French Fries and Waterfalls: Sunday, May 26, 2024

By Tayte Christensen from Hillsdale College

When I was given the opportunity to travel to South Dakota this afternoon with my peers, I jumped on it.

Although I had been looking forward to a lazy Sunday afternoon after a very busy week, I decided a road trip with my WJI friends would be fun.

I was right.

After church this morning, we loaded up two vans of students and made the trek to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There, we were greeted by the rushing waters of the falls as we joined the ranks of hundreds of tourists, climbing atop rocks to marvel at the falls.

We gazed at the gushing water to our heart’s content – a grand total of about 30 minutes – and then loaded back up in the vans to drive downtown. There, we were given free reign of the area, along with a command to be back to the van in an hour and a half.

Hitting the streets of Sioux Falls with no assignment and no story to write, I almost felt useless. It seems like any time I’ve been in public within the past week I’ve had a beat to cover.

But that sense of uselessness soon faded as I began to hunt for an ice cream shop with two of my peers.

Along the way, we stumbled upon a macaron shop with delicious macarons (I had a pistachio one and a raspberry one), along with a small bookstore.

We never found an ice cream shop because, as it turns out, the one we were looking for recently closed down. So instead, we settled in at a nearby restaurant to eat french fries, drink Dr Pepper and talk.

I don’t remember every conversation we had there this afternoon, but I do know that I am thankful for the opportunity to bond with those two lovely girls. They are two of many who I am so blessed to have gotten to meet at WJI.

Sure, this afternoon wasn’t the restful Sunday afternoon I envisioned all week. No nap was had and my social battery was on power-saving mode come the end of the day. But that’s OK. It was a memorable afternoon.

After all, I can sleep next weekend.