July 6th.

     My oldest daughter's favorite holiday is the fourth of July.  I'm not sure why.  It could be the city fireworks display, the late bedtime, the middle of summer freedom from school, the buying and prep time of lighting our own fireworks with her Dad. 

    This year in Sturgis, there was a ban on fireworks because of our extremely dry weather.  We've already had two fires in the last month that decimated over 14,000 acres of beautiful forest and ranch land.  So my Patriotic Beauty had to be content with a short program the city put on, complete with the full attention of the fire department.  To add insult to injury, the city decided to have their program on the 2nd. 

    Now, I didn't think much of it, but my girls were thoroughly confused.  

     We decided to distract them on the 4th with a movie in Rapid City.  We figured a little bit of screen time would heal our daughters' wounded souls.  We could have gone to Lead, SD  to see their fireworks display.  And we seriously considered it.  But we knew there would be a huge crowd to see the explosions being lit from the bottom of the Open Cut Gold Mine.

Credit:  Chris Huber via AP

     The movie was great.  The girls were appeased.  They were also delighted to see some sparkling fireworks going off on our way home, as the 25 miles between Rapid City and Sturgis often provides striking weather differences.  There were no bans in the area we drove through because of some rain that had kept that area wetter.  It felt like a win-win situation.  And it was.  

 

     And then I saw some beautiful pictures from the City of Lead's program.  And it made me rethink the crowds...

For as long as I have lived here, I never get tired of the beauty of Western South Dakota.  And this July 4th, I have to agree with my daughter-this holiday is one of the best.