Miles 1442-1725: Aberdeen, Ipswich, and Drive to Wall/Badlands
This morning in Aberdeen, we didn’t have anything until 11:30, so we were planning to go to a park, run, and maybe do go-carts or mini golf before we had to go grocery shopping. Then, Jackson slept in until 8:45 CT. So in the end, we just sat around the hotel room watching ESPN while Mom went grocery shopping. At 11:30, we met my grandmother’s cousin (my first cousin twice removed), Lyla, at her weaving classroom. She had so many looms, and thread, and everything else weaving related. I wish there was somewhere like that in Winston. I have a loom at home, and I can barely do anything with it. I can’t read any patterns, set up a loom, or do anything other than the simplest designs. We went to lunch at a place called the Flame, where I got a bleu cheese burger, which is a lot better than it sounds. We met my grandmother’s other cousin, Diane (Lyla’s older sister), at her and Lyla’s studio in Ipswich, the tiny town of 954 people where my great-grandfather grew up. Lyla had even more looms at her studio; one of them had eight harnesses, which, trust me, is humongous, and so wide. Diane and my mom talked a lot about family history, especially Uncle Lyle, Lyla and Diane’s father. Diane also showed us Pawpaw’s, my great-grandfather’s, old property and the historic library. At the library, they happened to have two extra copies of Pawpaw’s senior yearbook, and the librarian was willing to give them to Mom. Mom ran straight to the post office to send them to Pampam, her mom and my grandmother. After we left Ipswich, we began driving to Wall, South Dakota, near Badlands National Park. On the way, we drove through Pierre, the capital. It was a really beautiful spot, hidden in a little valley next to the Missouri River, but the city was really disappointing. The capitol building was undergoing construction and everything else in the town that we saw was small, grey, and boring. The hotel we’re staying at in Wall is different: you get to stay in your own miniature log cabin. When we got here, I spent probably 45 minutes in the gift shop; it was huge and had so much cool stuff. I didn’t end up getting anything but a postcard, but it was still cool. We had a home-cooked meal for the first time since we left home, and it was delicious: pasta with vodka sauce and a caesar salad. They had a fire pit that was lit, so we also did s’mores. Then we came back to relax, watch TV, and blog. I’m so excited for tomorrow: we’re going to, hopefully, hike over ten miles, as long as no one chickens out into turning back early. I have to finish packing up, so goodbye for now and miss you!!
“If you don’t know your history, you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it’s a part of a tree.”