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Black Hills News StoriesGo back to News ArticlesNebraska Couple Begins 'Vacation Makeover'HOT SPRINGS (7/9/10) – Mary and Don Nolin are no strangers to the Black Hills. Once a year they make the eight-hour drive from their Lincoln, Neb., home to tour the Hills and see the sights. In fact, they were married at Deadwood’s Franklin Hotel in 1995. But this week, the Nolins’ Black Hills experience will be like none before. They were the first winners to claim their prize in the “Vacation Makeover: Destination Mount Rushmore” contest. They won a free Black Hills vacation worth $4,000, plus a Kodak a Kodak Zx1 Pocket Video Camera.  “This time, we have a chance to do everything we’ve always wanted to do,” Don Nolin said Thursday morning. He said some of the stops on their week-long trip, such as the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, are places they have never been. Others, such as the Crazy Horse Memorial, are places they haven’t seen in several years. The Nolins began their vacation Wednesday in Hot Springs. On Thursday morning they took a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Hot Springs Mammoth Site. They visited the lab, where they could peer over the shoulder of intern Caitlin Roeder as she pieced together an ancient mammoth tusk. They met Ruth Clemmer, the Earth Watch volunteer who last year discovered a mammoth skull named “Clem.” They even got an up-close look at Clem, still mostly embedded in the clay. Vacation Makeover was sponsored by Black Hills Digital Strategies Group, a coalition of local tourism organizations, the South Dakota Office of Tourism and Eastman Kodak. Participants were invited to post their favorite vacation stories and photos on the group’s website, www.blackhills.travel. Through online voting, four winners were chosen. A fifth winner, chosen randomly from among the voters, also won a trip. Mary Nolin said she found out about the contest through one of South Dakota Tourism’s email announcements. She posted a story about the couple’s 1995 visit to the Black Hills, when they decided to get married in Deadwood. “We started out just to vacation but ended with us marrying at the Historic Franklin Hotel. Mayor Bruce Oberlander officiated (his last official act as mayor),” Mary wrote. Her story garnered more than 10,000 votes, and it was the second-highest vote-getter during the spring contest. How did she get so many votes? Mary said they tapped their online network of family and friends. Between them, Don and Mary have eight grown children, as well as friends from California to New York. They put out the word, Mary said, and from there the voting went viral. “My son and his wife alone have 300 e-mail addresses,” she said. During their trip, the Nolins plan to spend two nights in Hot Springs and one night each in Keystone, Rapid City and Wall. The itinerary includes more than two dozen attractions, including Custer State Park, Wind Cave, Mount Rushmore, Badlands National Park, Wall Drug, two gold mines, a couple of caves, a few museums and family attractions such as Reptile Gardens, the Cosmos and Bear Country USA. “We’re going to need a vacation from our vacation,” Mary said with a chuckle. -30- For more information: |
