We had a fun Easter/Becky’s Birthday weekend. We were forced into taking a vacation by the fact we didn’t have day care on Friday and Monday. It’s a good thing we were forced since we had a good time. We headed back to Onida on Thursday night.
Friday morning Becky and I left the girls with grandma Nola and headed west towards Deadwood in the Black Hills. We stopped at Wall Drug for lunch – I was pretty surprised Becky said she’d never eaten there before. I thoroughly enjoyed the free ice water. For Becky’s birthday, I decided to take her shopping. It’s a lot easier than me agonizing over what to buy her and then to have her return it the next week. This way is much more efficient. So we hit the Rushmore Mall Friday afternoon and she got new pants and new shirts. That night we headed into Deadwood and took in the all-you-can-eat buffet. I found out quickly that I don’t know how to eat crab legs. I had the shell cracker and I was able to get the meat out of the thigh, but I eventually gave up on getting the meat out of the leg. I decided to focus my energy on two slabs of prime rib instead.
We also made it out to Mt. Rushmore on Saturday morning. It’s been 10-12 years since I’ve been there, so it was neat to see again. Since we were traveling in radio no-man’s land, we bought an audio tape of Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency, so that helped me understand why he was enshrined with Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. He always seemed like an afterthought in comparison to the other three. Roosevelt really was the right president at the right time – he had the courage and tenacity to assert the US in the world stage and he balanced the power that was held by the trusts at the time.
After another round of shopping on Saturday afternoon, we got to play some poker. We sat down at a table at the Gold Dust to play Limit Texas Hold’Em with $2 big blind. The table was loose as they usually are in these types of settings, and I fell into the trap and played too many hands. Becky played it smart by playing very tight, so she got a solid reputation which she used in the end to steal some pots. In the 5 1/2 hours there I got pocket Aces 4 times, and actually won 3 of the 4 times even though I never improved on my hand. That was the highlight – the rest of the night I kept getting junk and when I would get something, I wouldn’t catch anything on the flop. I ended up down $56 while Becky ended up $22.
On Sunday we got up early and headed back to Pierre to catch the end of our niece Evia’s dedication. The girls were happy to see us, so that’s always good. They had a fun time with grandma and Somer doing an Easter egg hunt on Saturday afternoon and having their cousin Zach’s birthday party Sunday night. We hung out at Grandma Becky’s all day Sunday and played some cards and headed back home late Sunday night.
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