Trip to South Dakota!!

Start of my trip here in this post!

 I forgot to add the photos from my Goodwill visit in WA. There were a few things cute that I saw...

I was able to change my flight plans to fly into Rapid City, SD. Tevin would make plans to pick me up, I just had to get a hotel and we'd have a chance to spend a few days together before his deployment in early October.

 I made it out of SeaTac with no problems, I took a later flight that morning too. Whew. I said my goodbyes and Lita dropped me to the airport. I will miss my sister so much. But, good news is that I will be seeing her in February! Yay! My flight landed into Denver Airport with no major problems. However, I did not get on the first flight out, ugh. But, no worries, because by the 2nd flight, we had a bigger plane and I made it on First Class too! Yay! While there, I looked out the window, Denver was humid when I left, and saw some interesting sights along the way. The woman sitting in front of me, turned back and asked if I was on Instagram?! I was like yes, I am! She asked, "Is your name Linda?" At first, I was thrilled, to possibly bump into one of my fellow kitsch collector friends and on a flight, whaaaat?! But, nope, she had mistaken me for a botanist! It was okay, and truly flattering to say the least. Haha!

 When we landed, there was so much cloud coverage and it was dark already. Chilly too about 40 degrees and raining, eeek! After, I checked into my hotel, which was a really nice new one BTW too! Thank you Danaya!! I put my luggage and Tev took me to get some meds for my cold and then to a place, that I forgot the name of because you read why in just a bit. Ugh. I ordered Fish N Chips, Yum! It was definitely delicious. The only disappointing part was, experiencing some prejudice attitude while there. It took awhile before the server came to our table and Tevin had to call him over. I've heard of some people still having issues of this type, but to see it happening on the first day I arrived, was not a good experience. I could sense, it was because of we were people of color. Truly sad, that attitudes like this are still present in the United States, considering, there is a whole melting pot of other nationalities here.

 But, I didn't want to let that ruin my happy visit with my son! I had a great hotel, great dinner, and spending time with my son was the highlight of this part of my trip. We headed back to the hotel as it was late. Our plan was to go see Mount Rushmore, just hang out, shop, and spend much needed bonding time while he was still in SD and while I was able too! I got up early, headed downstairs to the continental breakfast and found out we could take it to our room! What?!! Booyah! I made sure to get a bit more for lunch later. It was a foggy morning and I waited for Tev to come get me. We were planning to go to Mt. Rushmore. By 10am, he arrived and plans changed, his friend Danaya took us instead to Crazy Horse Monument! It was amazing too! We watched a documentary of how the monument began and why. We did a simple tour around the museum and took some quick pics. By the end, we headed back to Rapid City because Danaya had to work. I will just have to come out next time and see Mt. Rushmore then. We had lunch at a Vietnamese Restaurant called, Pacific Rim. Dropped Danaya off and took a nap before deciding to go to a few stores for some souvenirs and gifts for family back home.

 Rapid City wasn't so bad, with the exception of people looking at us, oddly for being a person of color. We did go have ice cream at a place called Armadillos and Tev even stopped by Sonic to get me a burger to try. Yum!

 On my last night in Rapid City, we went to have dinner with Danaya and her family. It was really nice. Tevin got me a Blue Hawaiian, appetizers of cheese sticks and breaded shrimp. By the time our meal came, we were full. Haha! Danaya's Mom had given me an Indian print fleece blanket and beautiful Black Hills Gold earrings! I was not expecting that. They were truly so sweet to meet and I enjoyed getting to know them and being with my son. It was a beautiful evening, but we had to get to bed for my early flight at 5am. So, we left said our goodbyes and went to bed.

 By morning, Tevin dropped me to the airport and I made it out of SD with no problems. I arrived at Denver Airport, and had to wait til' 1pm for my next flight out to Narita. I made it on First Class too, whew for the 12 hour flight! A blessing too, thank you, God. I was exhausted and by the time I was in Narita, and I had only an hour wait time before the flight into Guam. By 11pm, I was back on island Wednesday night. I had lost a day from travel. Exhausted, Tabytha picked me up from the airport and when I got back to the house. I showered unpacked and went to bed.

It was truly a rush of emotions and definitely an amazing mini vacay to see family. Now, I feel refreshed and ready to open up my shop and get back into the swing of things! It feels so good to be home...

Thank you for visiting! ~ ggsdolls