Today we headed towards Rapid City for a day of rest before picking up Griff tomorrow at the airport. We stopped at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village, and an active archeological site. The location was gorgeous, and it was immediately clear why any settler would choose this location on a small peninsula along Lake Mitchell. We visited the museum and saw a movie about the site and what they know about the original inhabitants. We were lucky to have a recent archeology grad as our guide of the dig site for almost an hour. He taught us so much about the site and what they’ve found in the last 17 years of excavation. It is an unusual site in that it has a covered building over it allowing work to continue throughout the year. They even brought out the atlatl gear so that we could take a turn. Not surprisingly, it is harder than it looks, but was fun to try.

Next up was the roadtrip-required World’s Only Corn Palace. I expected it to be corny -of course- but it was much cooler than I expected. It was actually a-Maizing! They redecorate this thing with real corn every year, and the design changes annually. Placards gave the 100-year history of the building. We had popcorn and corndogs (Graham’s first) for lunch and then took off for the long drive to Rapid City.

I discovered my first real mistake of the trip when they couldn’t find our reservation at the hotel. In my hurry to book it a few days ago, I accidentally booked for next week. Three nights in a suite, prepaid. They had room for us, but I was super bummed about my expensive mistake. The hotel was fantastic though, and I was actually able to transfer the payment with the help of the manager. They were incredibly nice and helpful, so this only turned out to be a minor inconvenience, but I will hopefully remember to slow down and triple-check the date before hitting the payment button. Trying to plan at the end of long travel days can definitely be a challenge. My brain is just done by that point.

Two super-weird coincidences happened last night. First, I met a couple at the hotel who are not only from Tallahassee, FL (where I grew up), but the gentleman is from the small town of Sneads, FL, (population 1,849) where my parents grew up! What are the chances of us meeting up in South Dakota, and actually speaking to one another to discover the connection?!? You couldn’t have met a nicer couple, and we sat and chatted until my kids insisted it was time for dinner. We know many of the same people and they have several grandchildren who are also homeschooled. We had so much in common. We were just blown away by finding each other in the middle of South Dakota. Sometimes you realize the world can be much smaller than you think.

The second odd coincidence occurred in the hot tub that night as we were winding down before bedtime. During our drive, the kids and I have been intrigued by the huge wind turbines along the interstate and discussed wishing that we could learn more about them. So who just happens to plop down next to us but a gentleman who helps repair the huge beasts! He pulled out his phone, showed us the greatest photos from inside them and the views from the top, and then answered all of our questions. They are even more amazing than we knew. The paddles are actually controlled by sensors and automatically tilt to catch the wind perfectly as the direction changes. I am a bit thunderstruck by these two odd coincidences, especially happening within a couple of hours of each other. I think I’m going to play the lottery tomorrow…

Our suite is awesome, by far the nicest place we’ve stayed since Indianapolis, and we are all looking forward to a break tomorrow and seeing Griff.

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