South Dakota in January

What a blast I had in South Dakota! Literally an artic blast of cold air…. :-) Actually, I brought them 30-40 degree weather and kicked me on my butt on last day it was -27. See the tempurature in the mirror pics. I learned that I really liked slushy cold Coca-Cola for breakfast as I left a Coke in the car over night. If I was unable to see you on this very short trip back, I am sorry. It was filled to the gills. I’m writing this on the airplane ride home, and I can’t wait to get back to the ocean and the heat. 75 and sunny today. The trip became much better after finally actually making it to Sioux Falls, having to sleep in Cincinati Thursday night and loosing my luggage for 3 days. I arrived to work 10 minutes before the start of a meeting I was wanting to attend. It was great to see everybody at work. I would have liked to have spent more time with you but I had work to do. ;-) I was able to visit and stay with my friend Karen Friday night and enjoyed a great meal at Johnny Carinos. Saturday found me scrapbooking, shopping and getting ready for the Parrot Head party (the reason I came back to the artic tundra on my own dime!). It was great to get together with friends for supper at the Castaways Grill and then it was a super blast to be able to attend the 3rd annual Parrot Heads winter party! It looked like over 200 people in there. My visit was a true surprise. I think thhey want me to come back next year. I think I’ll surprise them by skipping a year. ;-) A good time was had by all. Since I went to bed at 3am it was nice to stay at the hotel. Sunday morning brought me 3 hours of sleep and early service at church. It was also great to get to visit with everybody on Sunday and I had a great steak dinner with my friends Sunday night. Monday was back to “work” and a fantastic time visiting friends all night, although stuffed from buffet at pizza ranch during lunch followed by dinner at Braco’s and a late but fantastic night of playing Wii with my friend. I don’t think I went to bed before 1am any night that I was in town. Tuesday morning brought me -27 degree wind chill artic air and I was happy to return the rental car and get out of town. My fingers still hurt from being cold as I type. See you guys next time in the “summer”. If I didn't get a chance to see you this trip, sorry. I didn't want to drive out of town much, so I mostly saw my city friends and went to work carefully.