Our Bonifide Vacation to the Black Hills (which was already over a month ago...)

It is snowing for the third consecutive day, so I'm in a bloggy mood but my conscience keeps pricking me and saying I need to update the church website and church blog before I attend my own blog.  But updating would require scanning pictures and our scanner is slightly dying and when I try to upload pictures to the website it freaks out and the pics vanish and I say "forget it! I'll go to my blog!  They love me there!"  I can't tell you how often that has happened.  I'm not complaining....well, okay, yes I am.  And I'm making horrible excuses.  So, anyway, moving on...because I won't be guilty to update my own blog.  So there.  I think.

October was a very busy and happy month.  The biggest highlight was that we went on vacation.  This is truly amazing.  I don't think we have been on an actual vacation as a family since Charissa was one.  For a couple years, there, we would only go on vacation if Doug could talk a couple family members into coming up with an odd job or two and/or our vacations would coincide with some kind of event be that a holiday or graduation or some such.  So we went on an actual vacation to the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming.  It was the perfect time of year to be there.

Playing at a park in South Dakota on our way to Hot Springs where we spent the night.

The hotel we stayed at the first night had a buffalo in the lobby.  

Brandt about flipped his lid.  

(Notice his pursed lips - "Whoo-whoo!!")

 

 Charissa and Brandt arrive at Mt. Rushmore.

 Charissa planks a bench at Bear Country U.S.A., which is a very cool place, by the way.

It's a drive-thru park with all kinds of animals but especially bears.

They have a little zoo afterward with baby animals and the smaller critters that would be hard to see just driving by.  Here are the baby bear cubs sound asleep.  Sorry it's such a bad picture, but see the blonde bear?

A buffalo welded out of random metal - notice horns made of brake handles.

 A fishery in Spearfish, SD.  The metal box is spraying food into the water.  See the feeding frenzy?

 Right along the SD and WY border - I love all the colors!

 Devil's Tower, WY!  Talk about a strange formation!  

It was made from the cone of an extinct volcano that has had much of the base eroded away by the nearby river. 

 The Sundance Kid meets Doug in Sundance, WY.

We had such a wonderful time and saw lots of neat sights.

The best part, of course, was being together.

(Although Charissa would probably say it was the hotel hot tubs...)