Sadly, today is the last day of this years' Girls Weekend. We both always hate to see this day come because we always enjoy one another's company so very much and we treasure the time that we have together. Our original plan for today was to get all packed up and load the car, then go an walk around a bit in downtown Rapid City, but with weather has changed drastically!! That winter storm that I spoke of yesterday is definitely on its way here. When we left the house the temperature was in the 30's and the wind was blowing bitterly cold. We weren't really dressed appropriately to walk around outside in that kind of weather, so we, instead, checked out the lobby of the historic Hotel Alex Johnson (which was beautiful) and got a coffee at the Starbucks that was there. There was a nice fire going in the lobby fireplace with some comfy chairs in front of it, so we sat there and drank our coffee to soak up the last minutes of Girls Weekend. Ironically, there was a newspaper sitting on the table in front of us with a headline about the winter storm expected later in the day that included 6-11 inches of snow!! What the heck?? Just yesterday it was 77
We finished our coffees and started on our way to the airport. Kathi and I were actually on the same flight out of Rapid City to Denver, which very seldomly happens. While turning in the keys to the rental car, we ran into a very nice family who were just arriving for a week's vacation here in Rapid City (yikes! the weather!) and we gave them our park passes to both the Badlands and Custer State Park, since both had 5 days left on them and we hated to see them go to waste.
The flight to Denver went smoothly and the temperature there when we got off the plane was 72! Soooo much nicer!
We were flying United and I have been a Mileage Plus member for years and every year I get 2 free one day passes to a United Club Lounge. I have only the opportunity to take advantage of it once in all the years that it has been available to me. As Kathi and I were walking toward our gates in Denver (both were on the same concourse), I noticed the sign for the United Club Lounge. I managed to find my passes on my phone and Kathi and I made our way to the lounge. If you have never had the opportunity to visit one of these lounges, you are missing out on a nice experience. There is a bar where the drinks are free and they provide snacks and food. It is quiet and has comfortable chairs. You just have to be mindful of the time because you can't hear any of the gate announcements. Kathi only had about 30 minutes to spend there before she needed to go to her gate for boarding. I still had about an hour before I needed to leave. As I was sitting there looking out the window I noticed that the sky looked really strange. I wish I had taken a picture but, unfortunately, I didn't. A BIG dust storm blew in from the west. It lasted about 20 minutes and then it was over, but it was a bizarre thing to watch. Kathi was texting me from her gate to see if I was seeing what she was seeing. It freaked us both out a bit and we were both happy that it was over before our planes left.
We each boarded our planes for the final leg of our journey home, sad that it is over but thankful for the beautiful weather we had while in South Dakota and for the time we got to spend together.
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