18 May ‘08
Sunday
Our stay here in the Rapid City area has given us a little time to stay close to the coach. After our travels through Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah in which we seemed to be on the go 24/7, it feels pretty good. Now that’s not to say that we haven’t been out. As I wrote the other day, we saw Mt. Rushmore, the Needles, and Custer the city and the State Park which we totally enjoyed even though it was our second visit in 2 years. We have spent more time close to the “couch” but just about every other day we also found ourselves heading down the road as well. Most of those trips were to Safeway, Wal-Mart, or Lowes, and with quick stopover at Starbucks (yes I know, I’m selfish and want my coffee…). Well with the weather being so wonderful, we decided today was going to be a great day for a “Sunday Drive”… Our route took us west to the end of Hwy 16 and then a large circle route back to Rapid City via. Hwy 44. One thing that we have found that really has surprised us…they, South Dakota, have a lot of water. That is, water as in lakes, rivers, ponds, and large reservoirs. One of those bodies of water that we saw Sunday was Pactola Reservoir. This reservoir seemed to go on forever and the fishing must have been pretty good as there were fisherman all over it. The setting was pretty nice with Pine trees lining the shoreline, covering the rolling hills and continuing all the way up the surrounding mountain sides. Further down Hwy 44 we came across a site that we had been reading about…”Chapel In The Hills”. The chapel is an exact replica of the 12th century Borgund Stavkirke (stave church) in Laerdal, Norway. It is adorned with intricate woodcarvings, beautifully hand split cedar shake roofing, and clear cedar siding that we all would love to have surrounding our home. A beautiful piece of architecture, a copy or not…