Do you have a month that’s hard for you? I used to think it was just me but as I’ve started sharing this with others I’ve found others have their month too!
For me, it’s January. January gets me down. I used to think it was because of the insane basketball schedule in January but then we had a couple of years with no basketball and I still struggled. It’s like I go stir crazy. I just gotta get out of town. Even if we traveled extensively for Christmas.
This year, we were proactive and planned a trip in January. Last year, we planned a trip for April thinking it would give me something to look forward to – that DID NOT work. I still went bonkers. Must leave town in January.
We went up the road a few hours to Sioux Falls, SD. I’d heard it was cute town (even if it’s the largest city in South Dakota) and I’d always wanted to see the Falls. From pictures, I knew the Falls were pretty in winter and summer so the season didn’t matter so much. We booked a hotel downtown on the river and it was amazing. If you go to Sioux Falls, book a place downtown you won’t regret it. You are within walking distance of Falls Park and Phillips Avenue which has great shopping and food. They are also working on revitalizing downtown so there were other shops and food in the area. We didn’t even get into our car until Saturday night.
I’m getting ahead of myself. We arrived about 5:00 on Friday, we had intended to be there earlier, but we left later than planned, had to stop and find me snowpants and then it was time for my Telehealth appointment with my counselor so we had to stop for that. We had tickets for snow tubing at Great Bear Ski so we checked into our hotel, changed clothes and headed out. Great Bear is only a 10-15 minute drive from downtown. I’ll be honest, I almost chickened out when I saw how steep the hill was and how high. I saw the ski school hill and thought it was a kiddie hill and really planned on staying there all night! But, alas, one hill. With four different runs so up the conveyor we went. No wearing yourself out climbing the hill – which is good because we were the oldest people on that hill! My husband loved it and I did go down more than once but it wasn’t for me. Too fast, too steep. I felt like I was terrifying myself every time I went down. After a couple of hours we headed back to town. We grabbed food at the Pita Pit and went back to the room and watched “Speed” with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. Haven’t watched that in forever!
Saturday we slept in, ate motel breakfast in our room and I did my workout and got ready. It began snowing in the night and that continued off and on throughout the day but the temperature wasn’t horrible so we layered up and headed out to the Falls. They were gorgeous. We walked all around the park for a couple of hours. Our plan of eating and warming up at the Fall’s Overlook Cafe was thwarted as they were closed for the season so we looped around the park and ended up back on Phillip’s Avenue at the Phillips Avenue Diner. Highly recommend! I had the best latte ever there as well as tomato bisque soup and a 1/2 roast beef sandwich. Philip went with the Bananas Foster and a Burger Melt. Yum! We then walked the rest of Phillips Avenue to look at the sculptures and shops. When we got back to the room we were pretty cold and sleepy so we took a nap, read, watched some TV, ordered pizza in for supper, and visited the hot tub.
I could not not see the Falls at night so I put my winter gear over my pajamas and we drove back down to the Falls – I’m so glad we did! The whole park was still decorated for Christmas and the Falls were lit too. We walked a little and then drove around to look at the lights and listen to Christmas songs. Perfect end to the day.
I’ve never been a fan of motel coffee so while I was getting ready the next morning Philip went back to the Diner to pick up a latte for me and a milkshake for him. We should’ve had brunch there as I didn’t know a very long drive to look at pickups was in my future. 🙂 We made it home in time to send our youngest off to his last semester in college and unpack. I feel like I got so relaxed I’m having a hard time getting back into work mode but it was a perfect weekend. Exactly what I needed to cure my Januaryitis.
Diffusing Hope 