We thoroughly enjoyed our week long trip to Hill City, SD where my in-laws live during the summer. They have a 180 acre ranch up there that has been in the family for generations. It is always a special place to go. It is so beautiful with lots of pine trees, wild flowers and green grasses. There are granite spires all over the Hills that are just beautiful. Our trip started off a day late because the radiator cracked in our van, so we had to get a new one and have my dad put it in. Luckily, the car did great on our trip. Thanks Dad! My sister, Katie, came along with us. It was her first time ever going to the Hills. With 6 passengers, our van was bursting at the seems, but somehow we packed it all! The boys did awesome on the trip. I was blessed with good travelers!
The first day of our vacation was Saturday. We drove through the Grand Tetons. It was as beautiful as ever and there was a thunderstorm rolling in, so the storm clouds looked neat moving over the mountain tops.
We spent our first night in Douglas, WY and made it to Hill City on Sunday. Gordon's brother, Eric, was also there. It was our first time seeing him in a year because he has been working in Kuwait! On Monday, Gordon's dad, Bob, put some hay in the bed of his pick-up truck and took the whole family on a hay ride around the ranch. It was a lot of fun and the boys really enjoyed it. We got to a remote section of the ranch called The Park where we stopped and walked around, looking at the remains of an old cabin that a great-great aunt of Gordon's lived in long ago. The boys were walking around some fallen logs and rustled up some bees. Preston got stung on his arm and head and Jackson got stung on his ear. The poor babies! Jackson's ear swelled up to about three times its normal size! It was their first bee stings. They were troopers, though, and only cried for a little bit. When we got back, Preston and Jackson each took a turn sitting on Daddy's lap to drive Grandpa's truck!
On Tuesday, we rode the 1880's Train to Keystone, where Bob and Aunt Barbara were waiting with our car so we could go to Mount Rushmore. The boys really enjoyed the train ride. We walked the Presidential Trail at Rushmore. It was a really pretty walk that gave us a lot of different perspectives of the president's faces. The boys (Preston and Jackson) loved an exhibit in the visitor's center that was a simulation of how the sculptors made Rushmore. They pushed down on a lever and watched a portion of Rushmore explode on a TV screen. The boys kept getting in line over and over to do that one!
We were supposed to leave on Friday, but we weren't ready yet, so we stayed an extra day. Gordon, Eric, Katie and I hiked up Ford Mountain in the morning. It is pretty much right in Bob and Sheryl's backyard. That evening we played miniature golf. It was a lot of fun! On Saturday we sadly started the trip back home to Idaho. It was a beautiful drive through the Big Horn Mountains. We spent the night in Cody, WY at a cool lodge-style hotel. Sunday was the last day of our trip, but we made the most of it. We drove through Yellowstone on the way home. It was a quick trip, but we saw Yellowstone Falls and Old Faithful. We got to see several buffalo, a grizzly bear (from a distance), some deer and elk, and an eagle. It was a wonderful end to a great trip!
