THE TRIP *Longest post by far*

*WARNING* This post's spacing will totally suck. Bear with me please.

We started out our excursion to the Black Hills South Dakota on a Tuesday. And of course we had bad weather most of the trip.


The kids were awesome in the car. Before we left, I told them that a road trip involved many things. Music, singing, movies, games and eating whatever you want. And man did they take that to heart. I swear they ate the entire time we were in the car. Crackers, cheese, carrots, snap peas, and of course...Nerds. They love those little pebble sugar bits. We played a lot of "I spy". Which kinda sucked with a 2 year old. All I heard was...."I pie wit my liddle eye sumpin gween!" When we would guess what it was....she always said no. Then when we asked her what she spied...she would tell us whatever we first guessed. It drove Miles ape shit. He kept saying..."that's NOT how to play Claire!!!" Ha ha ha....it was the only time in the entire car trip here and back that they argued.

We stopped off half way and stayed over night. The kids swam and we were able to meet up with my parents and my sister. Oh yeah...we were headed to a family reunion on my dad's side. Holiday Inn Express in Mitchell SD? Not bad for an overnight stop. Clean. And that's all I care about. I prefer not to get the herp from a hotel blanket BEFORE I am on a weeks vacation.

We saw the Corn Palace. Which is basically a small history lesson in corn and then a huge gift shop. Eh...take it or leave it. But there was an American Indian statue the kids thought was weird cause..."he didn't move the whole time, and his thumb is missing."
Next was the Badlands. Miles kept asking us if there were rattle snakes there. And he was scared shitless of going over the edge. Claire and I just trotted out, no biggie. The kids loved the climbing. And it was hot! We ran into my aunt and uncle there as well. Miles also told us he was excited to see the Grand Canyon. We told him it was the Badlands that we were in. Throughout the drive he kept saying..."I really love the Bad Canyon!"

Next stop, after multiple bathroom breaks, was Wall Drug. Talk about shit hole. So campy. I love it. It is such a strange place. But the kids had a bit of fun and we ate lunch there. Apparently South Dakota is a hotbed for teens from other countries to work for the summer. I don't know why...but there were many a transplant in Wall Drug. And at our cabin for that matter. But that is a whole other story.
More bad weather as we got closer to Rapid City South Dakota. There were multiple tornado warnings.

We finally arrived to the cabin at Sylvan Lake South Dakota. It was beautiful there.


Our friends D and B met us there. We vacationed together for a few days. It was so nice. We drove to Mt. Rushmore. Cheesy. We drove all around the Needles Highway. Barfy/Dizzy inducing. We bonfired and we just hung out. It was awesome to have friends along. They came from Wednesday night until Saturday morning.





After D and B left....I was dizzier then a mo fo....so we stayed up in the mountains and I had to do my exercises. That really sucked. The altitude messed with my brains. Ugh. So we stayed in the area and did a lot of rock climbing and hiking. Ryan made it a point to run to Harney's Peak every morning before the rest of us got up. That healthy freak. I love him. Apparently one morning he got trapped in a thunder storm and had to hide under some boulders. Poor guy.







As I said....it was a family reunion. But I didn't get the "ok" to post photos of said family members...so you don't get to see what they all look like. But we did spend a lot of time with about 50 or so family members. It was really nice to see them. They are spread out all over the US. Why South Dakota you ask? Because my grandmother and her family are from this very area. It is where it all started.

We left with very little fanfare. We had dinner with some cousins in a place called Hill City. The restaurant is called the Alpine Inn. The only question at dinner is 6 oz or 10 oz. As in steak. That's it. And it's good. If you get a chance to have dinner there, go early, stand in line with a drink and chat up the other tourists waiting like cattle to eat....well....cattle.

After dinner we headed out. We planned to stop half way again for the night. And of course there were more tornado warnings around us. And I mean AROUND us. We were just about 15 minutes ahead of the storm the whole time. Ryan didn't want to stop to let the kids go to the bathroom, for fear we would blow away. But we did stop in the Badlands. The gas station was closed so the kids went outside the way the old timers did it.

I guess....oh that reminds me...when we were in Deadwood, we went to the graves of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. It is way WAY up there. We drove part of the way and then had to hoof it the rest. It's almost straight up. Once my parents saw the hill...they said no thanks and stayed down. D and B went with us too. The only stipulation D had, was that we be out of the cemetery by dark. Ha ha.

So we get up there with the kids and sure as shit, Claire bellows.."I gotta go pee!!!!" Of course. And there is no bathroom, as the reception area is closed for the night, and we are probably entering the cemetery illegally. We knew she would have to go outside, but for fear of tempting the cowboy spirits, we took her out and down the parking lot to go. God. Can you imagine what kind of "ghosts" would be chatting her up in the middle of the night if she peed on their graves?

Anyway......home....we left for home on Monday. Big storms followed and gulped us up. But we made it home.

Along the way, somewhere near Mitchell SD, there were tons of little turtles on the side of the road. All I heard while driving was Ryan.....
"turtle"
"turtle"
"turtle"
"squished turtle"
"turtle"

Thus ends our trip to Black Hills South Dakota. And I did all the laundry too.
*sigh*

Oh and the story about our cabin staff? I was.... in the ladies room of the cabin. I heard a voice say.."housekeeping?" I politely said....just one moment. Then upon exiting said ladies room, I was promptly met by 4 Asian men. The "leader" of the cleaning crew smiled at me and asked...."Are you Chinese?" I said no. He said, "Are you sure?" I said....pretty sure. Weird.