Why would anybody take a vacation to South Dakota, you ask?
Well, a lot of reasons! But after two long years, it was time to see my good friend Bailey. Bailey and I met in 2017 at Wind River Ranch. And there’s really not much that could bring a farm girl from Minnesota and a city girl from New York together other than Jesus. We became close that summer, and had many a late night talk in the laundry room of girl’s housing or Bailey’s room which was dubbed “counseling services”. It was so called because if someone ever had a problem, they could just knock and employ Denise, Liz, or Bailey to participate in such counseling services. Bailey also humorously reminded me that the name was so called as she employed many of those services herself!
So it was about time I saw her again. 2 years is just too gosh darn long to wait. So I booked a flight back in August, and come Halloween, it was time for me to go.
I wish I could say I finally had a stress free flight pattern for once in my life, and I’ve recounted enough on this blog for you guys to be informed of how much bad luck I have whilst traveling. Alas, this time was no different. As soon as my connecting flight landed in Chicago, my flight to SD was cancelled due to weather and not rescheduled until the next morning. Heck no! So I stood on the customer service line for an hour, and luckily got my flight switched to fly into Sioux Falls at the same time instead of Watertown-the last flight, I believe, into SD for Thursday. Whew! What a close one!
To kick off my time, Bailey introduced me to her Equip friends at a pumpkin painting party. Equip is a lot like Navs, but they are WAY better at doing community building stuff and just hanging out with each other than we’ll ever be.
On Friday, once we were free of the kids Bailey watches as part of her daycare business, it was time for fun! The plans for the night was the First Chance Bonanza rodeo of Brookings, then out to the edge of town for swing dancing, both of which with some of the Equip friends. Swing dancing was such a blast! I wish so bad it could become popular in Maine. It’s not a party scene, not a hookup scene-kids just gather and classily dance with each other in a barn! How mind boggling! I was truly afraid no one would ask me to dance. Even the Mennonites were dancing, and I would have been so embarrassed if no one asked. Thankfully, some of those South Dakota men came to my rescue! Thank you boys.💙 After dancing it was time for ice cream at the boys house, which was made at SDSU (the local college) because they have their own dairy. We can’t even get USM to put doors on all the toilet stalls, and this school has a dairy!
Saturday we drove to Bailey’s family farm in Minnesota and hung out with her family. Man, would it be awesome to grow up in a place like that. I LOVED her parents accents-literal minnesotan 100%. They were so friendly. Before dinner, we practiced roping (at which I am pretty abysmal) and some of her other family came by. After telling her grandma and aunt that I would like to be a park ranger, her grandma said I should be a sports announcer for how fast I talked. I laughed because I had wondered when someone would bring that up to me!!! Also, I got to leave with some real Midwestern strawberry jelly which had been canned two years prior-can’t wait to try it!
On Sunday, we went to church and out to eat at Culver’s, which I hadn’t had since we came back from the Cheyenne rodeo while I was still on staff at Wind River. Culver’s is another thing I wish we could bring east. It was great hanging out with the group one more time, and it was sad to say goodbye, even though I had just met them. Katie and I joked when she was driving me back to the airport today that I could send everybody seafood as a treat with my tax return, since they so rarely, if ever, eat seafood, whereas in Maine it’s so common and easy to get. Then it was bible study Sunday night, and then it was time to leave Monday morning.
Some of the Equip lunch crew at Culvers minus Abe and Adam-Abe rides his bike everywhere so he came a little later! I appreciate your eco-friendliness Abe!
So now I sit in the Chicago airport as the sun sets, reflecting on my first time in the Midwest. Everything is so different. Bailey kept telling me all weekend, “slow down, just rest, etc.” It really is their culture not to rush and to just be with people. Even though I don’t drink it, I feel like I constantly have coffee running through my veins. Something must be done, I have to be doing something, or else I am being unproductive and useless. This weekend was a nice getaway from that, and I saw that people really can live without rushing into the ground. Bailey fed me and did all the dishes, which was a welcome change since usually I’m the one in her shoes. Three meals a day, I might add, which I am by no means used to eating. Usually it will be around 1.5-2 meals a day, so all this eating was a YOLO thing for me. I am boarding my plane, which is Portland bound, refreshed a little and excited to jump back in.
Anyone I met this weekend (including you, Bailey, even though I know your scared of flying) is always welcome in the Northeast and I will personally show you around. Maybe someday I’ll be able to see all the states in the U.S. and experience even more cultures. Or maybe just hop back on a plane to Brookings and see my good friend again.
~J
“When you see someone putting on their big boots, you can be pretty sure an adventure is coming soon.”
Water from the Rock 