2015 Nov 29 | Thanksgiving in South Dakota



A squirrel in front of our apartment.



Nice house up on a hill.



Like my SUV.



Google Navigation says to get off the highway for a few miles because there's a 47-minute slowdown on it.



Must have been a huge accident; I don't think I've ever seen that long of a delay over such a short distance.



Looking back after I got back on the highway; it's backed up on the other side of the highway on this side of the accident.



Must have been really big to block both sides of the highway.



Nini is going to work at an office much closer to her home, so we had a little going-away party for her and a welcoming party to Patricia.



Ogii's car at 190,000 miles.



This dryer is still broken. All it needs is a little latch but they haven't fixed it for over a week.



No barbecue corn nuts? This isn't good.



One nice thing about being up before 4am: no traffic.



We parked by the three palm trees in the airport parking lot. Full moon, too.



Not too long of a wait in security; only a few minutes.



That bathroom is definitely closed.



A guy wearing shorts and Uggs. Ugh.



Sunrise as we're on the plane waiting for takeoff.



There are two chargers for every three seats. Better get yours plugged in fast or you'll be left without.



New Stephen King book for the holidays, and it's a collection of short stories, my favorite.



Leaving LA.



Ogii playing a poker game on the in-flight entertainment system.



The buttons are tiny and right at the edge of the screen, though, making them really hard to press.



Uh oh, she's pretty short now; better go all in.



And she wins to stay in the tourney.



Three kings, pretty nice.



The game pauses when the pilot makes an announcement.



The plane was about to land so she shoved all in with whatever her next hand was, in this case J7. The opponent just happened to have AA and even caught another A.



Ogii got third place, great job!



Most of the maps of the Minneapolis terminal don't list the restaurants, which is pretty annoying.



Here's one that does. Why not make them all like this?



There are some good restaurants.



Unfortunately they're all in the upper-left gates.



And we always fly in to the bottom-left and fly out of the bottom-right, so the good restaurants are far out of the way.



Who would want to remember all of the mosquitoes in Minnesota?



Free candy from Delta.



These clouds left shadows on clouds below them.



Lots of trees around that lake.



The Bismarck airport has a river on the floor.



It looks like it's even a semi-accurate representation of the cities along the Missouri River.



A triceratops head.



Pterodactyls on the ceiling.



Monica driving home.



Passing a truck with a huge stack of bales.



Not much room.



What's that?



An even bigger vehicle on the road. Thankfully he moved over a bit so we could get around.



Frozen lake.



Frozen corner on the right, open water on the left.



Sunset.



Dirty bottom on the car from the drive.



So many snacks.



A big turkey.



Mick got a deer.



Lots of food for dinner.



Ogii wears kid's-sized boots.



Making breakfast.



Looks good!



Ogii ready for the cold.



Riding in the back of the pickup.



Walking.



And more walking.



We got a couple of birds.



Everyone gets to hodl them for a picture.



Including us.



Walking along a frozen dam.



In another field.



In the trees.



Mini cheesecakes with lunch.



Ron's new gun.



Brendan shoots it first.



It's loud.



Good shooting!



Ogii's turn.



Not bad.



And me.



All of of shots would have brought the deer down.



The train going by.



Dad driving during sunset.



Really hard to see in this picture, but we saw a couple of deer, way too far to shoot but fun to watch.



Windmill, farm, and trees.



Ogii as we go over the railroad tracks.



Dinner time!



So much good food.



Everyone ready to eat.



Ogii brought some Japanese cookies for dessert.



Everyone opening presents.



Mel pushing Bruce around in a box.



Pretty fruit.



Lots of little birds eating.



Although they all run away when the blue jay comes.



The turkeys even showed up.



Pretty snow-covered trees.



Out walking again.



Ogii with a gun.



Tracks in the snow.



An animal house of some sort.



The reeds were higher than everyone's heads.



Brendan and Monica.



Neat snowflakes.



Dumb cockleburs.



It was cold out, so Ogii drove with her gloves on.



Cheap gas compared to Los Angeles.



Steak for our last dinner in South Dakota.



We thought this blue color on the alarm clock was more soothing than red, but it was really bright, so we threw a pillow over it.



It's cold out.



Flying into the sunrise.



Lots of lakes below.



The moon above the wing.



R2D2 luggage.



Ice on the wing. I thought they should open the emergency exits, give the passengers ice scrapers, and it'd be clear faster than waiting for the de-icing machines.



Getting a signal again after not having it for a few days means a ton of announcements come in all at once.



There are a whole bunch of un-downloaded texts, but most of them were about travel plans, so I'm not even going to check most of ftthem.