Internet at last.....

For our faithful blog reading friends (all 7 of you) we apologize for the delay. I am sure you have been worried, anxious and awaiting our next post.

To catch you up...

Wednesday we made it to the Badlands and did the scenic drive through. It was humbling and amazing to see the beautiful landscape. We stopped at a sod house frontier original home. After stalking the prairie dogs for photo ops, Mary and I got advice from a worker to take the hike at the Window and Door scenic stop. It was a short hike that led to a ladder of logs and cable. We climbed up about a 100 feet and stood on the side of a mountain. It was exciting, terrifying, and remarkable. Mary fretted on the way up and I cried on the way back down. From the Badlands we drove on through to our resort. The Garmin lied to us and we were wandering about the Black Hills, in the dark, on dirt roads, do you hear banjo music.

Thursday we got up early and went to Bear Country, this is a great place to see wildlife up close. Because of the bugs on the bumper a bear licked our car and then gnawed on the bumper. This year they had 21 baby bears who tumbled and played and were sooooo cute. We then briefly visited Mt. Rushmore it was a place of awe and disbelief. Then we went a took the 1880 train from Hill City to Keystone. We spent a couple of hours in Keystone and the highlight there was fabulous taffy. The train ride was really cool and very relaxing. Read here, the adults all had trouble not using this as a nap time, and Velma flat out snored a time, or two.

Fun facts we learned on the train. The train whistle at crossings is Morris code for the letter Q because the Queen's ship toots this signal when it comes into the harbor for other boats to clear the way. 90% of the fawns this year will be born this week. The train we rode was in several movies and documentaries. The seat backs on the train flip, so that you can face forward, no matter which direction it travels in.

Friday I woke up in a lot of pain and Velma took me in to Rapid City. There she and I took a tour of the Rapid City ER. Confirmation of a kidney stone and great pain medicine later we reconnected with Mary and the kids. Mary had taken the 3 kids on a horseback ride, played miniature golf, jumped on a trampoline and rode cool banana bikes. Her comment about that whole experience was, "My knees are too old for this shit!" We then went on a safari jeep ride through Custer State park....all I can say is WOW! The buffalo were within 3 feet of us. You know your close, when you can smell them. The sound they make when our jeep comes between the cow and her calf is primal. There were fields of buffalo, picture Dances with Wolves movie scenery, and we were there. We really saw "Where the deer and the antelope play" and we sang it a few times. This trip ended with a chuck wagon diner and cowboy entertainment. I danced and sang until the cows came home.