Cedar Pass Campground, Interior, South Dakota
Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her. ~ Genesis 29:19-20 Wow! Now that’s a love statement! As I said before, seven years is a long engagement, especially back then. I mean, look at how quickly Rebekah was married off to Isaac. The longest portion of their engagement was the trip from her home to his. It also seems like a long time because unless Rachel was a mere child when Jacob met her, you’re delaying childbearing years.
Sunday was a day of rest. For some reason, I was really sore. Normally, if I do at all, my body aches when we get home from a long hiking day, I rest at night and in the morning (sometimes after a bit of moving around to loosen up), I’m rarin’ to go once again. But this time was just the opposite. I was fine when I went to bed, and woke up struggling to move. I’m certain it was descending that ladder, because nothing else we did should’ve produced that kind of hurt. We listened to recorded messages from our church back home, and then went for a walk. It didn’t help my painful muscles, but at least we got out before it got so hot we couldn’t.
That’s right folks. The forecast for the next few days isn’t great. By 11:00am it was already 89⁰. And it’s supposed to get even hotter – for the next few days. Ugh! Yes, for those of you in places where humidity is a factor, the humidity is on the lower side, but truthfully, how long can you stand inside a hot oven? We may be sequestered quite a bit until Thursday, but at least the Park has great electric service, so we can run the air as much as we want. Praise the Lord for small favors!
Monday included a scenic drive through the Park, and a visit to the town of Wall. Monday also brought with it, lots of smoke, making the views difficult.
This was outside our bathroom window when we got up this morning. : )
We went to Wall for two reasons: we needed to pick up mail from the post office, and we wanted to check out the infamous Wall Drug Store.
Normally the drive from here to Wall is only about 25 miles and 30 minutes; but since we were taking the scenic route through the National Park, it was quite a bit farther and much longer. There were several viewpoints – a few of which we skipped for one reason or another. Most of the time it was because the smoke marred the view. We’ll return on a clear day. 😊
It’s kinda like looking for Waldo, isn’t it? : )
We just thought it was a really cute picture!
Rather than taking the paved road, we went a few miles down the dirt and gravel road to see what we could see. All together today, besides the stunning scenery, we got peeks at a coyote running across the road in front of us, several types of birds, tons of prairie dogs, buffalo, bighorn sheep, deer, and bunnies.
I don’t know why it’s called that, but there were dogs on either side of the road,
and they didn’t seem to mind the traffic as they ran across or sat in the road.
We also took a spur to a primitive campground out in the middle of nowhere. What a great place to camp! Very tame prairie dogs were everywhere, and there were also a couple of buffalo close by, and I’ll bet the night sky is phenomenal out here! Places like this make us wish we had a small trailer so we could boondock for a night or two.
Too bad the road’s on the wrong side! But it was still beautiful to see!
The drug store is the town’s main claim to fame. How many towns can say that? And it all started with free ice water. Yep. That’s right. Ice water. We picked up a brochure inside the store, and I took pictures of part of it, so you can read the story if you’re interested. It’s actually a great story of faith that appeared in Guideposts magazine in 1982, I think.
There wasn’t much opportunity for pictures inside, because there were signs up everywhere not to take pictures of certain things – namely all the artwork. There are over 300 paintings hanging! I must say, this place is just very unique. There are kitschy things for viewing and purchasing. There’s artwork to view and purchase. There’s hallway after hallway of things to look at and explore. They have all manner of things for sale – including food. And with all that, I still didn’t find what I’m looking for. ☹
Right across the street from Wall Drug.
Actually, it’s across from a parking lot.
The entire street is a parking lot!
And I took a picture because it mentions Cleveland, Ohio. : )
It’s not for show, it’s a real chapel provided for travelers.
You can sit on it and get your picture taken by a family member if you want.
I couldn’t talk Blaine into it. : )
They were playing music.
The song was “Deliverance”, and the faster the song went, the faster the water went. lol
but thought I’d leave it like this so you can see how close together all the historical pictures are. So many!!
In the meantime, he slowly wags his head from side to side.
But it was a very fun place, and their infamous donuts were fantastic! We saw the free ice water (given away for the past 85 years), but we didn’t need any. 😊
We both had chocolate. Fantastic!!
A short walk around town, and a stop in at the only grocery store around, and we headed back home. Quickly, because we were now hauling milk and produce.
On the way home – the fastest way possible. 
At home, we’re prepare to hunker down for a bit because of the heat the next day or two. Tomorrow for certain! Below is the information on Wall Drug I mentioned.
