Rapid City Shorts
In recent history I've taken to prewriting posts, particularly when I'm nowhere near a computer. These are the snippets I wrote over the course of my trip to Rapid City last weekend.
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I had gotten up too early, far too early, after far too little sleep. Maybe going to watch the game had been a bad idea, but I had been cleaning like a crazy person and I really just wanted to be around friends. And have a beer.
In any case, I was paying for it now. Maybe there had been improvements -- jets instead of the painfully noisy props, one more seat across on my shorter flight, a pleasant woman at Caribou who upped the size of my coffee for no extra charge -- but now a pain, slight and irritating at first, was spreading across my head. At this rate my skull would cave in within the hour.
Consolation was there but not helpful. I would be home soon, in the company of people I dearly missed -- but until I made it to a store with ibuprofen, I was going to be hard-pressed to enjoy it.
----
I hit the beginning of the trail and broke into a jog. My sandaled feet remembered the trail, leaving my eyes and mind to wander. It was strange, this urge to run; I spent a lot of time on a weekly basis around people training for marathons and I had yet to understand. I was not a runner. But today the hills beckoned and my legs went their own pace.
Squirrels, chipmunks and birds scurried into the trees as I passed, the only person they had seen along here for a few days. In a month, the wildlife would move further into the woods, scared off by the kids and families traipsing through. Now, I was a curiosity. Later, I would be one of dozens.
I stopped at the lookout ... Hanbleceya ... "Hhhhhannn-blah-SEE-yah" ... and posed on the rocks, my breathing returning. My body moved through what it could remember of the Sun Salutation and I felt my brain returning to me. It was going to be a thought-provoking, exhausting weekend, and I was finally ready for it.
I pulled myself off the rocks, remembering all the nights I had gone stargazing here, all the time I had passed talking and listening to the creek below. This was one of my favorite spots, but I had to move on.
Down the hill, around the corner, slowly and carefully. As I crossed the creek, a new sound reached my ears and I groaned. My leisurely walk back was going to be a bit damper than anticipated.
----
She curled up on the futon, completely exhausted. What a day it had been ... She had started in one state, paused in another, ended in a third. She had eaten lunch with her grandparents, dessert with some friends, and dinner fifteen miles out of town with another crowd. She had run mostly on caffeine, having only gotten four fitful hours of sleep. She had been hiking and had stopped by her second favorite bar.
Now she watched Harrison Ford rescue hostages while her hostess dozed on a neighboring couch.
It was a good day.
----
The morning had passed with shiny blue gowns -- the afternoon with chips, sandwiches, and face cake. Respite had come in espresso form at a beautiful little coffeehouse, crammed in between parties.
----
The four of them were a mystery. Obviously not there to party -- they completely ignored the gathering crowd in a far parking lot -- they paired up and walked slowly along the sidewalk, dodging duck scat and disappearing into a neighborhood on the opposite side of the lake. He hadn't realized they were all together until they returned, still paired but in different groups.
It was a clear night, the first in a week that he didn't need four layers to stay warm. Spring was finally coming, and it was going to be a relief.
----
The weather had turned. My, how it had turned. Cold and windy when my plane touched down, snowing the morning of graduation, sunshiny and 70 when I left.
It hadn't even snowed the day I graduated. In the middle of December.
----
Curious & Amusing Things At An Airport
1. Businessmen in suits and Converse All-Stars
2. Bored flight attendants.
3. Any tour group involving first-time fliers.
4. iPod vending machines.
5. Moving sidewalks.
6. Americans on a tram refusing to give up their personal bubbles.
7. Security personnel on Segways.
8. Baggage handlers killing time.
9. People who can fall asleep anywhere.
10. Hippies.
11. Flowered shirts and flip-flops, regardless of month.
12. The number of things that must go right in order for your flight to leave on time.
----
I had a spectacular weekend. Congratulations Darren, Matt, Dyan, Chris, and Josh!
----
I had gotten up too early, far too early, after far too little sleep. Maybe going to watch the game had been a bad idea, but I had been cleaning like a crazy person and I really just wanted to be around friends. And have a beer.
In any case, I was paying for it now. Maybe there had been improvements -- jets instead of the painfully noisy props, one more seat across on my shorter flight, a pleasant woman at Caribou who upped the size of my coffee for no extra charge -- but now a pain, slight and irritating at first, was spreading across my head. At this rate my skull would cave in within the hour.
Consolation was there but not helpful. I would be home soon, in the company of people I dearly missed -- but until I made it to a store with ibuprofen, I was going to be hard-pressed to enjoy it.
----
I hit the beginning of the trail and broke into a jog. My sandaled feet remembered the trail, leaving my eyes and mind to wander. It was strange, this urge to run; I spent a lot of time on a weekly basis around people training for marathons and I had yet to understand. I was not a runner. But today the hills beckoned and my legs went their own pace.
Squirrels, chipmunks and birds scurried into the trees as I passed, the only person they had seen along here for a few days. In a month, the wildlife would move further into the woods, scared off by the kids and families traipsing through. Now, I was a curiosity. Later, I would be one of dozens.
I stopped at the lookout ... Hanbleceya ... "Hhhhhannn-blah-SEE-yah" ... and posed on the rocks, my breathing returning. My body moved through what it could remember of the Sun Salutation and I felt my brain returning to me. It was going to be a thought-provoking, exhausting weekend, and I was finally ready for it.
I pulled myself off the rocks, remembering all the nights I had gone stargazing here, all the time I had passed talking and listening to the creek below. This was one of my favorite spots, but I had to move on.
Down the hill, around the corner, slowly and carefully. As I crossed the creek, a new sound reached my ears and I groaned. My leisurely walk back was going to be a bit damper than anticipated.
----
She curled up on the futon, completely exhausted. What a day it had been ... She had started in one state, paused in another, ended in a third. She had eaten lunch with her grandparents, dessert with some friends, and dinner fifteen miles out of town with another crowd. She had run mostly on caffeine, having only gotten four fitful hours of sleep. She had been hiking and had stopped by her second favorite bar.
Now she watched Harrison Ford rescue hostages while her hostess dozed on a neighboring couch.
It was a good day.
----
The morning had passed with shiny blue gowns -- the afternoon with chips, sandwiches, and face cake. Respite had come in espresso form at a beautiful little coffeehouse, crammed in between parties.
----
The four of them were a mystery. Obviously not there to party -- they completely ignored the gathering crowd in a far parking lot -- they paired up and walked slowly along the sidewalk, dodging duck scat and disappearing into a neighborhood on the opposite side of the lake. He hadn't realized they were all together until they returned, still paired but in different groups.
It was a clear night, the first in a week that he didn't need four layers to stay warm. Spring was finally coming, and it was going to be a relief.
----
The weather had turned. My, how it had turned. Cold and windy when my plane touched down, snowing the morning of graduation, sunshiny and 70 when I left.
It hadn't even snowed the day I graduated. In the middle of December.
----
Curious & Amusing Things At An Airport
1. Businessmen in suits and Converse All-Stars
2. Bored flight attendants.
3. Any tour group involving first-time fliers.
4. iPod vending machines.
5. Moving sidewalks.
6. Americans on a tram refusing to give up their personal bubbles.
7. Security personnel on Segways.
8. Baggage handlers killing time.
9. People who can fall asleep anywhere.
10. Hippies.
11. Flowered shirts and flip-flops, regardless of month.
12. The number of things that must go right in order for your flight to leave on time.
----
I had a spectacular weekend. Congratulations Darren, Matt, Dyan, Chris, and Josh!
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