The best-laid plans...

Hmm, well, I did manage to get online at our hotel here in Rapid City but alas, my computer is being cranky and I can't download all those photos off my camera! Also, we are not sure if we can go ahead with our plan to drive through the Black Hills and into Wyoming tomorrow due to severe winter weather in the areas we would be passing through. I guess the best thing is to just crack open a good book, read for a bit, then go to sleep and hope that all is well in the morning.

Meanwhile, we had a fun day, starting with utter relief at getting out of the hotel that made us use a smoking room just because our cat was with us - I can't believe the total lack of logic that leads the hotel owners to treat pet owners like second class citizens while requiring them to keep their pet caged at all times while in the hotel -- with the result that I could barely sleep due to the stale smoke smell in the room. "Oh, you have a cat with you? OK, you can stay here but you have to stick your face in an ashtray all night."

...I digress with apologies to any smokers who may be reading this!! Anyway, we started out by visiting the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum. I think Megan had a fun time there. We got to tour the surveyors' house that the Ingalls family lived in during their first winter in the Dakota Territory, and also a house built by Charles Ingalls (aka "Pa") after Laura moved out. Megan preferred not to drive out to some of the other local sights, such as the cemetery where most of Laura's family is buried and the Ingalls homestead where Silver Lake used to be (it has long since been drained), so we got on the road again and headed toward the Badlands.

As we drove through the Badlands I was reminded of our visit to Mount St Helens some weeks ago with my dad and stepmother - the adults gasping and gawping in awe and wonder at the amazing sights while the kids read books, played video games, and stayed in the car during countless stops to take more and more pictures. Jeff and I loved the Badlands, Megan seemed to find it reasonably nice-looking and Calum seemed to not really be paying much attention to the scenery. We just kept on repeating, "this is so cool!" "this is really, really pretty" and of course lots of "wow, look at that!! Get a picture of that!! Quick, pull over, let's get one of that view..."

I promise to post some of these photos whenever my computer behaves itself again (Jeff claims to be "bludgeoning" it at the moment). Meanwhile I'm going to go get that book I mentioned earlier. Goodnight!