By Bill Exham
Looking for cooler weather, my wife, Cathy, son Rob and I took off from Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport on Sept. 7 for a long weekend in South Dakota.
We stayed at Hisega Lodge bed-andbreakfast just outside Rapid City. The inn, which dates to 1908, is nestled alongside Rapid Creek about a mile off the main road. We saw deer and a mountain lion along the road to the inn. The bubbling creek eased us to sleep at night, as did the 60-degree temperature.
Mount Rushmore was as majestic as advertised, and Custer State Park provided sightings of buffalo, pronghorn, mule deer, fat prairie dogs and curious burros trying to stick their heads in our car in search of food.
Spearfish Canyon, with its waterfalls and trees, was beautiful; the town of Deadwood, where Wild Bill Hickok is buried, had more casinos than you would ever need in a small town. The Crazy Horse Memorial, a stone sculpture that would rival Rushmore, doesn’t appear likely to be completed in the next 50 years.
Lakes abound in the area, and my son and I took some time from the sightseeing to kayak and power ski at Sheridan Lake. Cathy enjoyed the view from the marina while she caught up on some reading. Between eating buffalo, pheasant and walleye pike, we walked the monuments and enjoyed the daytime coolness. Another bucket-list trip checked off, cooler temperatures found and beautiful scenery experienced. The writer lives in Mesa.