Day Six South Dakota - July 18, 2009

We began our journey back home today. We finished up our eggs and bacon, as well as a hodge podge of other foods I didn't want to haul back with us. While we packed up, the kids played at the basketball court and on the playground and we pulled out of the resort by 9:30 am.

Our first stop was Wall Drug, once again. Matthew had only $4.00 left of his allowed amount, but Gabriella has $27 and was pretty set on a tank top she had seen there. We wandered all over, while Sebastian once again got his five cent coffee. He finally found us and remembered exactly where the shirt was at and took Gabriella while Matthew hunted for something that he liked that was $4 or less. He finally stumbled upon a plastic Archaeopteryx, which was $10. I agreed, stating that he owed me $6 and his future allowances would go to paying me.

Sebastian also told Matthew that he would buy him something to go on the front of his new cowboy hat to help him remember the front, so a Sheriff Matthew pin was selected. Gabriella nixed the tank top and decided on a stuffed black bear.

During this visit we made our way into the backyard to see the famous T-rex (quite the disappointment when you are use to putting together dinosaur exhibits yourself) and the giant Jackalope.

After Wall Drug, we continued on to Sioux Falls, where we stayed at the Holiday Inn City Centre. We let the kids jump in the pool while Sebastian and I took turns taking real showers. The kids then showered, and we met up with Sebastian's oldest brother, sister-in-law, and niece. We ate dinner at the Phillips St. Diner, enjoying a wide variety of foods and wonderful malts.

We finished our evening with a visit to Falls Park, in hopes of watching the "lighting show". We had no idea what to expect, so when they told us it was 45 minutes long, we were a bit worried. We figured they would be lighting up the falls for 45 minutes, instead we were treated to a laser show of a very one-sided view of Sioux Falls' history. My favorite quote was , "The government was too busy being worried about the Confederacy to worry about starving Indians".

When the show finished, we found ourselves talking in the parking lot until I cut off the conversation at 11:00 pm. We made plans to meet the next morning for breakfast and headed back to the hotel to enjoy the nicest accomodations we had had all week.