This is a blog of pictures and updates about our family, posted by Mama Tara.
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Black Hills Trip
After we returned from the concert, we were getting ready to turn around and head south for another trip. Before summer started we had booked a vacation to the Black Hills at the Palmer Gulch KOA near Hill City, SD. With school starting soon and already having been gone for the concert (not to mention our North Carolina trip just a month prior), coupled with Dana's additional days off of work he took for a guys' weekend with John the previous week, none of us was too excited to be gone again. When we booked the trip, it was a bit late in the game and there were only so many available dates.
But we were planning to bring the four-wheelers and Dana got us all packed up after Brynn's high school orientation last Wednesday. We took off around 6:00 after I had gotten home from work and made it as far as Uncle Lester and Auntie Shel's house. Unfortunately it was about 10:30 by the time we rolled up to their house.
The next morning we got ready to head out, but not before the girls made a trip to Buzzn' and we had an excellent breakfast courtesy of Shelly. She also sent the girls off with treat bags for the drive.
We did stop at the original Wall Drug for a pit stop which was pretty fun and interesting.
We picked up some souvenirs, fudge and an "F" branding iron for branding your steaks on the grill and got back on the road.
As I mentioned, there wasn't a lot of availability for dates and accommodations when we originally booked the trip, so we ended up reserving a cabin with a bathroom, but no AC. We were planning to ask if there were any cancellations for an upgrade when we arrived to check in, but when we stopped in Wall, Dana got a call from the KOA that they had put someone else in our cabin, so they were moving us to a different one, with more of a kitchenette area, plus AC.
On our way to find the cabin that we would be staying in, we took note of the one we had originally booked so we could fully appreciate our upgrade. Haha. It did kind of look like a little shanty.
Here's where we stayed. It was set up motel-style, with four rooms on the back side here where we were and then four more and a bigger porch area on the front side. We were toward the back of the campground and we had plenty of parking for the truck, trailer and wheelers.
Here's an inside view. 'Scuse the mess.
The campground had everything! We were really impressed. It was so family friendly with a couple of eateries, two in-ground pools, rock climbing wall, ping pong table, volleyball and basketball court, small waterslide, trail riding, bike and ATV rentals and then they had a little covered outdoor pavilion where they would host activities during the day and show movies at night. You could stay in the cabins on site or there were a ton of RVs with people camping as well as some tenters.
We decided to hit up one of the restaurants for dinner our first night.
On Friday I had booked a zipline adventure for Dana and Brynn in Keystone. After a yummy pancake breakfast at the Prospector's Tent in the morning, we hit up Mount Rushmore before the zipline.
Every morning they have a pancake breakfast that you can order with bacon, eggs, yogurt, rolls and muffins. I think each morning the girls got this massive chocolate cupcake...I mean muffin.
Clara and I rested for a bit back at the cabin and then checked out the giant jumping pillow pad thing at the activity zone.
After Clara and I picked up Dana and Brynn from ziplining, the girls wanted to do gold panning and gem mining, so we found a spot right in Keystone.
They spent a long time sifting for gold and then moved on to the gems which they enjoyed as well. They both said this was their fav part of the trip while ziplining was Dana's favorite.
Bless him, Dana kept on after the girls moved to the gems.
It was taco night in the Prospector's Tent so we did that for dinner on Friday night.
Dana and Brynn went four-wheeling while Clara and I checked out the pool/hot tub.
While we were in the hot tub, Clara struck up a conversation with a German couple vacationing in the states with their two daughters. They were so fun to visit with.
Saturday morning Brynn and I went for breakfast at Peggy's Place in Keystone before heading to Hill City for our trail ride. Brynn said she had a hankerin' for a diner breakfast and Peggy's Place looked like it would fit the bill and it did not disappoint. (I know my hair got into my food when I was taking the pic. Boo.)
It wasn't until after I had booked this trail ride in Hill City that I later realized there was trail riding available right at our campground. Oh well. We had a nice, leisurely ride; it was just Brynn and me with our trail guide.
Dana and Clara went four-wheeling while Brynn and I were hoofing it on four legs.
Once Brynn and I got back, we packed up to head to Sylvan Lake. It was an absolutely beautiful day to hike around.
We ended Saturday evening with some Nerts on the porch.
Sunday we didn't have anything planned in advance so we decided to check out the Cosmos and a cave near Hill City.
First we went back to Peggy's Place and brought Clara and Dana with this time.
The Cosmos are a specific area with a strong gravitational pull and is sort of a warp zone of gravity, I guess! It's hard to explain, but in certain spots there, the trees grow curved because of the force of gravity. They have a couple 'houses' that you walk through and it's difficult to walk in a straight line as nothing is level! Everybody thought it was pretty wacky and cool.
After the Cosmos, we found a cavern to tour nearby. This one promised crystals, not bats. :-) It was a cool 55 degrees in there. Like the trail ride, it was just the four of us plus our tour guide, so it was nice to have a private tour.
They had more gem and gold mining here, too, as well as fossils, so Clara bought a fossil kit and did that after the cave tour.
After a quick four-wheeler ride, we grabbed a bite at Turtle Town (a burger and ice cream place at the campground).
This was our last night at the campground, so Dana loaded up the wheelers while Clara and I rented a bike to tool around the campground on.
Dana and Brynn joined us for some Turtle Town ice cream and live music.
We ended the night with a little fire outside our cabin.
We had a really fun time and there was so much to do in the area, but even just at our campground. The weather was fantastic. So, even though we started out a little lackluster, it was a great trip!
Oh my gosh, I love everything about this so much! First of all, when I was little I used to be totally enamored with those gemstone bags like Brynn was looking at in Wall Drug. Nice upgrade on the cabin, glad that worked out! The whole campground looks amazing. I am freaking out over the zipline, ahhhh! I could never. Looks like lots of good food and family fun. I see you are rockin' a fanny pack on the horseback ride. The video of the trail riding looks so great - love the view. The cave looked cool (in more ways than one). That bike thing you rented in hilarious. Fun, fun!
A couple of weekends ago Clara had a very busy, but fun Saturday with her friend Cora and her sister, Violet. The sisters' dad took them to the Breakfast on the Farm near Hawley (We had gone many years ago. Clara was so little, she didn't remember it.) They also stopped at the dirt track races on their way back into town and then Dana met up with them at MSUM so they could go to the oceanarium there. We had never been before, but it was on our "Moorhead List" of fun things to do in the 56560 zip code. So, check! Out on side-by-side rides any chance we get. We parked on Sunset Road, as we've dubbed it, to watch the sun go down. There is usually one or two other cars parked on this low maintenance road whenever we venture down there. Clara into her granny hobbies. :-) We attended the last of this year's graduation parties over the weekend. I went to one in town on Friday night and then Clara and I stopped at Karlie's party near Fergus Falls on our way to Z...
The girls had Thursday, Friday and Monday off from school for the Easter break. So, Dana and I took most of the same time off (work) to match. Always reading. 💜 Hanging out with Brynn. 💗 Dana and I went on a Costco date. We tried our hand at homemade ravioli again. I think it went a bit more smoothly compared to last time. Hubert's sister Abby stopped by for a visit. We hadn't seen her in a long time and so it was fun to have her We celebrated Dana's birthday and kicked it off with some Sandy's donuts. I don't recall what was so funny. haha. Clara's card. Birthday King Clara dyed eggs. I baked a birthday cake for Dana, messed it up getting it out of the pans, and Clara somehow cobbled it together into a masterpiece. Dana chose Lucky 13's for dinner out. On Saturday we packed up to hit up Oliver's birthday party before we went on to Dead Lake for Easter. Oliver is 9! Photo Cred: Grandma Wanda In a shocking turn of events, most of the kids ended up in ...
We ARE still alive over here and have not frozen to death. Here's what we've been up to for the past month and a half! Brynn and Hubert at the OG (Olive Garden): 'Lady and the Tramp' style. haha. Taking in a Force game...with extra fighting. It was very exciting. One Sunday when Clara was at a sleepover, the three of us went to Black Coffee Waffle Bar after church and then for some crepes and boba at Tea & Crepe. Then Brynn and I went prom dress shopping which was really fun. She did find a dress she loves so that was a relief. This is not the one she chose, but she tried on quite a few nice ones. Clara made crowns for the king and I (me). Clara had to write an essay to be considered for the robotics team at school. She waited for at least a couple of weeks to learn if she was accepted, and unfortunately was not. She was pretty disappointed, but she does have a chance to reapply next year when she's a fifth grader, and won't have to write another essay. I th...
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