Pringle, SD

Though the journey was to take 2 hours and 45 minutes, we managed to take 6 hours to actually arrive at the Hisega Lodge. Our first stop was in Pringle, SD, a town consisting of about 200 people. Initially we stopped to photograph a white Methodist church that caught our eyes and ended up visiting Zeimet's Grocery and eating lunch at the Hitchrail.

The grocer shared that the town is mostly relatives and the Zeimets have resided in Pringle since the 1800s. They boast of being the best Elk Country in SD and anticipate opening a cafe right in the grocery store.

At the grocer's recommendation, we lunched at the Hitchrail Bar and Restaurant. The interior was fresh with stained pine, mounted victories and a comical cowboy hat for the current clown to don. Mom convinced dad to be clown for the day and Laura, our waitress, promptly told Dad that he had the hat on backwards and a Texan should know better. =)

Our next goal was to be Hisega, but we got sidetracked by a quilt shop in Hill City, SD. We learned all about Crazy Geisha quilt patterns, the history of the shop and the reason they do not house a "hubby chair." Apparently, they send spouses to the local winery, thus upon their return to the store they are quite amenable to the purchases made in their absence.

Once we unloaded and settled into the lodge, we sought out dinner and an intent to view the night show at Mt. Rushmore. Dinner was fine as dad invited a lodger to join us. The trek to the monument ended up being a debacle. Stubborn as I usually am, I relied on Garmin rather than our natural navigator, Mom, to direct us to our destination. Needless to say, the circuitous route did eventually lead us to the granite presidents, but the stress level in the car, the untimely arrival and the nauseatingly meandering route over the same railroad track 6 times generated a desire for respite and repose.

Back to the lodge over a similar winding path with eyes very wide open brought us to our retreat.

We'll try again another day!!