South Dakota....Here we come!

LAX at 4:30 AM! Breven's not an early bird......can you tell?
Watching the sun come up.
Breven was thrilled!

"So what should we do with 8 days off?" That was the question over breakfast one morning. We voted on a vacation, but where? I voted for anywhere as long as it wasn't in our RV/Summer home. Brad got out the map, closed his eyes and pointed. Breven did the same. One finger landed on Nebraska, the other South Dakota. We checked out both and voted......Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, or the Corn Palace in Nebraska? South Dakota won! Sometimes the unexpected, unplanned trips turn out the best. This one sure did!

DANGER

What's wrong with this picture?
As long as they give us helmets we're safe right?
This was the way they mined the whole place, by candlelight no less! Sorry, not even gold is worth this.
Panning for gold.
In Thunder Mountain Gold Mine.

Alpine Slides

Faster than a speeding bullet!
Up they go! The boys traveled up a ski lift, loaded themselves on a ta bogon and flew down a mountain at light speed. I think they liked that ride more than the airplane.

Bear Country U.S.A.

Maybe we should have opted for the extra rental car insurance. This is after the bears checked out the car.
Bryce's view of the giant antlers. And yes, his window is down.
Scratch and sniff?
This is the kind of bear I like.....FAKE!
Sitting in Bear Country.

Wow....this could never happen in California! Drive up, pay a fee, enter a drive thru theme park complete with live animals such as bear, wolves, mountain goats, fox, bison, elk..... even Santa's reindeer! Of course the signs were posted to keep all windows up, but Bryce didn't want a glare in the photos! I was terrified.....the boys were laughing.....we were off to quite a start.

On the other side of the tracks.

An old 1880's steam engine train.
Posing for a photo down by the creek.
Always exploring.
Hurry, say cheese before the train comes.

The Fish Whisperers

Bros sittin' on the dock
The boys made their own poles out of sticks, fishing line and hooks from the trash, and an old cigarette butt as bait. Yes they washed their hands, but first they caught 12 fish! Unbelievable!

Rush Hour in South Dakota

The traffic stops for the Buffalo to cross, and the donkeys stick their head in your vehicles and eat anything in sight! Seriously, we think traffic on the 91 is bad!

For the Record: Security should be increased.

Quick story: We decided to take a Sunday hike at the base of Mount Rushmore. We had not yet gone into the park because we were saving it for another day, but as we were driving around looking for a trail head we spotted a glimpse of the monument and thought we might be able to get a closer look from outside of the park. As we ventured up the mountain we spotted a couple of tepees. Before we knew it....we were INSIDE the National Monument itself! Honestly, there were no signs posted anywhere! The park rangers saw us and thought we were a part of a tour group so we had to look like we belonged. They escorted us to another viewing spot in the park and that's when we knew.......security should be increased! Just a little family of four out for a Sunday hike, ends up trespassing illegally! We decided we had to go back out the way we came in even though it was now roped off! "On three..... 1, 2, RUUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNN!" We ran down the hill as fast as we could trying to get back to the car. Breven's red shirt was far from camouflage, but it was my screaming, "START THE CAR, START THE CAR" that gave us away. No arrests were made. We didn't make the 5 O'clock news, but we did feel like we were starting in the movie National Treasure 2! Another thing to state for the record: We went back and paid the next day! It's always an adventure with the BTBB FAM.

Great Places....Great Faces!

Look at what the future holds!
Do you spy George Washington?
Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln.
Do you see any resemblence?
What a memory!

Welcome to the Cosmos!

I really was trying to stand up straight.
So were they.
This place gave us such a headache! I still think it was magical even though Bryce took the wind out of my sails giving all the scientific reasons to why this is a hoax. All I can say is that the trees grew funny, my eyes grew funny, and standing up straight was definitely funny! Check this place out if you ever travel through SD.

Saddle Up!

The boys took their first real trail ride. Breven rode "Dragon." Brad rode "Buck." Mom rode "Curly" (who had a bad case of gas.) Dad rode "Lewis." We ALL loved it. We took a one hour ride through the forest, spotting deer and getting rained on. What fun!

Wind Cave

Breven was a little cold down in the cave so the ranger gave him her jacket. He even helped her on the tour.
It is so amazing to see all the different formations.
This is called "box work" Out of all the box work known of in the world, Wind Cave has 98% of it!

Out on the Prairie

Give us wide open spaces....It's sure to put smiles on our faces!

We're going Pro!

Ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. Breven is pointing to the window that he almost broke. Oops! And that's my second "hole in one!"
Hole in one on par 5.
Bryce's hole in one par 11. And for the record, we played mini golf more in one week than in the 13 years we've known each other.

The No Tell-Motel

That's all I have to say about that!

Evan's Plunge

We found this plunge that has been around for 100 years in Hot Springs, SD. It has fresh mineral water pumped in constantly straight from the Hot Springs! It was a little stinky like boiled eggs, but the water was warm, the slides were fast and the alligators didn't bite!

Bryce tried to make it from ring to ring across the pool. He said that wet rings were a bit difficult to cross.