My super romantic husband Corey surprised me
with a fifth-anniversary weekend getaway to the Black Hills (in South
Dakota). We had a fun weekend of hiking and relaxing in Deadwood (yee
haw!) and Spearfish Canyon. Extra thanks to my sister Caitlyn and her husband Chaz for taking good care of Kya while we were away.
. . .
For the past two weeks, I knew we were going "away" for the weekend (and Kya was not joining us) but I had absolutely no clue where we were going. Corey gave me a few more hints the day before we left that included instructions to bring clothing for hiking and chilly weather and a nice outfit for dinner out.
We headed west on Friday, early afternoon. I didn't know where we were going until we arrived at the Lodge. This was such a fun and special surprise!
The trip was made even more fun with a emergency visit to the locksmith in Dickinson (100 miles into our journey) because Corey left this gas tank key at home. We were thankful we realized this while near a town and not during the 200 miles of barren nothingness in South Dakota. It was a quick fix ... and while that was happening, I got to pay a quick visit to
MoeMoe's Garden (my #1 Bison Booties retailer). The visit was very overdue and I was super excited to have a good excuse to visit the store - it's amazing!
After about 5 1/2 hours of driving, we arrived at
Spearfish Canyon Lodge - it was very dark nighttime even thought it was only about 6 pm (this photo was taken the next morning). Our room's deck is the one on the second floor, left side.
We had a suite decked out with rose petals, chocolates, wine, jazz music, a fire in the fireplace, and chilled champagne. Oooh la la!
The living room area of our suite.
The view from our deck.
Saturday morning we hit the trails! All in all we hiked three short hikes for a total of about 4 miles.
The first hike we did was the '76 Trail ... it went straight up and then straight back down. It was even more difficult with packed snow and ice on the trail and something joked about - 'mud ice' - that was incredibly slippery. My lovely hiking buddy was quite a gentleman and held my hand at all the slippery spots.
We made it to the top of the canyon rim!
Spearfish Canyon ... it's older than the Grand Canyon!
The next two hikes took us to waterfalls.
(somewhere along the trail)
I love him!
We were both fascinated at the partially frozen icy waterways.
This was a nature trail that was surprisingly exciting.
This was the neatest thing! The waterfall's spray/mist froze, creating beautiful ice forms.
I really disliked crossing this bridge. I also disliked Corey lollygaging on it.
We spent the afternoon in Deadwood.
We had about four hours in town until evening mass, so after aimlessly roaming Main Street, we donated some money to the Deadwood Historical Society (tried our luck at a casino). After Mass, Corey took me out to a nice anniversary dinner at
Jakes. Corey discovered it based on online reviews and we found it amusing that the restaurant seemed to be secret ... located on the 4th floor of a small casino, with nearly no signage along the street. But wow! this was a fantastic – and romantic – meal! Upon leaving, we learned that the restaurant (and whole building) is owned by Kevin Costner. What fun!
. . .
This afternoon, we arrived back home safe and sound. I missed Kya dearly and felt a little guilty that we were hiking without her (it's one of her favorite activities). Again, many thanks to Caitlyn and Chaz for taking such great care of Miss Kya while we were away. She was happy to see us and told us all about her fun weekend with "Kiki."
I'm very blessed to have so much love in my life.
Thank you for this amazing weekend, Corey.
Happy fifth anniversary - I love you!
