New Luke Video...

Here's a cute update of our little friend... he's been with us for four weeks now!

Enjoy!

Day Five -- More Deadwood and then heading home to Colorado.

We spent the morning in Deadwood when it was not raining and hailing!




This is the famous saloon where Wild Bill Hickok was shot!



They do some fun reinactments explaining the history of Deadwood.

Our little guy was too tired to walk the whole way back to the RV.

So we were happy to be heading home and we look forward to heading back to the Black Hills of South Dakota soon! (With guests?????!!!!???)

There is something about me and the "Welcome to Colorado" sign.... On our first time crossing the border from Kansas last September, it was too dark at night to get a photo of the sign. This time, the new camera got some crazy error and I only got a corner of the sign. We're going to have to leave Colorado again soon.... Maybe Utah this time!

PS -- The sign says "Welcome to Colorful Colorado"

Day Four -- More Badlands and our evening in Deadwood.

We stayed at the Badlands/White River KOA. They call it the White River because all the sediment from the rocks washes down into it and it has a very cloudy color. The campground was another good one but much different because of the different climate. It was much warmer and buggier but still very nice.



We drove the Badlands loop to see more of this amazing area.


If you look closely, you can see the driver of our RV...
It's Sadie. Everytime we'd get out to check out the scenery, Sadie would climb into the front seat to have a good view of where we went!

We went to a section of the park that is known to have bison/buffalo. We saw them but from very far away. Apparently, they are not nice creatures.

We made the two hour drive back up to Deadwood, SD. Deadwood is site of an old west town from the gold rush. It has been mostly restored and is now a tourist attraction. There are a ton of casinos there. We went into town for dinner but ended up stuck in a casino during a hail storm. We had to wait for the shuttle bus to take us back to the campground and we had no option but....

I made $25... and I know, I'm not a good role model. Henry was so excited to get to stay and watch. The rules state that kids have to be three feet from the gambling and are not allowed to touch any of the machines. He kept pressing me to bet more... Yikes!

PS... Proof of the rainstorm... :)

Day Three -- The Badlands National Park

We were not ready to leave the great Rafter J Bar Ranch but had open road to explore.

We went to the Crazy Horse Monument which is about 8 miles from Hill City. It is another awesome statue carved into the Black Hills. This monument is still under construction and one day will be the largest statue in the world, complete with a running horse.

Then we were off to the Badlands which is in Interior, SD about two hours from Mount Rushmore. The kids enjoyed another few hours of RV fun!

The Badlands National Park is an amazing site to see. The rock formations are breathtaking and the views go on forever...


There are some rocks that are ok to climb. The kids loved that.

Luke and Sadie even got to climb a bit...

Yikes!

The park is really big and this crazy rocky landscape is as far as the eye can see.

Day Two -- Father's Day

The campground we stayed at was called the Rafter J Bar Campground in Hill City, SD. It was really nice. The facilities are absolutely top notch -- nice clean showers/bathrooms, pancake breakfast, fun playground and pool and really nice campsites.




The campground is right on the 12 Miles Station on the Cheyenne-Deadwood Route. During the gold rush in 1874, General Custer and his team stayed at the Rafter J Bar Ranch.

First stop -- Mount Rushmore. We toured this great national monument and enjoyed the visitor center. They have a great 1/2 mile hike to see the faces from a different view and despite the steps, it was worth the hike!

This photos are taken from the hike...

I love this one of Henry and Emily looking up at the monument.

We went back to the campground for a real camping dinner. We made steak teriyaki in foil packets. And we cooked them for too long! Bummer.... but then we had grilled candy bars and they were yummy. The setting was too lovely to be annoyed by over-cooked steak!

Luke did great on the trip. We brought his crate so he always had a safe place to ride. But he loved hanging out by the campfire!

And Sadie loved it too. She is such a cool dog... we're really lucky to have her.

Henry brought the Stratego game he got for his birthday and he, Lance and James enjoyed playing while we waited for dinner.

I captured these great photos of the kids with our new camera.

And I like these two the best...

My sweet husband on Father's Day.