On the Road (in pictures)

The Last Night in our Sandy home. Campout style.
Grandma and Grandpa saw up off over pumpkin poppers at Einstein's on our way out of town. (and on their way to visit the Davises) What a sweet treat, the poppers AND the G&G hugs!
Windswept WY....BRRRRRRRRRRR!
More Windswept WY! Will this state EVER end?
Finally in SD, the Black Hills....Jewel Cave, 2nd largest in the world....just check that map out!
Huge formation on the ceiling of the cave...we did a 1.5 hr scenic tour.
Gunnar working on his Jr Ranger handbook....the kids earned badges at Jewel Cave and Mt Rushmore....and are mailing their Badlands one in.
We RAN to get to Mt Rushmore before sunset....made it with about 30 minutes to spare! We got to see it both in the daylight, and lit up after dark! Very cool. Pictures do not do it justice!
They LOVED it!
The big question from the kids, "But, WHY is it bad?"
I don't know, just ask a ranger, I said....but it doesn't look like there is much that grows here, does it? Maybe that's it!

Turns out that it was really hard to traverse on horses and on foot (by the indians) and they called it that. Huge reservations in the area, particularly Sioux.
If you look closely, you'll see Big Horned Sheep traversing down this mountainside, near the ravine in the center...
We also saw a few of these truckloads! Big hunting weekend...just outside the MN/NE border..

More on the 2nd half of the trip later! Fun times were had with Aunt KC and Uncle Jimmie!!