Westward Ho!

Yes, we are heading west for a little vacation! 8 1/2 years ago when we had to cut our honeymoon short because of a funeral we needed to attend, Jere promised to take me back to the Black Hills someday. Well, we finally did it! Not exactly a honeymoon with 3 children in tow, but fun to show these places to our children.

 

First, however, we stopped in St. Paul to visit my grandparents. Then to Fargo to say hi to Michele and Lena, and we even got to see my Aunt Mary and cousin Erica!

 

Waiting for lunch, Fargo, ND.

From Fargo we went to Milbank, and attended at the church where we got married. It was incredibly sweet to reconnect with so many old friends there! Seems like there wasn't near enough time... But we had to keep heading west. This time, instead of taking the interstate, we traveled more through the back country. It was so much more fun, and very beautiful despite the rain and heavy cloud cover. We took a turn through the Badlands, and of course had to stop at Wall Drug...

The Badlands.

A Bighorn ewe--we saw a fair amount of these!

Taking a little walk, despite high winds and sleet.

We finally made it to the cabin we were renting, and the children were glad to have a place to stay for a bit! It's a nice cabin with a full kitchen and two bedrooms, and a creek running through the front yard. I'll have to get a picture of it sometime before we leave...

Yesterday we decided to take a drive to Deadwood, thinking we'd avoid the rain and cooler weather spending the day inside museums. Well, once we got into the high country on the way to Deadwood, the rain changed to snow... It was gorgeous, but got a bit interesting when the wind would gust down a valley so we couldn't see the road! Jere estimated they had 6-8 inches on the ground.

Heading down the hill into Deadwood.

However, unhappily, ALL the museums in Deadwood were closed due to weather. So we drove down the historic street downtown a couple of times, and then headed out to lower elevations. The only picture I got was of the main welcome sign!

After leaving Deadwood we went out for lunch, then decided to just go to the nearby Cabela's instead of trying to find another museum. At least it was raining again instead of snowing!

Leanna and the moose. Can you tell we were out in the wind?