Things seem to be looking up! The rain is gone after several days of cloudy/rainy weather. The sun is out and it is beautiful with the forcast mostly sunny for the next week. We were warned before we came of hot, dry weather but so far we have used heat most nights and many days and only run the air conditioner two days. It has been an unusually wet and cool spring here but it is beautiful as a result with lots of wild flowers.
One of the more interesting places we have visited thus far has been Rapid City. It has a population of about 70k but is very much the small town atmosphere and people seem friendly. The town has a lot of character with one of the more unique things being that they have a sculpture on nearly every street corner of the downtown area. All 43 past presidents are there on one corner or another and there are also corners with Native American leaders as well. If this was done to encourage folks to walk areound the city, it has been very successful as we have covered about half of them so far with intention of continuing to do this until we have visited them all. In the process we see many other visitors also walking the streets and taking pictures of the statues as well. Each one has been sponsored by a local business or civic organaziation. They really add a lot of character to the city.
Another stop that we made while there was to visit the "Chapel in the Hills." It is an exact replica of a Lutheran church in Norway built in 1150. This one was built from architecural drawings of the original and supplied by the Norwegian government. It doesn't take long to see, but it is a stop not to be missed if you visit Rapid City!