Friends, Family, and Fun

After our disappointment of not seeing the fireworks on Friday evening at Mount Rushmore, we all recovered and regrouped and had a great weekend.

On Saturday morning, Mark and I headed out to show the kids some of this beautiful country. We started with a drive on Iron Mountain Road which takes you around

some twists and turns, but will bring you to this tunnel

that frames Mount Rushmore perfectly.

Along that same road we found some

rocks to climb on. Kate and Caden are making their way across the rocks, while

Zachary tried it on his own. Then, there was

Greg standing on the edge of this rock because

he was focused in on this fellow down below.

Once we were were all down from the climb,

Kate, Greg, and Zachary all posed for this picture and

Caden found this log to take a rest.

Mark and I took our turn in front of the camera.

Caden and I took a little stroll on the walking trail, before leaving the high county for the little town of Keystone

were we parked, had a quick bite of lunch, and did a little shopping.

Rattlesnake Jake’s was a favorite. Great shoes and jewelry. When our shopping was finished, we headed back to the RV Park where we had planned to attend a potluck dinner.

Jim, Ellie, and Pat are watching the grill.

Caden is first to eat, while Kate and Greg are waiting on the above grill masters to get the hamburgers ready.

Mark and Caden are enjoying the desserts.

After dinner,

we made a campfire and when it got dark we were able to

watch the fireworks from downtown Custer. These pictures were taken by Jim who was patient enough to put the camera on the tripod. Thanks Jim for sharing your work.

Again, we hope everyone

had a great July 4th weekend.

Today, Sunday, we headed out early to take Zachary back to Mount Rushmore for the official visit since we didn’t get to see much of the park on Friday evening.

Zachary and Caden found some more rocks to climb. I think they are both part mountain goat. LOL

A little information about Mount Rushmore….this was the way it was suppose to look, but

this is the way it turned out.

After walking around the park for most of the morning, it was time for lunch before we knew it and

Caden was starving….as you can tell. He is chowing down on this pizza, but

he couldn’t wait to get his hands on Poppa’s ice cream cone. Thanks for sharing Pop!

When we had seen it all, we

headed out of the park. By this time Zachary had decided he wanted to

Sylvan Lake and ride the paddle boats with his mom. While they were enjoying the lake,

Caden and Pop enjoyed a visit on the shore. Once Kate and Zachary were back from their boat trip, we decided to take the kids on the Needles Highway. At the eye of the needle,

we found this big bus trying to get through. I am sure he knew he could get through before he started, but one would have their doubts when standing there watching. Once he was through,

to this we made our way through the tunnel and around the next corner, we were able to look back across beautiful view. Then we were off to make our way back to Custer State Park to drive the wildlife loop. Today we saw buffalo, deer, and prairie dogs…but the highlight today was the burro.

They were all along side the road.

Zachary and

Caden had fun feeding them apples.

What a fun day we had…tonight we grilled chicken, make a campfire and just enjoyed the kids. Tomorrow, Greg, Kate, Zachary, and Caden will be driving back to Omaha, Nebraska to catch a flight back to Dallas.

We have really enjoyed having Caden with us on his first motor home trip. He had been a real joy and had been a great trooper to be just 2 years old. We have enjoyed Kate, Greg, and Zachary this weekend as well. Have a safe trip home and we will see you guys in a couple of weeks in Yellowstone.

Tomorrow will start a busy few days as we prepare to leave Custer on Wednesday and head west to Montana for more adventures. See you soon.