The Lee Family: Summer Vacation Day 1: Off to South Dakota

I woke up at 6:30am as usual and walked Skipper and Buddy. After I got home and fed the dogs, we woke the girls so they could get ready for our vacation. CK and Olivia took the dogs over to Mrs. Smith's house because "I would talk too long" if I took them, which is probably true. Once CK and Olivia returned, we loaded up the truck and headed for the airport! We were actually ready by 9am, an all-time record!

About two weeks ago, CK suggested we go somewhere for a few days. We had a rather small window between Sofia's oral surgery appointment on June 29th and the arrival of our friends from Connecticut on July 7th. Originally, Sofia had a minor dental surgery planned for yesterday, but I found that we had crossed wires and the oral surgeon's office had scheduled her for a follow-up appointment and not the actual surgery. CK really wanted to go up to the Black Hills of South Dakota and see Mt. Rushmore. We learned that friends from Washington DC were in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for the month so we decided it would be really fun to see them as well. Originally, we planned on stopping in Red Lodge, Montana to visit other friends who have a huge cattle farm there. The plan was to join them on a cattle drive on July 4th! Sofia was beyond excited to be riding horses again. Unfortunately, our friend's dad wasn't comfortable with a bunch of Texans visiting, so we decided to spend two additional days in Jackson Hole instead. When I was 12 and rode my bike across America, I completely fell in love with Jackson Hole and remember thinking it was the coolest place I'd ever visited. So, I was super excited to visit again. I think I was equally excited to go for a short vacation as I was to take a break from the dogs, especially Skipper.

We loaded into the plane and headed toward Scott City, Kansas which was 2.5 hours away. The girls sat in the back seat together and were both asleep in minutes. I sat up front with CK and read for a bit before also taking a nap. I woke up 20 minutes before we arrived in Scott City, Kansas. Kansas is incredibly flat. I couldn't believe how far we could see. Scott City is just a little town in the middle of flat corn and wheat fields. The population is 3,500. We landed and met Brian and Paula, who we'd met a few years ago at Fernandez Bay Village on Cat Island. Brian is also a pilot and he and Paula spent a few days on Cat. They were really friendly and easy to be around. Since then, we've kept in touch just through Facebook. It was great to see them and they took us to The Majestic Theater, which was an old theater that has been converted to a restaurant. It was fantastic. Paula and Brian both grew up in Scott City and returned after college. Paula said it used to be a really great theater where they spent a lot of fun nights with friends. The food was great.

After lunch, Brian and Paula showed us their farming operation. The Vulgamore Family Farms is a 70,000 acre farm that grows wheat, corn and mullet. The do not own the land, but lease it and use the most up-to-date technology to watch over their fields, check on the optimum time to harvest, and check moisture levels. Their headquarters are amazing and the technology used is incredible. It was really something to see! They drove us around several of the fields and we watched two of the fields being harvested. Brian said that the combine is completely controlled by computers and gps, but three of their kids are driving them and are needed to ensure the blades are at the correct height. Otherwise, there is no need for a "driver" inside the combine. Just amazing. Brian said their biggest hurtle is the small amount of rain the area receives yearly. He said they generally get about 14 inches a year. So, they use a new way of farming in which they plant secondary plants between their corn, wheat and mullet planting times to basically provide "shade" and keep moisture in the ground. Tilling up the ground just releases moisture and it's a old practice that Brian said needs to stop in order to protect the water levels. The entire visit and tour was amazing.

We said our goodbyes and loaded back into the Baron for our last 2 hour drive to Spearfish, South Dakota. What a fun visit. As we flew, we saw the Badlands, which were amazing! It really must be a sight from the ground. We continued on and got cleared to fly over Mt. Rushmore which was really incredible. It was so beautiful from the air and we were all excited to see it in person! So fun to see it from the air!

We landed in Spearfish which looks like a cute town. The lady working the desk at the FPO and the man who helped us park our airplane, were incredibly helpful in giving us advice on where to eat and places to visit. They were super helpful and friendly. We got into our rental car and drove to Lead, S.D. where we stayed at the Town Hall Inn. Lead is a tiny little town and the Inn was a bit run down, but it was perfect for what we needed. We had one big room that smelled of mildew, but once the window unit was on, we didn't really notice the smell. The room was fine for what we needed. After we dropped off our stuff, we walked around Lead since we wanted to check out our surroundings, stretch our legs and enjoy the perfect 80 degree and sunny weather. After we were unable to find an open restaurant, we drove to Deadwood, which is only about 5 miles away but a pretty major tourist trap. Deadwood is the location of where Wild Bill Hickok was gunned down and is a historic gold rush town now. We ended up eating burgers at Mustang Sally's before grabbing ice cream down the street. It was delicious. While we walked around the girls pretended they were part of a poly club and were riding their horses everywhere we went. Since they had horse camp last week, they have both been horse crazy.

All set and ready to go!