A Broken New Years Resolution and the Photos to Explain It.

So I broke my New Year’s Resolution last week.   I didn’t have much choice.  Unless you count oatmeal in the microwave of the hotel lobby, I didn’t have the opportunity to cook while on the road for work last week.  And unfortunately I don’t think that “pour into a bowl, add two-thirds of a cup of water and microwave on high for two minutes” counts as a new recipe.  So the Resolution has been broken, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t keep cooking a new recipe a week, when humanly possible.

Here’s proof that I was on the road, and a few pictures for your enjoyment.   We started off in Sioux Falls.  This is a photo of the Falls, taken during my very foggy morning run on day one.

The back exit of our hotel room opens directly onto miles and miles of beautiful bike paths.  The run that first day was beautiful enough that I impulsively signed up for a half marathon in… let’s see, about two and a half weeks.  Did I mention I’ve only been running 6 miles?Our next stop was Vermillion, home to the University of South Dakota.  I took a running tour of campus before our morning meetings.After wrapping up our meetings, Carrie and I headed West to Rapid City.  After a long day of driving, we felt we’d earned an amazing dessert from the Alpine Inn in Hill City.  My favorite, undoubtedly, is the massive bread pudding a la mode.

Early the next morning I met up with Sarah for a day of meetings on the Cheyenne River Reservation.  Wind warnings were in effect for North Central South Dakota, which made for an adventurous drive.  I saw a good bit of the state last August and covered a lot of the tourist sites, thanks in part to Hurricane Irene canceling my flight home.  The North Central part of the state, however, was all new ground.

We ended our day in Mobridge.  At about 8:00pm, we wandered downtown for dinner.  However all of the restaurants were closed.  Although we ended up back at the sports bar of the Wrangler Inn, it was a pretty walk.

The next morning, I found a beautiful running path right along the river.  Unfortunately I didn’t realize that the path didn’t loop back the way I expected.  I had to retrace my path, confusing these poor cows as to why I kept running by them, and making for a rushed morning and sore legs.

After finishing up our meeting in Mobridge and Standing Rock, I headed back east to Aberdeen.  Friday night, Tonya took me to the Brown County Fair.  Not only did I check “fair” off my (every) Summer Bucket List, but I the fried cookie dough may have changed my life (likely for the shorter).

In route back to Sioux Falls, I stop in Brookings to meet up with Josh and check out the Beer and Wing Festival.  I sampled a few interesting brews, including this Canyon Cream Ale, made in Spearfish.  After tasting wings from six different restaurants, we cast our ballot for ‘best wings of the day’, agreeing that the Garlic Parmesan from the Ground Round won the competition. While touring SDSU, I enjoyed a cone of cookies and cream ice cream from the Dairy Bar.  The ice cream (and all of the products from the Dairy Bar) are processed by students at SDSU at the Dairy Plant just across campus.  Legend has it that cookies and cream ice cream was invented at the SDSU Dairy Plant, so I had to try it.Back in Sioux Falls, enjoying a sunny Sunday picnic. 

Johanna