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Snookums and I recently took a quick trip up to South Dakota, where we met up with my sister and brother for an afternoon shopping outing. We got into our new Acura RL and set out into the sunny and fairly warm April day.

After a half-hour on the highways, our first stop was Van Dyke's in Woonsocket, where my sister and brother poured over the restored antique door handles for my sister's house. Snookums and I planned our July auto tour on the glider in the Van Dyke's entry way. After several door knobs, latches, and plates were procured, we then proceeded to lunch at Pod's Place, a classic greasy spoon small town restaurant. (Snookums loves greasy spoons.) The classic roast beef and mashed potatoes plate was good food and lots of it--nobody left hungry.

Back on the road, my brother explored the intricacies of the Acura's GPS navigation system. We were headed to Bonilla (why? Who knows?) but diverted due to road construction to our ultimate next stop, Miller, SD. After an hour in the car we needed refreshment, so we stopped at the local Dairy Queen.

When in Miller, visit Duckwalls. Duckwalls-ALCO is a kind of outback Wal-Mart, doing business in markets too small to support larger discount retailers. The store was very clean and well stocked. A gaggle of high-school girls were lined up to talk to the boy at the checkout stand, and a couple of elderly adults were catching up on the news between the toys aisle and the groceries aisle. Snookums quickly discovered the discount bins and sifted through them for crafty-type things to give to her mother.

Next, we made our way the mile or so to downtown Miller to Harriet's Antiques. Harriet's was a packrat's dream, with barely enough room to move around amid the shelves of mostly very breakable knicknacks, collected from years and years of garage and estate sales. Harriet was more than happy to discuss in detail the histories of many of the myriad items in the store. After a breathless half-hour of browsing and attempting not to touch anything, I bought a simple blue SDSU button for Snookums. My sister bought a cast iron pan and a pink depressionware compote bowl.

Back on the road to Wessington, with my brother continuing to play with the navigation system. Our stop there: a small gift and coffee shop called ABC Crafts and Things, where I picked up a couple of wine stoppers--a much needed addition to our kitchenware.

With that final flourish, our shopping for the day concluded and we returned to my sister's house. The day was topped off with a cold one or two on the deck, amongst the grackles.