8th August - Dinosaurs and a Norwegian Church

Today we spend some time in Rapid City. First we went to a dinosaur 'museum'. It was a bit underwhelming I have to say. There were about 6 models of different dinosaurs. So after 5 minutes that was done.

After that we went to Rushmore mall and we were quite surprised by how few people were there. In Sears we chatted to a staff member and she didn't think it was unusally quite. She did say that some people may stay away while the Sturgis motorcycle rally was on. Next week will be busier when parents will come to buy stuff for back to school.

We had a cup of coffee from Starbucks (the only place that sold coffee in the mall) and a (what we think it was) junior cheerleaders group was there. Not sure if they were going to do a show, they just kept practicing different moves, Maybe they train at the mall.

We then decided to go the the "Chapel in the Hills", which is a replica of an 800 year old Norwegian church. We didn't have a map with us but I vagely remembered that is was off State 44. We stopped after a few minutes and Grant googled it while I went into a Motel to ask. It was a young girl on duty and she had no idea. She said there are so many churches....

Anyway, Grant found it and plugged the info into the phone and off we went. The phone was almost out of power so we were hoping like made that we would get there before the phone died, and we did. 

It was worth the trip. It was really beautiful. The 2 ladies that worked there told us that it is a popular place to get married at. It would be a very intimate wedding though. The Chapel is not very large. 

While we were in the Chapel a tape was going telling the story of the Chapel and it ended with a song. The tune is French and the words that Grant was singing is:

"How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in the believers ear.

It sooths his sorrows, heals his wounds and drives away his fears"

At the Chapel there is a cottage that a Norwegian man built during the gold rush and it was filled with furniture and other stuff that people from Norway and Sweden had brought with them when they immigrated to USA.

I have to mention that I have been really impressed with Grant's driving. Apart from the first drive here I have felt relaxed and safe. So, well done Grant! You're great!!!

Well tomorrow we head back to Sioux Falls and then onto Michigan on Monday. It has been great being here but we now look forward to the next part of our trip. Not sure there will be anything to blog about tomorrow, so the next time might be from Michigan.