Badlands

Today should be a short six hour drive into the badlands.  It looks like it will rain possibly even bad storms where we are going.  I feel like we are dragging our feet just a little even though John is anxious to get moving.  We made a couple of stops getting out of Ohama area (although we never even set foot on Nebraska soil, we just skirted the boarder on the other side of the Missouri River.  Many parts of the drive were along the Lewis & Clark trail.

Old fashioned map?  When is the last time you used one?  We think they might come 

in handy this trip where cell service will be spotty.

Our one major stop today was Sioux Falls, SD.  We had the best lunch, sitting on the patio by the golf course, at Looks Market.  We also picked up some fresh bread for the next couple of days.  The service was outstanding; such friendly staff!  We also took the time to stop at the water fall in the center of town.  We walked around for about a half hour an to take in the natural wonder of the falls – they look like someone built the whole area with legos.  There is a great bridge to walk across and of course rock outcrops for our kids to climb as per their norm.  

        

 

On the drive, the boys decided to play the alphabet game.  Carter hesitated about joining until he saw and A and a B so he jumped right in and eventually won his first alphabet game.  Big success!

 

It’s Sunday evening and we watched the most amazing sunset I have ever seen over the badlands.  I now understand what purple mountains majesty means!!  We, mostly me, were completely overwhelmed with emotion over illness in our family, the loss of family members and our sweet kitty last week.  There is a lightening storm south of where we are and it is absolutely incredible!  The temperature here has been below 80* since we arrived and the average temps this time of year are highs in the high 90s, low 100s.   Sometimes you just feel like you are being loved on by God and today is one of those days! 

 

Between Sunday and Thursday before we left on Friday, our sister-in-law (John’s brother’s wife) passed away suddenly, my uncle passed away after a short struggle with cancer and we found out that John’s oldest brother’s pancreatic cancer might not be the treatable kind and that the tumor has doubled in size the since two months ago.  It was such a struggle deciding whether or not to leave but were encourage to do so by our family.