South Dakota

This last Thursday I was able to travel to South Dakota to visit my grandparents. I have only visited them once in Miller, SD and that was 12 years ago on a family vacation. The first evening I was there my Grandpa took me fishing for the first time. The lake that my Grandpa fishes at only allows you to keep big mouth bass that are 15 inches or larger. I didn't catch anything that first night but the next morning we went fishing again and I caught two fish and so did my Grandpa. Neither of us caught anything we could keep but we still had a ton of fun fishing off the dock. After a full morning of fishing we went to the local drug store for some yummy ice cream at the soda fountain. Once we were refreshed we headed out to the county courthouse which is a historical building and it has some museum type stuff in it. We had fun touring the courthouse and riding the old elevator up to the attic and down to the basement. After the courthouse we went to the local farmers market. There were maybe four stands and only one of them sold any produce. I was a little disappointed since Miller is surrounded by farms, but we did buy some eggs and green beans from the Hutterite colony. We headed back to the house and my Grandpa and I headed back out to the lake for some last minute fishing and we ended up catching four more fish but we had to throw them all back. After a full day of exploring the town and fishing at the lake we topped the night off by playing some cribbage. On Saturday morning we had yummy crepes that my grandma made and played some games at the house. Once we played pass the pigs and cribbage we headed out to a dairy that was having on open house. We got there and had a yummy lunch of hamburgers, chips, cookies, and milk. The twist was we ate lunch in the cow barn. It was very interesting to be sitting there surrounded by cows just staring at you while you ate. After lunch we headed off to the milking parlor and watched them milk a few cows and learned about how they collect the milk, cool and store it. Once we were done at the dairy we headed down to the local senior center and played some card games with the folks there. I learned how to play a game called 500 and then I learned how to play a new version of Rummy. After playing a game or two at the center we headed out to the Hutterite Colony called Millerdale 16 miles outside of Miller. We met with a lady and she gave us a tour and answered all of our questions. Hutterites are sort of like the Amish or Mennonites but they live in a commune and they embrace technology. After the tour of the colony we went home and dropped my grandma off and headed off down to the lake. We caught a couple of fish. I only caught one little 4 inch bass and my grandpa caught a couple bass and one perch that was a keeper. We put it on the gill line but ended up throwing it back when we didn't catch any more keepers and wouldn't have had enough fish for all of us to eat. We had a very busy day but we were able to squeeze in one game of cribbage before we went to bed. On Sunday we went to church and then had a yummy brunch of crepes and my grandma's canned peaches. We then headed out to visit 4 cemeteries and the old family homesteads. We stopped at the place where my grandma grew up and she bottled some of the artisan well water that she grew up drinking. It looks like nice cool clear water but it has an acquired taste. We saw all the dead relatives and we even stumbled on a party at my grandma's nephew's house and we were able to say hello. I had a lot of fun seeing all the sights and listening to all the stories. On Monday we just hung out in the morning and then went to the drug store for some ice cream and then played cards at the senior center. After playing a couple of games and eating some cake and ice cream we headed home. My grandpa and I didn't stay too long though before we headed off to the lake one last time. This time we were able to hop on a boat with one of my grandpa's fishing partners and we trolled around the lake. We caught quite a few fish but the only keepers we caught were a carp and a crappie that I caught. All the bass we caught were too small. After fishing for a few hours we headed home and picked up Grandma and headed off to Dairy Queen for dinner. We finished the night off with a couple games of cribbage. I had so much fun hanging out with my grandparents playing games, touring the local attractions, and seeing all the family history. I was so glad that I was able to visit my grandparents and even though I missed Nathan they kept me so busy the week flew by. I can't wait to visit them again only next time I hope Nathan can come.