South Dakota, the unboring part

We lived in South Dakota for 8 years.  When we moved there my mom said she cried all the way across the state (to the south eastern, boring side) since we were moving there from beautiful western Oregon.  I think the farmland grew on her a bit over the years but it was still pretty flat and boring.

The other side of South Dakota isn't bad though.  We went camping in the Black Hills where this lovely picture of my sister and me was taken.  The thing I remember most about that trip is the really, really cold Lake (Pactola if I remember right). It was the kind of cold that caused intense pain when you jumped into the lake.  However, that didn't stop us from swimming.  Once the first shock wore off, it  wasn't all that bad.  The best part about the Black Hills area for westerners like my parents was the actual hills, a reminder of home after months on end of nothing but flat prairie.