I have been to South Dakota once, an AARP training in the basement of a casino in Deadwood. It was a fast trip, fly in, spend the night, drive to Deadwood, spend the night, teach all day, and fly home that evening. We stopped briefly at Mt Rushmore, and Crazy Horse. It was summer, the weather was warm and dry. During the workshop, when the room went quiet, you could hear the slot machines dinging upstairs (old fashioned quarter machines.) The morning of the workshop I ordered breakfast, sat at a slot machine and put a handful of quarters in. Before my eggs-benedict arrived, I was up about $50, I cashed out while I was well ahead. South Dakota is near the center of the contiguous states, slightly north of center. It is sparsely populated, with miles and miles of rolling open countryside and forests.
I am glad I was there once.
I was looking for a particular photo, of me on a park bench in Deadwood. I know it is here someplace. I have a folder with over 32,000 unsorted photos in it, a result of changing operating and filing systems a decade or so ago.
Are you on the bench in Deadwood with the two saloon gals? I’ve been to South Dakota more times than I can count given that SG’s from there. Some beautiful things to see (like Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, the Black Hills) but I’ve had my fill of Kristi it. We were driving from Minneapolis to Pierre in 2016 and were greeted by a billboard when we entered South Dakota that read something like “Welcome to [Wherever-it-was], South Dakota. If you’re for abortion and against guns, turn around and go home.”
ReplyDeleteThe land of ugly politics.
DeleteI have never been to South Dakota but the image of you sitting at a slot machine winning a slew of coins while ordering eggs benedict is my new vision for the state.
ReplyDeleteIt was a lot of quarters.
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