Another Prayer Walk

As you go on your way, may God go with you. May He go before you to show you the way; May He go behind you to encourage you; Beside you to be your friend; Above you to watch over you; And within you to give you peace. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

 Another prayer walk at the Chapel in the Hills in Rapid City, SD. 

 

Some Enchanted Highway – Dakota Vacation blog post #4

 Driving west on I-94, a little over an hour past Bismarck, North Dakota, you’ll see this a group of geese flying over the grassland. These aren’t any geese, however, they set the Guinness World Record for largest scrap metal sculpture. 

And they are only the beginning, if you take exit 74 south, through Gladstone and all the way to Regent, this is what you’ll discover. 

Deer Crossing 

Tin Family 

Teddy Roosevelt Rides Again 

Pheasants on the Prairie 

Sir Albert slaying the dragon, just outside the doors of the Enchanted Castle 

Fisherman's Dream 

One of my favorites on the highway, but very busy 

Grasshoppers

This one was my favorite. Easy to touch and interact with and full of photo oppurtunities

From the Enchanted Highway website: Local artist Gary Greff conceived of the project and began building it in 1989, and continues to maintain the sculptures. He took inspiration from local wildlife and historical figures, including Theodore Roosevelt. Greff’s intention was to revive his hometown of Regent, after decades of population and economy decline.

Two Roadside Behemoths – Dakota Vacation Blog post #3

          The second day of our road trip to the Dakotas, we wanted to get an early start. We had four hundred miles to cover that day and a whole long list of things I wanted to see.

          But stopping at 7:30 in the morning to see the World’s Largest Buffalo Monument, means you’re gonna have the rising sun in the way. 

           Though he was built in Jamestown, North Dakota, in 1959, he only received his name – Dakota Thunder – in 2010.  

        And what huge bison would be standing out in the middle of nowhere without having a museum within sight.   

Which was of course closed due to the early morning.   

       And the frontier village. There was one of these in probably 75% of the towns we drove past on the freeway. 

Down Interstate 94 from Jamestown some 130 miles is New Salem.

  And Salem Sue, the largest statue of a Holstein cow in the world.

The brochure we picked up told the story of how she came to be.

          But the thing that bugged this Dairy State native is that I didn’t see a single Holstein in the entire state of North Dakota. All I saw were herds of beef cattle.

  

         So, as amazing as Salem Sue was, I left her hillside shaking my head in confusion. 

          Here’s the facts about these two behemoths.  

 Dakota Thunder – 60 tons         Salem Sue – 6 tons

                    26 feet tall                       38 feet tall

                    Built in 1959                   Built in 1974

                    Made of concrete             Made of fiberglass

God hears our prayers

 

And just as it looks like this bunny hears your voice . . .

 . . . God hears your voice raised in prayer. 

These pictures (even the bunny!) were all taken along the prayer walk at the Chapel in the Hills in Rapid City, South Dakota, where we went to the Saturday night service two weeks ago. 

God is good. He hears our every prayer. 

Blowing Along the Freeway - Dakota Vacation Blog Post 2

        Maybe everyone has this goal on vacation – to take a picture of each “Welcome to our state” sign as they pass into the next state. I was shooting for that, except that we were on a two-lane state highway when we passed into Minnesota. So, all I got was the “Welcome to Taylor Falls” sign.

        Shortly after that, we had our first live wildlife sighting. We had lost count of how many lifeless white-tail deer we had seen on the side of the road. It was pretty remarkable, and not to jump forward, but we didn’t see any road kill after we got through Wisconsin and Minnesota.

        Anyway, we did see a muskrat trucking along the side of the road, but he was moving fast, and I didn’t get a picture. You’ll have to believe me. Besides keeping track of those “Welcome” signs, we kept track of all the wildlife we saw.  

        But back on the road that first day of vacation.  

        We were impressed by the unexpected beauty along the freeway in North Dakota. We had anticipated it to be flat, brown, and barren, like South Dakota, but it was a pleasant surprise. Those pictures will be coming to my blog another day.   

        As we crossed through the state, the truly remarkable thing was the relentless wind. It started blowing mid-afternoon, and at times, it kicked up mini dust storms.  

        Then suddenly, we’d have twenty or so drops of rain, like the wind was blowing precipitation right out of non-rain clouds.

        The only scary incident was when a gust of wind caught a semi we were passing. It blew momentarily into our lane, but Hubby was able to avoid a collision.

        When we arrived at our hotel in Jamestown, we realized just how bad the wind was as we made our way from the car to the lobby door. Had either of us been wearing our superhero capes, we would have been blown to Oz.