Monday Mug Shot

South Dakota coffee

The coffee mug for today is one of eight new ones from the trip. I have seven of them on the dining room table and have to find the other one in the car when David gets home, but I’m sure I got an Iowa one and that isn't in the group of seven that I have. There has to be an eighth one somewhere.

Today’s mug was actually bought in Rapid City, South Dakota, but the most memorable coffee was from the other side of the state, in Sioux Falls! We stayed at Kelly Inn in Sioux Falls, South Dakota last Thursday night after the Sioux Falls Canaries game. Kelly Inns are part of the Best Western group and a very nice, not too expensive, hotel.

The breakfast spread there is awesome! They had fresh made waffles, a favorite hotel breakfast treat, but we didn’t do the waffles Friday morning because we were planning to shoot the Dakota and Iowa Railroad on the bridge next to Sioux Falls park. It was a gorgeous morning shot we’d seen chasing the train north Thursday afternoon. David had cereal for breakfast and I had chocolate mini muffins with an apple and an orange. That was one of my grumpy issues with Super-8, where we stayed on most of our stops. Too many of them have super-carb breakfast. I like a little carbohydrate and fruit for breakfast. Fortunately, I could always find bananas at Casey’s General Store, the region’s gas station/C-store chain. But at Kelly Inn, there were both fresh, crispy apples and sweet and juicy oranges. I took one of each to finish breakfast in the car with my coffee.

The coffee was...beyond simple words! It was the good-stuff times two! That is times two for the TWO cups that I fixed and put to-go lids on. With the heavenly mini muffins, fresh fruit and awesome coffee, Kelly Inn was definitely the BEST hotel for breakfasts of the whole trip. So, when I look at this mug, bought in Rapid City, the “best coffee” will always make me think of Sioux Falls!