Sheridan, WY to Pierre, SD – 8/12/2016
August 12, 2016 (Friday)
The sheets on the bed were the softest I’ve ever slept on. When I asked Mary Kay about them, she smiled and said Costco. Going to look for them as they were pretty amazing.
This morning we all sat out on the deck (I called dibbs on the swing), listened to the birds, the pond, and saw a mamma deer and her two babies a little ways away. So beautiful. We visited and shared stories as well. So fun to catch up and wish we had longer but….
Tommy and Mary Kay had made a wonderful breakfast of bacon, eggs, fruit (yummy peaches), and biscuits. My but they are good cooks. I’d be 400 pounds if we stayed very long (over two days I think).
We had to drag ourselves away around 11:30 AM. The drive today was long (a little over 400 miles), from Sheridan, Wyoming to Pierre, South Dakota. The weather looked grey and cloudy but it was warm. Weird weather. The skies are so different here that we just don’t know what’s happening. As we were driving through one town, we heard sirens going off and didn’t know if a tornado was coming through or not (the skies were really dark and there was thunder and lightening).
We stopped for gas about fifty miles outside of Sturgis. Could not believe all the motorcycles there too. Found out the motorcycle rally was still going on. While at the gas station I saw some water shoes that were pretty inexpensive, so Michael and I both got a pair and will test them out on this trip. They’re pretty comfortable and look like they’ll travel well.
Lots of different landscape during the drive – National cemetery, trees, mountains, canyons, miles and miles of corn, beautiful sunflowers, and hay. The sunflowers were so pretty.
We got into Pierre (pronounced Pier) and were heading to our Inn when we saw a street fair with old cars. We stopped and walked around looking at all the old cars. We love it when that happens. We also got to see some statues of the former Governors of South Dakota, as well as a random piano on the corner of a street for people to play. How fun! Looks like a great little town. We’re looking forward to exploring it more tomorrow.
We found a place to have dinner, near the car show, called La Minestra. It was very loud and busy, so we figured it must be a good place. Michael ordered chicken marsala and I had a chicken tortellini. We also ordered a salad special – heirloom tomatoes, watermelon, basil and feta cheese. Everything was delicious, the service was great, and the prices were pretty reasonable.
We got to our “home” for the night and it is pretty neat. I got it on Orbitz last night and it was only around $70.00. It’s called the Hitching Horse Inn. It’s an old (over 100 year old home) that has been converted into a small Inn (made to order breakfast included). We got to talking to Jeremy (one of the owners of the Inn), and he said it has only been owned by five families and since they’ve taken it over, someone from all of the families has stayed there, and the families will even have dinners there for special occasions. How neat is that. He said some of them sleep in their old rooms. So nice. He was awesome and upgraded us into a king bed. He told us they had been pretty full but we were the only ones here tonight. It’s an absolutely beautiful quaint old inn. They have the same leg lamp from “A Christmas Story.” Jeremy said they do different things at the Inn – they have a bar until about 10:00 PM every night; they do special dinners; they have a piano player come; and just lots of fun things.
The Inn itself is gorgeous with lots of wood, big veranda on the second floor, and a large porch on back. It feels like you’ve stepped back in time but is very friendly and familiar. I love it. One of those places where you know you want to go back as it’s just too special.
Anyway, that was our day. Hope yours was great!