great faces. great places.

Since hubs and I live out in the Midwest, we thought we might as well take advantage of all the great things around here. I often compare and complain about things in my heart (and out loud) up here. I recently talked with a good friend who is overseas and she mentioned how after her and her husband's latest move she had to decide to embrace the new culture they were in. And it hit me. I sometimes embrace Minnesota, but often just make fun and complain in my heart thinking that the culture I grew up in is superior. It was one of those sharp and stinging realizations. Although we had already made plans to visit South Dakota for a quick vacation, it seemed even more appropriate after evaluating my superior-minded heart.

We chose to visit the great state of South Dakota for a few reasons:

1. It was the most interesting of states within driving distance of Minnesota. Our other choices: Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota (think "faaar-gO"), and of course, our friendly neighbor of Saskatchewan, Canada.
2. Andrew and I love doing things outdoors, hiking, etc. and SD has the badlands and gorgeous black hills area
3. Andrew is competitive and loves accomplishing goals...so when we found out that Mount Harney was the "tallest peak east of the Rockies" and it was a do-able day hike, he was sold
4. I needed to embrace my current Midwestern culture and enjoy it!
5. South Dakota's slogan is "great faces. great places" and with a motto like that who wouldn't want to visit?!
   

I am so grateful for my husband though- there he is while hiking! I love hiking, rock climbing, and picnic outside. I do not like sleeping in a tent with hard ground, feeling the rocks under me and then waking with dew on my face. And since our God is really gracious, he gave me Andrew, who feels the same way about being outside and sleeping inside. Whew! So we went and stayed in a quaint lodge-y bed and breakfast! How about that! The weather wasn't cooperating at first, but we did get to drive through Custer National Park and see stunning rock formations along with wild buffalo (or as Andrew would now correct me "bison"), burros (little Mexican donkeys, seriously), pronghorns, and deer. We saw Crazy Horse from a far, we visited Mount Rushmore, and went on a few hikes when it was nicer out.

Here are some pictures from our trip (mind you, it was a cool 50 degrees in mid-June, hence the cold weather clothing!) :

from top: Us at a look out spot- beautiful!; some of the rock formations I mentioned; Andrew being a goober at a Black Hills sign; one of the many rock tunnels we got to drive through; Buffalo; pronghorn