Traveling through a Winter Wonderland ~ Photos to & from South Dakota

Hello dear friends! Our daughter came up for an early Thanksgiving visit, then on the Saturday right after, Mr. Ethereal and I drove north to visit our son and grandson for a belated Thanksgiving. Here are some photos we took as we motored northward…

Southhaven, Kansas just over the border with Oklahoma ~ We stopped for the evening in Wichita, which seems to be our modus operandi anymore. I can only drive about 400 miles before I am “done.” 😉

Somewhere around Wellington, Kansas ~ Lovely long shadows with night coming on. We drove into the cloud cover above and temps got a lot colder! We were leaving 70 degrees in North Texas, though that was about to change. We came home from 18 deg. in South Dakota to nights in the 30’s now pretty regularly here in Denton County, Texas.

“Barb, you’re going to want to see this sunset! Bring your phone (camera).” Charles rallied me from the sofa and my weariness after Saturday’s long, seven-hour+ drive. Going to eat shortly thereafter also helped. ;)’ Recharged on hotdogs and Pepsi, we ended our visit to the local Costco seeing what they had for sale and having picked up a few snacks for the road… We love stopping at places along the way because each region sells different things. (***Still bummed that our son talked me out of a pair of snow pants from the Sioux Falls Costco. 🙁 )

Leaving the next morning from our hotel in Wichita, we pressed onward and upward. I always forget how much elevation we gain traveling north from Texas. Cold wind blew pretty steadily throughout the drive. It was another 8 hour travel day but very pretty.

Happily my phone tracks where we are, so this was crossing a river near Topeka, Kansas. The mighty Missouri, possibly?? Makes me think of pioneers fording these rivers and how they could even attempt that safely. Amazing!

Sabetha ~ Also in Kansas, but close to the Nebraska border, is this prairie town. We made it to the snow!

Loved the light dusting of snow in Dawson County, southern Nebraska.

Isn’t the architecture of leafless trees amazing against the brightness of freshly fallen snow? I love the dark against the light. This is where I wished that I had brought my Canon camera and had more than just my old iPhone… 🙂

Probably the prettiest photograph taken as we rolled northward. I love the farms and homes dotting the countryside tucked amongst the trees!

And another favorite photograph! I remember when we drove through the midwest taking our son to the University of South Dakota, Vermillion in early August 2012. It was the first time we had seen rolled hay bales.

In California, we were used to seeing the smaller rectangular bales and those were easily stacked up in hay barns or along hedgerows and fields all over the state. In the midwest, rolled hay seems to be the norm and I enjoy seeing how each farmer stages his or hers.

Sooooo pretty!

Charles took this photograph ~ Love the barns!!! Such a beautiful day… Part of Stella, Nebraska, a community named after the original settler’s daughter Stella (per Google AI).

We arrived in Sioux Falls around 2pm on Sunday, November 30th, and checked into our hotel for the week. This was our view out outside facing west. It had snowed a couple of days before.

We woke up to freshly fallen snow the next morning ~ a view from our first room. Love those trees!!!

Our second morning at breakfast ~ My table this morning faced eastward capturing a beautiful sunrise…

“And our flag was still there…” played in my head as I sipped a hot cup of tea making me almost cry. When I get teary after long drives, that’s how I know nowadays that I am really, really tired. 😉

Another morning shot, perhaps the next day. Our Dodge Ram truck looks just like this one parked below. We used our 4WD really for the first time ever during this trip. No issues.

I turned left at a stop light as it changed to green and began to skid. I turned towards the skid, like we’ve all been trained to do, and the truck immediately corrected itself. Glad we bought a truck with 4-wheel drive capability! Drove in 4WD high-mode until we got back into Nebraska this past Monday morning. 🙂

Another view out this stairwell window (from the second floor landing). I think this is the day I was going up and down doing laundry.

One morning, maybe last Friday? Thursday?? it got really cold!!!! Charles and I were sitting there shivering with our hands between our knees as the truck warmed up. He programmed where we were heading into the navigation and we enjoyed the eventual heat of the seat heaters coming on.

Oh, and the steering wheel heats up, too! A miracle of modern technology NOT lost on me!!

Around Sioux Falls ~ trying to capture the neutral colors I love with the white snow against the golden browns and deep browns of the bushes and trees.

One last photograph of snow as we rounded a corner driving to meet our son for lunch. This must have been on Thursday or Friday, December 4th or 5th. Funny how the days blur together after awhile. 😉

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My heart is full…

This year, I have had a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit, for some reason. However, with this trip up north to visit family, and just getting to see snow everywhere, along with beautiful Christmas lights on houses flanked by fresh, soft, white powder changed my weary, unfilled Christmas heart!

I hope you have enjoyed this late fall/early winter photo retrospective as we travelled through six states twice in 10 days. We had such a lovely trip and I will be sharing more in a couple of days for the beginning of a new series here on the blog ~

French Ethereal’s 12 Days of Christmas!

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Happy Christmas time, y’all,