Memorial Lake

Memorial Lake is part of Memorial Park near down town Rapid City. I had the chance to take a walk around the lake one afternoon this week and here is what I saw. In case you are wondering, the building in the background of the first photo is our civic center.

Weekend Reflection Submission

To see more of this beautiful flower click here.

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Jame's Weekend Reflection

And

Memphis Bob

While strolling down main street in Rapid City, the other day I was delighted by this sound.

As I approached the corner I saw the source of the beautiful sound. Of course I had to sit and listen for a spell as Memphis Bob played one great tune after another. Bob is very talented  and easily traversed genres, covering pop, rock and of course some good old blues.

Taking a short break from playing his harmonica Bob told me about his most hart warming experience.  He explained that at noon each day he always plays 'I'll be home for Christmas'. On that particularly slow day the streets were pretty deserted. As he was playing his noon song two young boys walked past and the younger one turned around and ran back and put a twenty dollar bill in his tip can. The other boy said to the younger one 'You know you won't get any more money for a while' and the younger boy replied 'I know, but I just love that song!'

I hope you have enjoyed your virtual visit to my city. If you would like to travel more or maybe join in and share your city click on the Sundays in my City button.

On The Edge Of The Prairie

The prairie has a great deal of beauty to offer and some of that beauty comes from the culture and artistic talents of the Native American people who call the prairie home. Located on the edge of the prairie and the Black Hills, Rapid City hosts a great deal of shops containing Native American artwork. I visited one such shop down town called Prairie Edge.

Here is just a sample of what I found.

This hand carved and stained furniture is absolutely amazing but way out of my budget. My favorite is this four season table that sells for $14,590.00.

After checking out the handcrafted furniture Art, I headed upstairs to the book room and art gallery. As you can see by this next photo the store is pretty large. This is only about one fourth of the store.

To me the most amazing of all the artwork was the cast paper sculptures. 

Source

Thank you for visiting South Dakota Photo. I hope you have enjoyed this peak inside the Prairie Edge, and will stop by again. To continue your virtual travels just click on the button and visit the other cities contributing to Sunday In My City, and have a great weekend!

Spring Storms

One thing you can count on living in South Dakota is early spring snow storms. They will happen. It may be a light dusting of snow and then again it may be a blizzard, or anywhere in between. But you will have snow in spring!

Wednesday was no exception, the snow fell thick and heavy in Rapid City for most of the morning. By mid afternoon everything was covered with a nice five and a half inches of snow.

 While this made for some messy roads it was sure pretty.

Cotton Candy Clouds

This photo was taken with my cell phone in the early evening hours on Monday. It really doesn't do the scene justice as the lighter clouds had the appearance of cotton candy being pulled away from the dark main clouds.

Rapid City: Strings In Concert

This last Saturday we were treated to a wonderful performance by some very talented children. The orchestra classes for all Rapid City School's joined together to present  Strings in Concert. The concert was held at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center Theater.

Over 900 children in all, from the 4th through the 8th grade preformed in the concert. This next photo is of the 300+ fourth graders during the concert.

My lovely granddaughter was among the 4th graders.

Of course this called for a little celebration. We weren't going to let a little freezing rain spoil the day.

That was Saturday in our city. 

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Call of the Wild

Not far from where I live in Rapid City is the Call of the Wild free museum and tourist information center. It is located just off Interstate 90 and perfectly located for travelers headed to see Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park.

I finally got a chance to spend a little time photographing some of the beautiful animals they have on display. Here are some of my favorite shots. I do like that many of the animals have been posed as if in action.

I was really drawn to how alive the animals eyes looked. I even shared a couple extreme eye close ups Here. It may be small as museums go, but it certainly has a good selection of wildlife and is worth a stop if you are in the area.

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South Dakota Skies

The top photo was taken from the middle of our driveway. The second photo was taken just minutes later from inside our garage. Talk about a quick moving wall cloud!

Linking up with Sky Watch Friday.

Cowboy Country

You know you live in cowboy country when they announce over the loud speaker at Wal-Mart "We have Rodeo star so-n-so and rodeo queen so-n-so here signing autographs..."

And where better to put the Rodeo stars table than right next to this ...

Happy Hump Day Everyone!

Rapid City: West Blvd Historic District

One chilly morning, this last week, on my way to an appointment I happened to find myself going through the West Blvd Historic District in down town Rapid City.

I can just imagine how regal this neighborhood once appeared with it's wide parkways and divided boulevard. I really need to explore this neighborhood more.

Although Purple is my favorite color I don't generally think it looks good as an exterior color for a home. However, this time it most definitely worked in my opinion.

Although most of the homes along this section of the neighborhood seemed rather small there was still a great deal of charm.

 As I ventured down the block, my excitement began to rise as the homes got a bit larger. Okay, so I am a sucker for big old houses with wrap around porches.

Oh and can we say bay window? A wrap around porch and a beautiful bay window, two of my biggest architectural weaknesses.

This one even had a cute side gate. I was so drawn to the side of the home I didn't even take a shot of the front. LOL

Just one block from where I started we have a view of the business district down town. 

Next time I will spend more time and check out more of the historical buildings. For now I wish you all a wonderful week.

For more virtual travel be sure to hop over and play along with the others at Unknown Mami's Sunday In My City.