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.

Fog Is Not Good

First, a happy July 4th to everyone!  I hope today’s celebration is great for everyone.  We are looking forward to a better day and celebration here in Custer.

Yesterday was the day we had waited for with excitement.  We had plans to go to the fireworks show at Mount Rushmore.  However, we woke up to a cloudy day that quickly turned

to rain.  And, it rained most of the day.  But, then, it went away and I was thinking we were going to be good for the rest of the evening.

Greg, Kate, and Zachary arrived after their long trip from Dallas, to Omaha, to Custer.  We had a late lunch/early dinner prepared so that we didn’t have to fight the long lines at Mount Rushmore.  Once dinner was complete, we all dressed in our extra warm clothes as the evenings here can get very chilly.

Then it was time to go up to the office and wait on the tour bus to pick us up for the trip over to Hill City.

While we were waiting Caden introduced Zachary

to Cocoa. 

He also showed Zachary the big 4 wheeler

Larry uses to show people to their RV sites when they arrive.

At last our bus arrived, which turned out to be a two cars as the van had broken down.  Well, whatever gets us there.  It was some trip over and thank goodness we planned for the tour.  We started seeing people that had parked as far away as 4 miles.  And, yes, they had to hike up hill to the park.

Well, Byron, our bus driver, got us in the park, parked in the parking garage, and then we were off to

to find our seats.  But, by this time, the sky was not looking very good.  We finally

found our seats and decided to walk around for a little while.  Of course, Zachary wanted to see

the reason we were here.  This was as close as we could get with something like 35,000 people in the park.  We will plan to make another trip back to Mount Rushmore tomorrow so Zachary can really see the park.

We were back to our seats when the sky got really overcast, the wind got cooler and the fog rolled in, which prompted us to pick up our chairs and move

to the parking garage.  And, this is where we stayed until it was time for the fireworks.  They tried one firework and made the decision to go on with the show.  So, we moved our chairs back outside, but all we could see was a colored sky….no fireworks.  We could hear the bang, but we didn’t see anything.  How disappointed we were.

Then, went it was time to leave the park, those of us who thought we were so fortunate to get to park in the garage…well, we had to wait until all those people who had parked up and down the hillside leave and the rangers open the roads.  It was midnight when we got back to the RV park.

Needless to say, no one had a hard time going to sleep last night and we were all a little slow getting started today.

We are looking forward to another attempt at the fireworks as the town of Custer will be having a show tonight.  We also have a potluck dinner planned here at the RV park.

We are hoping to have a great day and wishing you one too!

  Happy Birthday America

Coming or Going

Today Ellie and I went into Rapid City. We had a long list of things to do. First, we attended our Weight Watchers meeting to officially weigh in for July. It may be almost August before we find a meeting close enough to attend. So, we will have to host our own unofficial meeting between now and then, but at least we are legal for July.

After our meeting, we found a Wendy's and had lunch, so we would have the strength to make it through the Wal Mart store with no temptations. Little did I know, that I needed to have the strength to just push the cart. You know the cart I am talking about....the one that goes every direction except the way you are pushing it. Plus, it was so loaded down with cold drinks and water that I could barely push it anyway. And, then who in their right mind would go to the only Wal Mart store in a 100 mile radius on the day before a holiday weekend? Well, one has to do what one has to do! And, if Wal Mart wasn't enough, we headed off to Sam's after that. However, that was no problem...everyone was still at Wal Mart.

Now, while Ellie and I were having all this fun....we had left Jim, Mark, and Caden back in Custer at the motor homes. Jim made a new batch of salsa, Mark repaired a small hole in the slide out awning and Caden kept the adults in line.

Since it is an hour's drive to Rapid City, it was late afternoon before we returned to Custer. We had phoned ahead to Jim and Mark with dinner instructions so we had a plan when we returned to the park. While Ellie and I dealt with the groceries, the guys grilled the turkey mignon's. While we were having dinner, the rain set in and it is still raining and sounds like it is here for the rest of the night.

Greg, Kate, and Zachary will be joining us tomorrow. They were suppose to fly into Denver today and drive part way tonight and then the rest of the way tomorrow. However, as it is when you work for the airlines and fly non-rev, you sometimes have to take what you get, especially when you try to fly on a holiday weekend. So, long story short, they couldn't get a flight from Dallas to Denver, so they caught the only flight this direction. It took them to Omaha, Nebraska. They landed around 8 pm and rented a car. From there they will drive to Mitchell, SD and spend the night and drive here tomorrow. We all have reservations for the fireworks show tomorrow night at Mount Rushmore. On Saturday we will do a pot luck dinner here at the RV Park and watch the fireworks in downtown Custer. Have a safe drive...we are looking forward to spending the weekend with you guys.

Sorry, there are no pictures today...but I know I will have plenty to share over the next few days. Hope you are all planning a good July 4 weekend.

What A Nice Day

Today, we were all up early and ready for the day.  Caden and Pop were off to do their morning routine of

taking the trash.  Caden thinks every time you put something in the trash you have to haul it off.  He is very good about doing his chores.

Once that was done, we finished with the cleaning and sorting out our plans for the day.

Jim, Ellie, and I decided we were going to go do a little shopping in Keystone, while Mark and Caden were staying behind to wait on the mobile repairman to come from Rapid City to repair the rock chips in the windshield that we got from the trip through Kansas or Nebraska, or Colorado, or wherever we were.

We got back to the RV Park mid afternoon and found Mark and Caden taking an afternoon nap.  Then later, Jim and Ellie came over and we decided we would go down to Pringle to have dinner and then we went out to Sylvan Lake for an early evening walk.

This is one of my favorite places in the area…

This is a beautiful little lake with fishing, swimming, and camping.  There is also a walking trail around the lake and that is where we spent the evening.

We started off down the trail and Caden

wanted to do a little rock climbing.

Then we walked through

this tunnel.  On the other side we found

this cool waterfall coming out of the rocks and

and this forest to walk through.

And, Poppa let Caden sit on this really high rock.

Soon it was time to head back around the lake before it got dark.  And on the way back, we saw

this mommy duck taking her babies for a swim, and we saw

this deer feeding right by the trail.  Caden

really tried to call the deer to him, he just didn’t seem to want to come our way.

We left the deer to eat and headed on back to the lodge

where we took a quick look through the gift shop and then Mark, Jim, and Caden decided it was time to find the Dairy Queen for a Blizzard.

What an enjoyable evening we had.  I will leave you with this last picture of our evening….

Join us again tomorrow for another fun day in South Dakota.

Just Hanging Out

Well, after a big birthday outing, we decided to just hang our in the RV Park today. Jim and Ellie still had some motor home cleaning to finish, while Caden and I decided to sleep in this morning. Mark just sit out and enjoyed his coffee and his new chair.

Jim had also decided that today was the day that he was going to make Beer Can Chicken. So, we planned a late lunch. He was first in charge of

getting the fire ready. While he was busy with that, Ellie was making sure the chicken was

well seasoned and

positioned upright on top of the beer can. She even put a potato in the top to keep in all the juices.

Once the fire was hot enough,

Jim placed it in the middle of the grill, added

the top and now all we had to do was wait for 1 hour and 40 minutes. So, while waiting, Jim would also grill the peaches and cream corn on the cob on the gas grill. Ellie made a pot of greens and Caden and I headed over to our motor home

to put together an apple cobbler.

Once we got it in to cook, we then proceeded to

clean up our mess.

It wouldn’t be long now until that crazy chicken would be

ready to eat. It was more than yummy. In fact, we pretty much

picked that chicken clean! It will be a repeat meal sometime.

Well, once we were finished with a delicious lunch we decided to

head out and take a walk. Caden and I took some outgoing mail to the office, while Pop tried to go do some laundry, but all the washers were being used. We will try that later. Ms. Ellie took the fur kids out for a little walk. Caden had to also check out the horses. But, then we had to all head back to the motor homes as it looks as if

we might get a few late afternoon thunderstorms. In fact, Mr. Jim just came and told Mark that there might be hail in the storms. So they are out putting in the awnings.

Glad we got that crazy chicken cooked!

Happy Birthday Moppa

Today Moppa turned 60 years old.  She said it was okay because she says, you are only as old as you feel.  She said she chooses to only feel 40.  Anyway, Happy Birthday, Moppa.

Poppa and I gave her a present and so did Mr.Jim  and Ms. Ellie.

Pop and I gave her that really cool pink ipod nano.  Mr. Jim and Ms. Ellie gave her that pepper grinder and peppercorns.  Moppa was so excited about the pepper grinder because it has a light on it and it is electric.

She is charging the ipod so she can put music on it.  I can hardly wait so I can listen to it too.

After she opened her presents, we took her to lunch in Custer.   We ate at

 

The Wrangler Cafe.  Everyone ordered Buffalo Burgers except for me and I wanted fish sticks and French fries.  Everything was good.  When we finished, we went to Custer State Park to

Legion Lake Resort.  They rent these

paddle boats there and we were going to take Moppa for a ride.  But, we got there and Poppa and Mr. Jim could not ride because the man said they weighed too much.  So, Ms. Ellie and I had to take Moppa for a ride.

We saw some

ducks.  And we paddled over to this

big rock.  And we saw some men fishing and some kids swimming.  And after we had paddled around for awhile, it was time to take the boat back to the dock.

We had lots of fun.  I am sorry Poppa and Mr. Jim couldn’t get in the boats.  When we left the Legion Lake, Poppa wanted to go see if we would find some more buffalo.  It didn’t take long until we saw

these two big guys by the side of the road.  Poppa and Mr. Jim thought that was pretty cool.  Then we drove on down the road and all these cars were parked and these people were out looking at something.  It was then that we saw

this really big buffalo.  The signs say be careful because buffalo can be dangerous, but we could get out of the car and stand on this bridge and look at him.  We watched him for a while and then he walked off to go to the stream to get a drink.  We got back in the car and decided to take a drive

down this road.  No one knew where it went, but they wanted to drive on it anyway.  Poppa was driving and driving, and then he said oh no…and this was the reason…

So, we had to turn around and come back to town.  Poppa said it would be okay, because the bell had not gone off yet and we would have enough gas to get back to town.  We did, but, we still don’t know where that road goes.  Maybe we can go see another day.

After, Poppa got gas, we just went back to the RV Park.  Ms. Ellie made Moppa

this great chocolate birthday cake.  After dinner, we had some with ice cream.  It was yummy.

Well, I am pretty sure Moppa had a good birthday.  She got some cool presents, and we took her out for the day, and she said lots of family and friends called her today to wish her a Happy Birthday.  She said to tell everyone thanks for making this day special.

Well, it is about my bedtime, so I had better go for now.  Come back tomorrow to see what is happening in Custer, South Dakota.

Caden