Christmas in Sunny South Dakota

If you weren't in SD for Christmas this year, you would instinctively think the title of this post was very sarcastic. But you would be wrong. After weeks of sub-zero, bitterly cold weather Rapid City cleaned up its act for our visit and had record warm temperatures. Woo Hoo, it made the trip very comfortable and pleasant. The rest of the trip was as nice as the weather. We had a great time watching movies and hanging out with my family eating lots of grass-fed beef and taking in some of the local sites. The highlight of the trip was our ski trip to Deer Mountain. We had only skied twice before and didn't really improve but I am blaming it on the terrible condition of the snow. It was that very icy, wet snow and there wasn't a lot of it. By the end of the day you could see patches of brown on parts of the slope. So, my numerous tumbles down the hill had nothing to do with my inability to ski but with the poor conditions. This would be a solid argument if it wasn't for the ringer we had in the bunch who skiied like a pro. My sister claimed she had only been on the slopes once before but I think when she tells mom and dad she is "studying" she is really heading up to the slopes, practicing to be Rapid City's very own Peekaboo Street. I can't count the times she literally zoomed by me as I lay sprawled out on the bunny slope, desperately trying to become upright again- a position that people without wooded sticks strapped to their legs take for granted. Actually, everyone but us was pretty good at skiing. My Dad however didn't leave without a couple scratches. The most harrowing moment was when he took about 45 minutes to come down from the advanced run. We were all ready to send the ski patrol to look for him as he came down the hill with a scratched up nose. Turns out he took the wrong turn and ended up on the most advanced run, aptly named "Racer's Cliff". Geesh I think I inherited all the fear and lack of skiing ability in the family.

At the end of the week we went to famous Deadwood. We spent the afternoon seeing some of the sites (Hickock's grave, fancy victorian houses, etc.) and the evening gambling and eating a crab and prime rib buffett. We were also the big gambling losers- luckily my sister is still a little too young to gamble or she probably would have showed us up at that too:). Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the ski trip but I did get some of Deadwood and the culminating event of the xmas eve party at our house.