Hi friends! How are you?! I am improved. Thank you for all of your kind words, warm wishes and much needed prayer. We just got back from a vacation in South Dakota! Yay! :) I survived our vacation. ;) With the help of percocet. Oh well. It took us 12 1/2 hours to drive there and the same to come home.
We went to Wall Drug, Mount Rushmore, Rushmore Cave, Cosmos Mystery Area, Custer State Park, Iron Mountain, Bear Country, Chapel In The Hills, an antique store and an antique mall. I think that about covers it?!
This was the view from our lodge & resort. Can you see George Washington off in the distance?! :)
The Black Hills of South Dakota! Wow! What landscape! So extremely different from our little part of Wisconsin.
The National Monument of Mount Rushmore was so very amazing. The night time ceremony was so very inspiring. We all sang "America The Beautiful". I am getting goosebumps all over again just thinking about it. So many Americans singing together in the dark. It was all so very patriotic. It ended with every person who has ever served in our military coming down to the platform. They all told their name, where they are from, and what branch of military they served in.
Custer State Park has 71,000 acres with buffalo, burros, big horn sheep and so much more. The roads! We have never driven such crazy roads! We drove through one lane tunnels that were blasted through rock. We made it to the top of Iron Mountain. This is the highest point in the U.S., east of the Rocky Mountains.
The kids did the Extreme Rushmore Cave Tour. They walked with their guide for 20 minutes total and CRAWLED for 2 hours. Talk about dirty?! And intense! Madeleine positioned herself between her two brothers. ;) Good for her. She did not cry til she saw Brian and I after it was over. She was brave. They all were. My goodness! There are rooms called the Spider Trap ( You crawl through a tunnel, end up in a small circle that is funnel shaped. You drop into the hole and climb back up! No thanks!), and the Book Worm (You crawl while on your back with your head sideways because the helmet won't fit otherwise. You go up and down bumps.). Their only lighting was from their head lamps. The kids were quite tired that night.
Bear Country is a Wildlife Preserve. We saw arctic wolves, badgers, beavers, bighorn sheep, black bears,
bobcats, buffalo, Canadian lynx, coyotes, elk, grizzly bears, mountain lions, porcupines, raccoons, red foxes, reindeer, river otters, Rocky Mountain goats, and skunks! ;) Needless to say you drive in and stay in your car!
At the end of the park they have "Babyland". Bear cubs! Too adorable. :) They are taken during hibernation from their mothers for their own safety (many are killed by male bears in the wild).
We did stop in a Ben Franklin in Rapid City. We just don't have one of those great stores near our home anymore. I bought some linen there.
See the Shirley Poppies?! They bloomed while we were gone. I sprinkled some seeds this spring and never expected them. =)
Guess where we stopped during our loooong journey home? At a NLNS. NOT local needlework shop! ;)
Crosse Stitchery in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Right across the border from Minnesota. We all really wanted to get home, but you know
I got psyched up! :) Me, being me, bought purchases from the sales bin. I just have a hard time spending money on myself. Here's what I got.
I couldn't resist that Bent Creek Littles Uncle Sam. :) I have him half done right now. I will be passing that little chart along. Watch for it!
Check this out!
Like my new t-shirt? It came in pink too! Not in my size though! Wah wah! :(
My brother Michael stayed at our home and took care of our poodles. He is 13 months younger than me. He was born breech with the cord wrapped around his neck. He was blue. His leg was sticking out when my mom arrived at hospital. So Michael has always been "slow". He has lived with my mom all his life. He loves animals like I do. The two poodles love Uncle Mike. =) It works out very well for us all. Mike gets a bit of a break from the same house for almost 44 years now, and we get excellent care of our precious poodles.
That is everything for today my friends. I look forward to hearing from you!
Have a great day in the Lord!
Stitching and praying,
Vickie
30 comments:
Great pictures...
Looks like such a fun trip! Wow! I went to that area when i was young with my family. It's a gorgeous place for sure! The extreme thing sounds way too hard to me! Love your purchases from the NLNS. My friend gave me a night shirt in pink that matches your t-shirt! :D How nice that your brother took care of the dogs while you were gone. Perfect arrangement indeed! Glad you are doing better. Hope that keeps up!
Lots of great stitching stash! Thanks for sharing your pics of the beautiful landscape right here in the USA, looks like a fun time! Your blooming poppies are gorgeous. Enjoy the weekend!
Vickie what great pictures. you did so much. You have to give yourself credit. The bear picture made me laugh. Glad you had a good trip.
Hi Vickie, Thank you for sharing your vacation and glad that you are feeling a little better. I love the pictures that you took on your trip it let me see part of the country that I have never been too. I love to see what you are stitching. I just finished a custom order and it is ready to laundry and send on its way. i am keeping busy, but tonight I am reading blogs taking a little me time. Take care. Hugs and Prayers from your Missouri Friend.
What a wonderful vacation for you Vickie! We went to South Dakota two years ago, but it was during the Sturgis motorcycle rally, and so many bikers, we didn't get the full experience of it, maybe some day we'll go back. It's good to see you do a little chart shopping, can't wait to see your new pieces all stitched up!
What a great trip! Thanks for sharing those beautiful photos. Glad you are feeling better!
A super vacation. I'd have passed on the cave stuff too! Been to Mt Rushmore - it is a very special place. Bet you are glad to be back home and enjoying your stash!
Incredible vacation for all your family! LOVED every photo especially you by the Cowgirl sign:) Too cute!
oooh how I miss BF shops, you got some great charts & linens. You kids are brave alright crawling with helmets.
love Annette
What a lovely trip ..glad you are feeling better.
Lovely photos..
Big hugs x
Wow!!! What a fantabulous holiday!!! I have always dreamed of going to Mount Rushmore.... oh well, for me it will be carry on dreaming and keep watching A Hitchcock movies :D Really look like you had a fantastic time, thank you for sharing these lovely holiday snaps xxx
Thank you for sharing your holidays in S-Dakota ; give me a lot of pleasure to travel a moment with your family and discover so famous places ! Too great to add fabric shopping during vacations. xxxx
Wow--what a great vacation! You experienced so many things out of the ordinary and saw so much on the trip, it will be in your memories for a long time! Glad the entire family went along! As the kids get older, there is less time together. AND you got some stash--bravo! Glad you are feeling better...Hugs!
I remembered buying Perocet when I was poorly when we were on holiday in South Africa. I love your photos thank you for sharing them. Your new T-Shirt is wonderful and I was glad to read you are feeling better and brighter x
I thoroughly enjoyed this post, Vickie, having never been to SD. My best friend from childhood lives in Rapid City and I so hope to get out there to visit with her and see the sights. What amazing scenery. I would love seeing all the wildlife although the bears would have scared me so close to the car...
The crawl would have done me in--no way could I have even attempted it. I hate small dark spaces so much! Your kids certainly are brave and good for Madeleine for keeping up with her brothers :)
Glad you got some cute "on sale" charts--love the one you're currently stitching.
So glad you had a safe trip and enjoyed all the family time--there is nothing better than a long road trip :)
Wow just look at those views. Looks like you had a fantastic time. Tunnels and caves ... not my thing. I cringe even watching them on TV. Love the new stash.
Oh thank you for the lovely pictures. Sounds like you had a super fun adventure. I so love that all the people who served in our military were honored at the monument. That is as it should be! Glad you got to go to a stitchy shop and Ben's! Count me in on the Uncle Sam chart, he's adorable. Blessings always.
What a great trip. Beautiful country. I need an Ativan after reading about the crawling. I can't imagine! I'm sure your brother enjoyed his own vacation at your home.
Wonderful photos.
Great fun.
How lucky the poodles are to have a sweet uncle to watch them.
Glad you are improving.
Hugs
What a great post Vicki, love all the photos and all your stash .
So happy you had a good holiday and you were feeling better.
Happy day.
I'm glad to hear you are feeling a bit better again. It looks like you had a lovely time on holiday and yes I do love your view from the hotel room! I would love to visit Mt. Rushmore :)
How nice of your brother to take care of your dogs for you too :)
Thanks for letting us tag along on your trip, I enjoy seeing the places other stitchers visit. It's great that you have someone you trust to care for your poodles, it's hard to leave pets at home when traveling.
What a wonderful trip! Well, maybe except for the extreme cave tour ~ made my palms sweat just thinking about it. :) Way to go Madeleine!! Quite a variety of wildlife ~ would have loved to seen the bear. Love the charts and fabric you picked up. And how sweet of your brother to take care of Henry and Mabel! Very glad to hear you are doing better!
Wow! what an exciting adventure you had. Thanks for the wonderful photos you shared and stashing.
You've picked up some lovely charts. I can never find such LNS to stash on my trips. LOL
Glad you felt better on your journey and someone to take care of Henry and Mabel. Take care.
Such a wonderful trip, loved seeing pics of your adventure. Nice stash you treated yourself too.
Looks like you had a good time. And adding stash is always fun too. Thanks for sharing your pictures.
We did a cross country family vacation years ago, maybe when I was 12 or 13, and hit up Mt Rushmore and Wall Drug! It is a very different landscape from the East Coast too - but soooo beautiful. That extreme tour though - I'm with you. NO THANK YOU!!! I got the heebie jeebies just reading about it.
Sounds like a great trip!
Except maybe the bear part. That's REALLY close for wild bears. Yikes. I would love to get out that way someday though. So beautiful.
And it ended up with some stash buying so what a great way to end things, right?
Such great pictures from your trip to South Dakota. I've been in that region twice and I was enjoying my visits very much. Your pictures were great to remind me ot that.
Great that you got to visit a needlework store on your way back home. I think this is always a must when you do not have such a store nearby, lol. Great new stash for you!
What a fabulous trip!! There is absolutely no way I could do the extreme tour!!
Post a Comment