Faith's Monumental Visit to South Dakota

When I received my niece, Sydnee's graduation announcement in the mail, I thought it might be the perfect opportunity to visit my brother and his family for the first time at their home in Spearfish. I also thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see Mount Rushmore, which I had never seen before! 

My nephew in Nebraska was graduating that same weekend, and my sister Dawn and I tried to put together a plan where we could go to both of their graduation receptions. I knew though, that Faith would feel left out and would want to go, too. I also knew it was going to be difficult to find someone to look after Faith over Memorial Day weekend. 

Our finalized plan involved Dawn traveling to South Dakota with me and Faith and then her flying to Nebraska by herself. Faith and I would then drive back to Bismarck by ourselves. 

3 adventurous travelers 

I must admit, as the trip got closer, I started to get a little anxious about how Faith was going to do with so much driving, especially just the two of us on our way back. What if something went wrong? What if the van broke down in the middle of nowhere? 

I tried to put my anxious thoughts to rest by just being as prepared as possible. I ordered a transfer board, in case the need arose for me to get Faith out of her chair by myself. I also had my nephew and Dad look over the van to ensure all my fluids levels and my tires were okay. Most importantly, I prayed and had lots of people praying for me. I knew if something happened, God would help me along the way. Instead of being anxious, I chose to get excited about the trip. Faith was excited, too! 

We left on Friday morning and Faith was fully energized. Like, almost the whole way there! Whenever she is around her auntie Dawn, she gets excited and laughs a lot. Along with being around Dawn, she was also energized by listening to some of her favorite music along the way. Some of our road trip CDs included: 

• Bon Jovi Greatest Hits 
• Footloose Soundtrack 
• Michael W Smith: A New Hallelujah 
• John Mellencamp: The Best That I Could Do
• Chris Tomlin: The Essential Collection 

One of the best parts about traveling to western North Dakota and down into South Dakota was the beautiful scenery! Many would probably find it boring, but I loved the hilly landscape with buttes scattered in random places and the never-ending horizon.

Thanks to some much-needed rain, everything was so green! 

We also saw a coyote, some buffalo, hawks, sheep, horses, and lots of antelope. There were also many herds of cows along the way, which put Faith in a good mooooood! 

Dawn and I had fun finding stats on the internet about the places we traveled through. Like, did you know Slope County in southwest North Dakota has just 706 people, making it the least populous county in the state? At 1,218 square miles in size, that means there are only .60 people per square mile! If you like wide open spaces, come to Slope County! 

About 5 hours after setting out, we arrived in Spearfish. After settling into our hotel and getting Faith out of her chair for a bit, we headed down to the restaurant attached to the hotel. Faith even made a few friends in the restaurant and our waitress was very generous in giving Faith a high-five every time she passed by our table. Back in our room, Faith did a shortened version of her good-night routine. 

The Black Hills are just ahead! 

I was surprised when she slept like a rock, straight through the night. I think it helped that I had brought her white noise sound machine to drown out unfamiliar noises. Still on central standard time, Faith awoke at 6:30 in the morning and we decided we might as well get a head start on our jam-packed day. 

After grabbing breakfast and coffee at a drive-thru, the three of us made our way to Rapid City and then on to Mount Rushmore. Going through the Black Hills was breathtaking. Dawn and I pointed out several pretty sites along the way. She also reminisced about the last time she had been there with her kids and also with her friend and granddaughter not too long ago. 

After finding a handicapped parking spot in the huge parking garage, we made our way up the accessible path to see the amazing memorial. Upon arrival, I was disappointed that there was fog covering the faces. We decided to check out the gift shop in the hopes that things would clear up. That was one thing Faith was looking forward to: going shopping with her aunt! 

Hanging out, waiting for the fog to clear. 

I'm happy to report the fog did clear up and we got some good pictures of us and the famous faces. As we left, I noticed a park ranger standing at the entrance and I asked if I could take a picture of her and Faith. She kindly obliged and it ended up being one of my favorite photos of the trip. 

Mount Rushmore! 

So amazing! 

Faith with Carlie, the park ranger. 

In leaving Mount Rushmore there wasn't really a clear sign as to which way to go in order to go back to Rapid City. We thought we picked the right way, but as we drove, we kept pointing out things that didn't seem familiar to us. Like all the downed trees in one area or the pretty lake. The dead deer on the side of the road looked familiar, though! 

Instead of driving through Keystone, we instead came to Hill City. I didn't realize that both of us were so navigationally challenged! We did eventually make it to Bear Country U.S.A, which was a lot of fun! I thought Faith would especially enjoy this since she still loves the "Going On a Bear Hunt" book and all of the Bear Hunt videos she finds on YouTube. Dawn and I tried to make our own, but Faith was not impressed! 

It was fun to see all the bears! 

We had been disappointed not to see any waterfalls, so these ones had to do! 

Faith was having so much fun! 

Finally, we drove to Rapid City and found the airport so that Dawn could pick up her rental car since she had to drive to the airport early the next morning and fly to Lincoln, NE. It had been a long day, but it wasn't over yet! We got Faith out of her chair as soon as we got back to the hotel. After a quick break, we headed over to my brother's house to celebrate the graduate! 

His wife Amber did an amazing job with all the decorations and the amazing food and cupcakes. It was nice to meet some of their friends and also to see Amber's mom. Faith was insistent that she meet their cat, Cash. The girls were nice enough to round him up for her so that she could at least see him in person! Faith loved spending time with her cousins and getting lots of hugs from them! 

We made it to Sydnee's graduation reception! 

Faith with Uncle Mark, Auntie Amber and her cousins, Sydnee and Kenzie

Faith and Sydnee 

We knew that Dawn's youngest son and his family were also in the area (we had run into them at Mount Rushmore), so we tried to wait to see if they were going to show up, but it was getting late, plus Dawn had to get up super early to drive to the airport. We left and then got through Faith's good night routine and said goodbye to Auntie Dawn. 

The next morning her uncle Mark came over to help me get Faith out of bed and into her chair. I was so appreciative of his help! He was also supposed to bring Faith some cupcakes, but he had accidentally left them behind. He was bound and determined to get them to us though, so while Faith and I stopped at City Brew for breakfast and so that I could hook up her feeding, he ran back home to get them. 

We got the cupcakes! 

It was then homeward bound. I had filled up with gas and was hoping I could make it the whole way back without stopping. Our only stop was Buffalo, SD so I could unhook Faith's feeding and tilt her chair back so that she could be repositioned and more comfortable. Neither of us wanted to stop anywhere else until we got home. And five hours later, we made it, without any trouble! 

Faith does so well with traveling, but I knew I was asking a lot of her, especially to be in her chair for so long. She did great on the road, but at home she had a few meltdowns, which was totally expected. I'm sure her body was sore, plus she was so tired and out of sorts from not being in her usual routine. Needless to say, aquatic therapy on Tuesday morning was exactly what she needed. 

And what happened to Dawn you might ask? Well, she ended up getting stranded in Lincoln due to flight delays in Denver. Thankfully, my brother-in-law was able to rescue her, and my sister ended up taking her to Omaha the next morning, so she could fly out from there instead. When she finally did make it back to Bismarck, the timing worked perfectly for me and Faith to pick her up at the airport. 

Dawn made it to Nebraska for our nephew's reception! 

Looking back, I'm actually quite amazed we pulled off getting Faith to Mount Rushmore and a graduation reception all in one day. Our monumental trip to South Dakota was definitely a trip the three of us will remember for the rest of our lives!