Day 3
This was our second full day in the hills. We met up with Luke and Jill and the kids in the morning and headed to Bear Country. This was one of Charlie's favorites. He loved the bears and he got to sit on my lap in the truck...2 pluses for him. The only downside is he asked to sit on my lap the rest of the trip. The kids were so excited to see their cousins Owen, Ava, Ezra and Ily :D
I really like this picture below I just wish we could have had Ily in the picture!!
When we were done with the animals, we all sat down and had a picnic together.
After Bear Country we went our separate ways. We headed to Cold Stone (my favorite place for ice cream) and then to Sturgis. It was kind of cool being in Sturgis because they were setting up for the rally but there wasn't all the chaos and we felt safe having our kids there. We walked the streets for awhile and looked in the gift shops (Olivia was obsessed with gift shops on this trip), visited the Sturgis Motorcyle Museum and on our way out we took pictures in front of the big Sturgis hill.
This motorcyle was ridden over 1,000,000 miles by its owner.
We took this picture just for Uncle Troy.
In Sturgis we also met up with Ruth and John and then headed to our cabin that we rented. Olivia was so excited for our next destination. She wanted to meet Doug and go to Hay Creek Ranch. This is the place that my dad stays at when he goes out west every year with the horses. It was a nice little cabin in the middle of no where. We will definitely stay there again!! It was sort of fun having no TV, phones or internet for a short period of time.
While we were there, Olivia, Charlie and Jenna built a "mountain" for Charlie's animals.
Day 4
On the fourth day we woke up early, had breakfast and headed to Hill City. We went to the 1880 train. Jesse, Olivia, Ruth, John, Mike, Jenna and Daniel all boarded the train for a round trip tour that went between Hill City and Keystone. Charlie and I hung out while they were on the train. We just didn't think Charlie would do well on a 2 1/2 hour train ride where you couldn't walk around. They all said the train ride was great and Charlie and I enjoyed some shopping and we visited Crazy Horse too. On our way to Crazy Horse we followed the Oscar Meyer Wiener :D
After the train ride we headed back towards Deadwood and had a picnic. We then went to Lead and toured the Homestake Gold Mine. Charlie really liked this place. He likes looking at machinery and anything to do with digging!
After all of that we headed to Deadwood to check out the area. We got there just in time to watch the shoot out. I wish I had pictures, but we were too far away. It started pouring rain while we were walking through the town so we headed back to the cabin to grill and hang out.
Day 5
Saturday was our last full day of our vacation. This was the reason we came to the Black Hills. Jesse's cousin Ted and his fiance' were married. It was a beautiful day. The wedding was in Spearfish so we decided to take the Scenic Byway to Spearfish. I have been through this a few times before but every time I swear it gets prettier. The falls were amazing and the canyon is breathtaking.
The wedding was at the Spearfish Fish Hatchery in the Rose Garden. It was beautiful.
In between the ceremony and reception the kids got feed the fish. They loved it :)
Day 6
The dreaded ride home. It is always easier driving to your destination that coming home. We decided to get up early on Sunday morning and head home. We didn't stop much, but we had to stop at Wall Drug. A trip to the Black Hills wouldn't be complete without making that stop. The kids loved it. We didn't have a ton of time there, but each of the kids were able to pick out something. Charlie picked out a T-Rex and Olivia picked out a horse necklace.
