DAY THREE - Sunday, March 27
Although we planned to make our Sunday “free day” a trip to Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument, the snow made the roads a little precarious, so we decided it was a no go. Instead, we decided to spend the day exploring the South Dakota state capitol – Pierre! (Mystery of the trip: is it pronounced Pierre like the French name, or Pier like by the ocean? The locals in one of the gas stations thought it was the latter.) And the adventures commenced! Well, we drove into town and realized that nothing was open. Why? It’s Sunday. The Pawn Shop wasn’t even open. We talked to a guy in the hobby shop (which was the only store open) who suggested we check out the dam.
The dam was one of the coolest things we’ve found in South Dakota so far. There were just piles and piles of rocks leading down to the shores of Lake Oahe. Everything was misty and gray, and we all basically hop-scotched down the rocks to get to the water. Then we took pictures like tourists and ran back to the van because our faces were getting wind-burned.
Then we had a bit of a mischievous adventure: we turned the state capitol building into our personal playground. Sliding down the banisters, playing the piano, imitating statues, crashing the Senate and House galleries, exploring the fancy bathrooms – we did it all and we didn’t get caught because the building was more or less vacant. Also, on our self-guided pamphlet tour, we learned that Pierre was chosen as the state capitol because it is in the middle of the state. You can’t argue with that logic.
We had quite a bit of time to kill for the rest of the day, so we decided to take in a movie: “The Adjustment Bureau.” There were mixed opinions about the film, particularly regarding how Matt Damon looked in a fedora.
Back at the house, we all worked as a team to make breakfast for dinner – BRINNER! Basically, the most delicious meal in the world. Special thanks to Angela for the yummy hashbrowns, and to Luke for the buttery pancakes, which were only occasionally misshaped.
That was about it for the day. We went to bed early and prepared for our real work to start the next morning.
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