College Visit and Snowmobiling

It is amazing to me that Jake is old enough to begin 'shopping' colleges. I still see him as a 10 year old and can't believe we will be cutting him loose in a little over a year.

This morning after a quick breakfast and getting Ian off with Mandee's crew to the slopes Deb, Jake, and I made a visit to Black Hills State University in Spearfish. This is on Jake's 'short list' as they have a solid pre-med program and a solid Cross Country team (NAIA) along it being close to g-pa and g-ma Appleby. First was the campus tour, then the Admissions spiel, then Financial Aide (apparently I am not part of the group Obama wants to help, imagine that), then a good visit with the track coach (xc coach was out of town). Jake seemed to like everything, but since this is the first of a handful of visits to various colleges he had nothing with which to compare. Both Deb and I liked what we saw and the folks with whom we interacted. One down...

For lunch we met Jim and Linda at Sanfords to get some of the best burgers (this time I got the 'Pants on Fire' - good choice) I have ever had.

After chow it was back up the hill and on the snowmobiles for Jim, Jake, and I. We had a good time flying all over the hill (even with Jake burying his).

Got home in time to eat on some of Jim's grilled steaks - the best! The rest of the evening is going to be pretty easy going with maybe some cards.

We are heading back southeast tomorrow mid-morning and hoping for better driving conditions then what brought us here. Sad to see this adventure come to a close...