Black Hills Vacation!

By far, one of the best vacations I've ever been on!  If you have never been to the Black Hills of South Dakota, please make plans to go.  So much beauty, so much history!  I got to relive some of my childhood memories with my own kids, as well as create some new memories for myself and my family.  I loved that the kiddos were able to spend a week of quality time with family and see some amazing sites along the way.  We all had so much fun!  I have so many pictures... I think over the course of two weeks (one week in the Black Hills and one week in Nebraska), I had 1700 pictures.  I promise, I won't bore you with all of them.  (I say that with a twinkle in my eye, since you will be seeing a ton!)  I think the best way to go through the memories is a day at a time.

Thanks to all my family!  It was so fun being with everyone!  We missed you, Jacob, though.  Can't wait to see you all again at Thanksgiving.

Day one - July 18 - Driving to the Black Hills, visiting the Badlands - Pictures do not do this place justice (or at least my pictures).  The vast awesomeness of the Badlands is just indescribable.  We had a great day exploring and hiking this area.  And the day was topped off by arriving at our home away from home and seeing all my family.

Believe it or not, there are big horn sheep on these rocks.

There they are!

Day two - July 19 - Mt. Rushmore, Rushmore Tramway Adventures, Exploring Keystone, Mt. Rushmore Lighting Ceremony - Talk about a full day and probably one of the most memorable, especially for the kids.  We made the 40 minute trek from our house at Terry Peak down to Keystone and Mt. Rushmore.  A beautiful drive and perfect day to be outside.

Morgan is holding up the presidents!

Taking the trail up towards the faces.

One of the closest points to the presidents.

Twisted pine... very cool.

Checking out the museum that has some of the history of
the monument.

This is a model of what the original plan was for the carving.

Listening to one of the park rangers tell the history.

Morgan jumping of the benches doing ninja moves.
Love this girl!

Have to get a picture in front of the post office!

Tired boy.

She loves horses!  Any horse!

Time for some afternoon fun at the Tramway Adventures.

Garret and Mason loved the jump!

Tom and Jackson did the ropes course... Very impressive and
very nerve wracking for this momma.  Even Tom said he was
a little worried at times... but loved it!

Tom's turn to take the jump.

These two were inseparable.  Noah loves his Garret!

Ready to take the chair lifts for the Alpine Slides.

Mason

Nolan

Jason

Lisa

Mike

I told you they were inseparable.

Back to Mt. Rushmore for the night lighting.

Jackson found Wisconsin's flag and sign in the Avenue of Flags.

Jackson and Morgan playing on the stage before the ceremony.
I'm sure they weren't allowed on there but no one stopped them
and they weren't hurting anything.

You can't really see them in these next pictures, but as we
waited for darkness, people in the crowd started noticing
3 men/teenage boys up on the rocks by the monument.
Completely past the area where they were allowed.
One stayed as a lookout and the other two eventually made
it to Thomas Jefferson's shoulder.  Eventually park rangers
made it to them and handcuffed them.  We assume they were
put in jail for awhile.  Crazy thing, but definitely made the
wait for the ceremony much more exciting.  

They called all people in attendance who served our country
in any branch to come down to the stage, give their name,
branch, and rank.  It was very powerful!  I was so proud to
see my dad down there!

Day three - July 20 - Bear Country - Grandma, Grandpa, Tom, Jackson, Morgan, Noah and I drove into Rapid City this day to drive through Bear Country.  We saw so many animals that are native to the area.  It was a little disappointing at times... wish we could have seen more up close.  But the best part of the attraction was watching the baby bears play, climb, and wrestle with each other.  So cute and fun!  We then headed back to join all the family for dinner.... our night to cook!

Day four - July 21 - Crazy Horse Monument, Trail Ride & Needles Highway - An amazing day!  A little cooler, but a perfect day to ride some horses!  My only wish for this day, was that we could have spent more time at Custer State Park and driving the Needles Highway.  Absolutely beautiful! Want to know more about Crazy Horse, go to... https://crazyhorsememorial.org.

Morgan posing by one of the statues at the
Crazy Horse monument.

We got to learn about Native American
culture and history.

A booger from Crazy Horse's nose!
Not really, but a rock from the mountain
where he is being carved.

When completed, Crazy Horse will be
the largest mountain carving in the world.

Do you see the actual mountain carving under the arm of the
model carving?

Ready to ride!

Our horses!  Morgan on Miss Kitty, Jackson on El Paso, Traci
on Piglet, Tom on Nate, Jeff on Moose, Jason on Bongo,
Garret on Red, and Dad on Red Cloud.

Love this girl and her love for horses!

I think Jackson even got into the horse
riding a little too.

The "Rockin' R Rides" Ranch

Our guide 

Time to hit Custer State Park and the Needles Highway.

We had so much fun stopping and hiking around the
different areas along the drive.

Morgan found a piece of Birch bark all rolled up... kinda cool!

Driving through the Needles Eye.

Crazy narrow!

Day five - July 22 - 1880 Train - A nice little ride on a cool train.  Unfortunately, Noah was getting a bit vacationed out by this day and was ready for a break.  So that made for a crabby and not so enjoyable day for me, but we made it through and still a fun day of memories.

Noah finally crashed for a bit on the way home.  Grandpa
was the only one with the magic touch that day.

Finally a little relaxing back at the house.

Who doesn't play outside in their nightgown,
crocks, and cowgirl hat?  Hey, it's vacation!

Playing some kinda game - forget the name - basically you
through a ball off a trampoline and don't let it hit the ground.
Maybe it was Spike Ball? Not sure.

Day six - July 23 - Devil's Tower (WY), Deadwood Days of '76 Rodeo - This day we drove to Wyoming to see Devil's Tower and hike around.  Want to know more about Devil's Tower... go to  http://www.nps.gov/deto/index.htm.  We were also lucky to get to see my Aunt Karen, cousin Jeff and his wife, daughter and son, Winter, Abby, and Ian.  So great to catch up with them.  Sadly I didn't get a single picture with them.  Shame on me!  Then we headed back to "home," cleaned up and went to Deadwood for the Days of '76 Rodeo.  On the way back we drove through some heavy rain but it made for some pretty skies afterwards.  And the rodeo was so fun... been years since I had been to one.  And the kids loved it!

Prairie Dogs!

Devil's Tower - we're almost there.  

Native American prayer cloths.  There were signs telling us
not to touch these sacred items.  They were so pretty to see...
and some were in the most amazing (treacherous) places.

If you couldn't tell by now, Morgan was
having a ball posing along the hike!

Jason, pink is your color!

Do you see the double rainbows on our way back to
Lead/Deadwood?

Posing with Red Neck.

Hard to see, but there is a momma horse and her baby.
So, so cute!

We got to see some broncs.

She was in heaven!

Then there was some barrel racing...

And of course, bull riding.  We also saw some roping, but I
didn't get pictures of that event.  

Day seven - July 24 - Hiking Spearfish Canyon, Parade, Getting Ready to Leave - While Grandma and Grandpa were so sweet and took Morgan and Noah to the Days of '76 Parade and explored Deadwood, the rest of us headed to the Spearfish Canyon to hike the Devil's Bathtub Trail and the Eleventh Hour Gulch.  We also saw Bridal Vail Falls and spent the end of the day also seeing an old-time shoot-out in Deadwood.  A great way to wrap up the week!

Trail head for the Devil's Bathtub.

Lots of crossing the stream... I couldn't even tell you how
many times we crossed over it along the trail.

Maybe only two of us finish the hike with dry shoes... I was
not one of them, although I did make it 3/4 of the way back
before I stepped into the water.

Mason, Nolan, Garret & Jackson

Nolan just hanging around.

Jackson's ready (sort of) to play in the Devil's Bathtub slides.

Tom's turn.

Awesome fun!

Bridal Vail Falls

10 years of marriage - seemed appropriate
to take a picture in front of the Bridal Falls.

Starting on the Eleventh Hour Gulch Trail.
It only gets sunlight on the bottom of the
gulch for one hour each day.

One of the many beautiful walls along the Eleventh Hour
Gulch Trail.

There were definitely some tricky places
to maneuver in this hike.

Back to Deadwood...This is the bar where Wild Bill Hickok
was shot and killed.

Some of the actors getting ready for the shoot out.

We've packed up and we are ready to take
some family pictures!  Sad to see the
week come to an end. The next day we
all hit the road and skies.  Uncle Jeff
getting in some more fun with Noah.

Noah, Uncle Jeff, Jackson and Jason.

The Guys - Nolan, Garret, Mason, Mike,
Jason, Tom, Jeff, Dad, Noah and Jackson

The Gals - Mom, Lisa, Morgan and me
(we are a little out numbered!)

Grandma and Noah - Love them!

Our home for the past week.

Nolan showing us his moves.

Oh, how I love my parents!  45 years of marriage!

Uncle Jeff and Morgan trying to fool momma!

Look they were really awake! 

Day eight - July 25 - Heading home, Wall Drug - The week has come to an end.  We hit the road that morning, Jeff and Jason headed to the airport.  Sad to see us all split up... but so excited for Thanksgiving and being all together again.  Thank you Mom, Dad, Jeff, Jason, Lisa, Mike, Mason, Garret and Nolan for making memories with us this summer.  Love you all so much!

We made a quick pit stop at Wall Drug for gas
and to say that we've been to Wall Drug.

I think there is a picture of me just like this
in one of my Mom and Dad's photo albums.
Crazy!  May have to look for that the next
time I am back home.

Riding the giant jackalope.

Morgan driving a team of horses.

Rather than using a pen and paper
(like I did as a kid), we downloaded
an app and tracked all the license
plates we could find.  Not too bad!
Plus I had Saskatchewan, Ontario,
Manitoba, and Quebec... but those
weren't included in the app.

Great memories!  Can't wait to do it again!  Phew!  I'm done with this one!  Sorry for all the pictures!