Cluster Cities - Rapid City

Every once in a while, there is a city with several attractions in or around the city itself.  One of those cities is Rapid City, South Dakota.

You're probably thinking Rapid City?????

A few years ago, we took a camping trip.  We spent several days in and around Rapid City.  This is a jewel located in the Black Hills region.

Our first stop in South Dakota was the night of July 4, we stopped at Rosebud Sioux Reservation and watched the fireworks.  From there we went to Wall, South Dakota where we spent the night.

Wall is famous for the Wall Drug Store.  It is a tourist trap to the max, but fun.  It is a small mall that sells everything Black Hills.

From there, we left and went to the Badlands National Park.  The park itself is relatively small, but impressive.  Driving west on I90, it seems to raise up out of nowhere.  My children had a great time climbing the hills and running the trails.  We spent about 4 hours at the park.







 From Badlands, we went to Wind Cave National Park.  We camped at the park, which has numerous tours including a night tour with only candles.  We took a daylight tour which explained how wind formed the cave.  At night, the park rangers (great guys!) had a "fireside chat"  as part of their educational program.  They told us how the cave was formed and about the wildlife in the area as well several funny stories.

One of my favorite stories was about how he (the park ranger) was going through files and he saw one marked Bison jumps over VW.  He said he had to look at the pictures only to realize the bison did jump over the car - all over it.

We were advised to avoid contact with the bison because they were caring for their young and could be dangerous.  We did manage to see one in the park from a distance.

The next morning, we took a drive thru the Custer State park and what was referred to as the Custer byway.  Definitely worth the time, it includes mountains, 1 lane tunnel bridges and numerous scenic outlooks and photo opportunities  In addition, bison can be seen at numerous times, but of course they vanished when we were there.  This was followed by a quick trip to Jewel Cave.  A nice monument to see but the entire visit only took about 3-4 hours.  After that we doubled back and went north to Keystone and camped out near Mount Rushmore.



Mount Rushmore National Monument is impressive. I found it a little odd.  People were just sitting there looking at it as if they expected the leaders there to start speaking.  Beyond that, I would say that everyone should visit there at least once in there life.  I have a picture, which shows the ranger pick up that I had at the time below Washington's head.  It shows the shear size of the sculpture. There are tours offered that take you closer to the sculpture which I wouldn't mind going back to do now that my children are older.  After leaving Mount Rushmore, we stopped at the Crazy Horse Memorial.


Our last part of the trip took us a little over two hours west.  We spent the last two days of our trip at Devil's Tower National Monument.   We drove west on I90, then took 116 north.  We stayed at the KOA just outside the monument.  Every night, they played the movie, Close Encounter of the Third Kind.  It was a little eerie, looking up at the monument at dusk hearing John Williams score.  The monument itself, has a winding road with forested area's from which the monument itself peaks through.  The trails around the monument itself is frequented by climbers.  It's amazing to see them work their way up several hundred feet.

I definitely recommend the trip.  From South Texas, it took about 2 days to make the journey to South Dakota.  The first night we stayed at Caprock Canyons State Park here in Texas.  On the way back we stayed in Colorado Springs, CO.

Cooking for one - all week

So I have many friends that are single.  One thing that I have found is that if they cook, most recipes are for couples or families.  They don't want to eat out every night so many of them will cook on the weekend and eat the same thing meal after meal.

My suggestion is this.  Don't cook one big meal - cook three or four.

Buy a small freezer such as the 5 cubic foot.  They typically take up a square yard of space.  They usually run about $150.


Buy some good storage containers.  My preference is lock-n-lock from QVC.  I like them because they are not difficult to open and close and they seal very well.  I bought a 12 piece set on clearance.

Once you have finished your meals, store them, freeze them and you will have 3-4 meals to choose from for the week.

Test Taking Tips

I passed my test and thought that I would share some tips for taking test and exams.

First, read the question.

Second, read the question again.  This time breaking down each portion of the question.  This way you can make sure that you know what is being asked.

Then read each and every answer.

There are basically three types of questions. 

1.  The simple question - here you are looking the correct answer.
      
             The most corrosive force in the environment is:
              a.  air
              b. fire
              c.   water
              d.  humans

   The correct answer is C.  

         
2.  The multiple question.  These usually give you 2 options to choose from I and II.  Your answer options will be: a only, b only, both a and b, neither a nor b.


              James Madison was known as the father of what founding document?
              I.  The Declaration of Independence
              II.  The Constitution of the United States of America
                  a.   I only
                  b.  II only
                  c.  Both I and II.
                  d.  Neither I or II.
 
  The correct answer is b.  James Madison was the primary author of the Constitution of the United States of America.

3.  Is the EXCEPT question.  With this question, you will be looking for the WRONG answer.

            All of the following statements about the State of Texas are correct, except:
                 a.  The state bird is the mocking bird
                 b.  The State of Texas was once it's own country
                 c.  The state reptile is the Texas Horned Lizard (horned toad)
                 d.  The state is the largest state within the United States

    The correct answer is D because is is incorrect which makes it correct (confusing, I know).  Alaska has the largest land mass and California is the most populous.

Another item to look for is answers that don't fit. 

1.  All of the following were U. S. Presidents except:
                a.  Franklin Pierce
                b.  Calvin Coolidge
                c.  Rush Limbaugh
                d.  Grover Cleveland

The obvious choice is radio show host Rush Limbaugh.  He has never been a President of the U.S.


When reading answers that are lengthy, look out for the following words:

First - Inclusives such as:  always, everytime, all

Next - Exclusives such as: Never, none

This will make the answer false 90% of the time.  Remember, some things are NEVER allowed such as shooting a public official.  In this case, the statement NEVER would be correct.

Another item to watch for is double negatives.  This is particular prevelant in the EXCEPT questions.  It usually comes in the form of items that may contain exclusions, such as insurance policies:

1.  On a Homeonwer's policy will exclude the following perils, EXCEPT:
         a.  earthquakes
         b.  flood
         c.  fire
         d.  sinkholes

The correct answer is C.  Fire is not an excluded peril.  Earthquakes are only covered by endorsement (a seperate rider), flood is a seperate policy, and sinkholes are not covered.


The last point I would like to make is to share some advise that I was given many years ago.  When going to your testing center of class - use a piece of scrap paper.  Number the paper to the number of question that are on the test.  Then write A - B - C - D.  Eliminate the incorrect answer by x-ing out the incorrect ones.  This may leave you with a choice of 2.  Choose the correct answer.

Make sure that you will not be penalized for answering incorrectly.  CLEP exams will deduct from your score if you answer incorrectly!

Good luck!



MOM

New post will resume shortly

I've started a new position at a new company that requires licensing.  Once I pass my test next week I will resume posting.  Right now it's study, study, study!

Daily-Survival: Dont Be A Victim, Be Confident

I usually look at the survival blogs for advice on gardening and canning.  This is one article that I thought was worth sharing:

It gives several tips on avoiding becoming the victim:

http://daily-survival.blogspot.com/2011/07/dont-be-victim-be-confident.html

A Simple Way to organize your bills

After working in financial services for years and with default mortgages for the past few years, I have seen how few people are organized when it comes to their bills.

Priorities are often in the wrong place.

I've shared this one little tool with other including employees and friends.  It is simple.

Items needed:

A spiral notebook or composition book (dedicated to this one issue)
All of your bills and obligations.

Start on the first page, state the month and year.
Then start your bill list with date due and amount:
Put your priorities first (for example):

Rent/Mortgage - date due - amount due
Car payment - date due - amount due
Electricity - date due - amount due
Water - date due - amount due
Car Insurance - date due - amount due
Cable/Internet/Phone - date due - amount due
Cell Phone - date due - amount due
Student loans - date due - amount due
Personal loans - date due - amount due
Credit Cards - date due - amount due
Other bills such as medical, collections, etc should be added.

Child support and alimony should also be to ensure that you know how much is going out.  The important thing is that you know what bills you owe, when they are due, and how much you have to pay out each month.

If your rent/mortgage and electricity are not your top priorities, then you need to seriously look at your priorities.

If you are having difficulties paying your obligations, then you need to first contact the company that holds the debt (the bank holding the mortgage, credit card, car note, etc...).  Most companies have options to help consumers.

Good luck and God Bless.