"Small blessings are like dandelions..."

"...next to a field of beautiful flowers being devoured by wolves."

That is one of my favorite quotes from the Penultimate Peril, which I finished a couple days ago. I find the morbidity of this quote hilarious...yes the dandelions are nice, but wolves??

These last two days have been full of small blessings, unaccompanied by wolves.

The first small blessing was my discovery of Sioux Falls! This was a gem...a stumbled upon thing that kept me smiling for hours. It's funny that I didn't even think that there would be falls in Sioux Falls. I got to the city in the late afternoon, and upon driving around a bit, I saw what looked like a nice park called 'Falls Park'. I thought I'd check it out, so I drove in, only to be amazed by the beauty of the falls! Sioux Falls and Falls Park were the coming together of many things I love dearly: waterfalls, nicely groomed lawns, large boulders for sitting, and something to climb(an observation tower, where this picture was taken).

I ate my dinner in the park--food which Aunt Elsie had packed for me. There were people everywhere, and I even got talking to a couple who told me all the places to stop in South Dakota. Overall, it was one of my favorite places on this trip!

Last night I stayed in Sioux Falls, and today I traversed South Dakota and am now in Hill City. I stopped at Wall Drug, of course (for those of you who don't know, Wall Drug is a well-marketed tourist trap super drug store). Upon asking for my ID, the clerk said: "All the way from California?" I looked at him and his name tag, which said his name, and beneath it: 'Czech Republic.' I laughed. "All the way from the Czech Republic?" Seeing him and all the other foreign workers gave me that familiar feeling of slight jealousy...the same kind of jealousy I got when I saw the group of college kids at a gas station who were biking across America for cancer research. I long for the adventure they are having, wishing I could do something 'cool'. Then I remind myself...I AM doing something cool! Even though sitting in a car for 7 hours a day sometimes does not feel that adventurous.

Today, the main event was Mount Rushmore! This I would call the second small blessing, which was twofold itself. The first part was that I got into the park for free! I didn't have cash. This is the second time that has happened(the first time was on a bridge in New York...they said they'd bill me...hm...) I told the boy at the toll booth and asked him what I should do. He glanced around, and motioned me to go in. So in I went.

Mt. Rushmore itself is incredible. I walked around the trail and loved getting to see it from all different angles. I'm definitly glad I made a point of going.

This is me wearing small blessing 2b. It was 'guest appreciation day', and they had a bunch of stuff for only $5! This is my first real souvenier for myself. Notice I also got Mt. Rushmore in the picture. I really was there!