My extended family is officially done planning for weddings, at least for now.
This happy couple are now husband and wife.
This family has grown by three in the past five months,
and I adore each and every one of them.
We all fell in love with Briana instantly and would tell Spencer that he better hold onto this one.
Briana is a hard worker and knew exactly what she wanted for her reception.
From making a picture wall out of pallets,
to bending metal for shepherds hooks,
to making two s'more bars from scratch,
to baking individual cakes for her wedding cake, she did it all.
Congratulations you two!
This summer we were able to check off another national park on my want to see list. What better time to experience Mount Rushmore than on the week of July 4th.
It is definitely worth seeing this monument in person. I don't think pictures do it justice until you have experienced seeing it with your eyes.
Every angle gives you a different glimpse of the details.
Did you know that 90% of the sculpting was done by dynamite blasting. That is some precise engineering when you think of the tools available back then.
On our way to Mount Rushmore, we fell into the tourist trap and paid an obscene amount of money to drive through Bear Country.
I don't have many positive thoughts about this place. I left there feeling so sorry for all the bears.
I'm sure watching the bears pace back and forth at the entrance and exit gates to their little community did not help. You could just sense that they wanted to be free. The only uplifting experience was to watch these little guys play in the tree.
Crazy Horse Monument was worth seeing, but you leave wondering if they will ever finish it.
Custer State Park is beautiful.
It doesn't matter if you are traveling on Wildlife Loop,
driving on Needles Highway,
enjoying the beauty of Sylvan Lake,
or driving through the tunnels and over the bridges of Iron Mountain Road; there are gorgeous views surrounding you.
Next stop is Wind Cave National Park.
This is the only natural opening into the Wind Cave,
and it's guaranteed to give you the wind blown look.
Inside the cave we were able to see all the different rock formations. This honeycomb (boxwork) look was interesting to see,
as well as this frostwork (which is hard to see in this picture).
Here's more boxwork at the end of our tour.
I know the highlight of the trip for Bob was our stop at Sturgis.
He was a little giddy being able to spend time at the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame.
A trip to Sturgis wouldn't be complete without a quick stop by the Full Throttle Saloon.
They were just starting to open up the place to get it ready for the rally in August. If you have watched any footage of the Sturgis Rally, I'm sure that you have heard of this place. The most interesting thing to me about this place was this welding masterpiece high in the sky.
Deadwood is full of history of the Old Wild West.
This is the reenactment of the gunning down of Wild Bill Hickok.
You may have heard about this woman too.
Next stop Badlands National Park.
Leaving the Badlands we stopped at the Prairie Homestead, just about a mile outside of the park.
It has one of the only original farm sod homes in tact today.
Spending time here as we were watching a storm move in was pretty humbling as we imagined what it must have been like for the original settlers in this grassland.
It was a trip full of history and beautiful sights. If you've ever thought of adventuring to this part of South Dakota, I would highly recommend it.
