7-11-11 Day 91

We managed to get out on the road at 9:00 this morning. After three months we have figured out how to get things done. Three months, THREE MONTHS! I can't believe how much we have seen, loved, driven, should have skipped, and been in such a small space. Some days we can tell that we have been on the road for three months and some it feels like we just left and have so much more we to see. We are ready to be done with this trip and are very anxious to figure out what we are doing next. Two weeks left and one of them is just in Sequim.

Ok back to the road... We drove a lot today, about 550 miles. It was pretty uneventful. The kids were ok to be in the car and we were able drive fast. We stopped at a rest stop and for dinner. We arrived at a beautiful national forest campground in Livingston, MT, Pine Creek. It was raining when we got here but within a few minutes it stopped and there was a beautiful full on double rainbow all the way across the sky. The long drive was worth it! We started a fire and let the kids stay up until after 10. Paul and I did some fire and star gazing before going to bed.

Location:The road between SD and Bozeman, MT

7-10-11

Another great day of adventuring. I charged my camera battery last night and was ready to go this morning. We mainly took the scenic drive through Custer State park today. With it's winding roads, scenic overlooks, craggy cliffs, tiny tunnels, and wildlife at large. We stopped for a picnic lunch at Sylvan Lake and took a real nice walk around the lake. Jack and Lucca even braved the waters at one point. After our walk we got some ice cream at the gift store. On the drive home everyone fell asleep, so we had a quick dinner and then bed. We start our big drives to Sequim tomorrow. I talked to a realtor today, she is expecting us and should have some great properties for us to look at when we get there. If we don't post in the next couple of days, rest assured we will be back in touch after we get to Sequim.

Location:Custer, SD (black hills)

7-9-11

So after a pretty underwhelming experience with the black hills' most famous attractions last night, we didn't have high expectations for today. We decided to head over to Custer State Park and travel the wildlife loop road. On the way we stopped in the town of Custer for some groceries for a picnic lunch. Right when we got into the park things started to look up. We passed some amazing rock formations, beautiful meadows, serene lakes with granite shores, and some amazing campsites. By the time we reached the visitor center we had already promised each other that we would come back here to camp someday . We had read that there were some geocaching sites in the park so i ran in to get coordinates from the visitor center while Lucca had her nap in the car. Turns out the geocaching wasn't what we thought, but the ranger gave me a ton of information on what not to miss.
We weren't on the wildlife loop road more than 10 minutes when we had to stop to let the parks resident Bison Herd of about 1200 cross the road. Unfortunately my camera battery died almost immediately.









Without the camera we decided the best plan was to skip the sites in Custer State Park and head to Wind Cave National Park just south for a tour ( can't really take photos in a cave right?). On the way we pulled off the road for a picnic lunch with a view. Jack found tons of dandelions to blow. Lola bummed out the mood a little when she rolled in a huge stinky pile of bison poop.




















After lunch we continued on and were soon greeted by the local "wild" burros. They were so "wild" that Jack and I got out to pet them. Lucca was a little freaked out when they came up to her window so she stayed inside.





We turned off the main paved road onto a dirt road that was to take us into the National Park, right away we drove through a huge prairie dog town.





We also saw White Tailed Deer, Pronghorn, and more Bison on the way to the cave.


The cave tour was really cool too. We toured only a tiny portion of the massive 160 miles of tunnels.





After the tour we headed back to Custer and stopped at the doggie automat and washed Lola. She still smells, might have to take her again tomorrow.


Dinner...then bed. What a day. After today the Black Hills have moved up to one of the highlights of my trip. Tomorrow we hope to see what the rest of this amazing place has to offer.

Location:Custer, SD ( Black Hills)

7-8-11

We were up a little earlier this morning and managed to get packed up by 9:30. This give us the opportunity for a free Cracker Barrel breakfast with Grandma Kay and Ron ( thanks Ron! ). Then we hit the road for a quick 6 hour drive through beautiful Wyoming. It was such an exciting drive that I finally had to break out the 5 hour energy drink that I had stashed away for such a day. Both kids did great...they watched the Scooby Doo video that Ron got them at the Cracker Barrel. It was especially fun for me to listen to because the video featured guest appearances from the Harlem Globetrotters. Curly is my personal favorite. It's just so funny that his name is curly...and he's bald...ha.
I almost ran out of gas out there in Wyoming. I literally pulled into the gas station with my cars computer estimating only 2 miles left in the tank.
When we pulled into our campground,we unhooked and headed into Custer for dinner at the Purple Pie Place. Thanks for the tip Kari. We had a piece of peanut butter pie for desert. After, we took a quick drive through the beautiful black hills to Mt Rushmore.








Then we booked it back to the Crazy Horse Memorial to catch the laser light show that we heard was cool. It was neat that they showed a movie on the side of a mountain, but the show left much to be desired. I wonder if anyone else felt the irony of playing "Proud to be an American" for the finally after trying to tell the story of the Native American Experience, all projected onto a memorial for Crazy Horse. Who spent his life fighting the US government and died at their hands. Hmm.
Back at Mimi now. Everyone is asleep except me. Time for me to join them.

Location:Custer, SD

7-7-11

More of the same today, lots of playing, lots of drying things out, lots of packing up for the beach. We had a great time at the beach today. Again tubing, kayaking, swimming. Jack even took out a kayak by himself.








Jack and I also went tubing together. Ron, who was driving the boat, took it easy on us. Not so much when I braved the tube alone. The weather came in about 3 so we packed up and headed back to camp. The girls packed up their campers and we all set out for a dinner in town. After dinner we said our goodbyes. We will miss everyone terribly. Thanks for a great time.

After the girls took off, we went with Grandma Kay and Ron to view their new house. It is still under construction, but looks amazing. We cant wait to visit when it is complete.

Back at camp now. Maybe a movie...?

Location:Loveland, CO. Boyd Lake

7-6-11

It's the first time in a while that someone else woke us up in the morning. After reluctantly getting up out of bed we ate and played for a while.


When Ron and Grandma Kay showed up with the boat, we headed down to the beach to play in the water, do some kayaking, and tubing.








We didn't hang out too long because a huge lighting storm came through and forced us to pack up. There was enough of a break to cook dinner, but right when we sat down to eat it started raining again. Some of us braved the weather and had rain soaked burritos for dinner. There was another slight break in the weather and we managed to cook s'mores, cause we promised the kids. After, we piled in Jean's camper for a while, then headed off to sleep.

Location:Loveland, CO. Boyd Lake

7-5-11

We packed up, said goodbye to John, Bille, and Jerry, and headed up to Loveland for a few more days of camping with the family. We set up camp and hung out for a while. The girls ran out for some groceries, and immediately after they left the wind picked up and Ron and I had to put everything away. Then it started to rain, so we took refuge in the trailer. When we emerged from the trailer, we were greeted by a 4 foot bull snake. Ron wrangled the snake and let it go some distance away.


When everyone returned, I cooked up some chicken and we had dinner early while the kids played.





After dinner we sat around the fire...that is where I am now. Talk to you tomorrow.

Location:Loveland, CO