Nelson Family Blog: 15th Anniversary Black Hills Trip

Sunday, January 18, 2026

15th Anniversary Black Hills Trip

Since our anniversary always falls during the Turner County Fair week, we decided to wait a little while to celebrate. Then, we ran into soccer, softball, and volleyball practices and games, and we were just too busy until November. Finally, we picked a weekend in November, booked an Airbnb and headed to the Spearfish area of the hills.

We left early on Friday morning, and made our way to Rapid City. We got there in time for lunch. We had a beautiful, sunny, 60 degree day to walk around downtown, eat lunch, and shop a little. We even ran into Katie downtown, who was in town for a concert. Then, we left to make our way to Spearfish and check into our home for the weekend.

We rented a really cool house on top of a very steep hill, with a really nice view of Terry Peak. It was much larger than what we needed for the two of us. It had three levels, 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a beautiful 3-level deck, and a large kitchen and two large family rooms. There really weren't any smaller houses to rent, and the price was good, so we went for it.

After unpacking, and settling in, we left to go to Deadwood for supper. We found a nice bar and grill and had a nice supper and a couple drinks. While we were eating, it started to snow pretty hard. We wanted to explore downtown Deadwood, but it was dark, snowing, and we had to make it back on some curvy, gravel, steep roads, so we headed back. We had a terrible 20 minute drive back, and we were happy to make it safely back. We watched some TV and then called it a night.

Saturday morning was a surprise for us. Spearfish was forecasted to get 2-3 inches of snow, we woke up to 8 inches of snow outside. There was snow everywhere, and it was still snowing. So, we were happy we had packed some groceries along and we made some breakfast, drank some coffee, read, watched some TV, and were actually forced to relax for awhile. Finally in the afternoon, the snow let up, and we decided to chance it and go explore. We made it out of our cabin without too much trouble, and we headed to Spearfish Canyon. We couldn't get out to walk around because it was cold and snowy, but we drove through Spearfish Canyon at a whopping 30 mph. It took a while, but we saw some pretty sights, some mountain goats, deer, and the snow even made some parts of the trip prettier.

After Spearfish Canyon, the weather was still not cooperating. So, we picked up some more groceries for supper and decided to be back home before dark. We took it nice and slow getting back to the cabin, but the road leading to our cabin was way too steep, and we couldn't make it up with all the fresh snow. So, we parked at the garage level (which was about halfway down the hill) and then hoofed it up to the cabin. We were really panting with all the groceries, warm clothes, snow, and thin air. What a memory.

Finally, we were home. We cooked a wonderful supper, had a bottle of wine, and enjoyed our time alone together. We spent the rest of the evening snuggled up in the cabin and just enjoying our time. We were a little bummed that the weather was so uncooperative and we didn't get to do a lot of the things we wanted to. But, we had a nice trip and have plans to go back again sometime.

On Sunday, we basically woke up, packed up, and headed for home. We had pretty nice roads for the way home, and once we hit Chamberlain, the roads were clear and there was no snow anywhere. We were convinced we are cursed and just bring back weather with us when we travel. The next weekend was 70 degrees in the hills, so we were pretty irritated by that.

It's hard to believe we have been married for 15 years. A lot has happened in those years. I'm so lucky to be married to a great guy who loves to go on travel adventures with me, and is a great family man. We have a wonderful marriage, filled with blessings and challenges. I can't wait to see what the next 15 years bring!