, I should get going. After all, tomorrow a new week at work starts. Talk to y'all later!