Badlands, South Dakota

Tara and the children went to the Badlands one morning when I was in class. It is about 50 minutes from Rapid City. The original Wahl Drug is out there also. The boys were so excited to find wooden swiss army knives with their names on them. The girls each bought Indian dolls.

These two photos were taken from the same spot. The earth just turns from prairie to desolation. Tara said it was amazing to see.

I hope they were safe!

Not quite the Swiss Alps, but still breathtaking!



These last three are taken from the car while driving on the road that goes through the park.

Mt. Rushmore

Mt Rushmore is in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was started in 1927 and finished in 1941. Each night they do a lighting cermony where a park ranger gives a little patriotic speach prior to lighting the faces of the Presidents. They also invite all current and former military members to come down on the stage while a scout troop retires the flag. Then each military person said their name and what branch they served in. This was a very neat thing to experience.

Here are the military members and scout troop as the flag is retired.

You can see Mt. Rushmore in the background.

A closeup of the lighted presidents.

This was prior to the lighting ceremony at Mt. Rushmore.

From left to right: George Washington, Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln. The noses are 20 feet from brow to tip and the faces are 60 feet.

There is a little trail you can go on to get closer. All the loose rock is from being blasted off when they were doing the carving. Most of the "carving" was done with dynamite.

Shell Wyoming

After leaving Cody we went through a small town called Shell where Garrity has worked for a horse trainer/seller. She said the drive from Shell to Sheridan would be beautiful and she was right. We went over a very steep canyon and noticed that the pavement had a red color to it.

We stopped at this waterfall. It was unlike most waterfalls in how it formed. Lots of power!

Landon loved this rock and wished he could pick it up and take it home so he could share it with everyone.

What beautiful children!

Buffalo Bill Museum - Cody, WY

We left Yellowstone and went to Cody, Wyoming. A pretty drive for the most part. In Cody there is a big wonderful museum called the Buffalo Bill Museum. There were a lot of things to see and look at.

This is a very common stop for Landon!

I know, it is a white tail - but it is still huge!

Day 1 - Yellowstone

Landon absolutely loves his rocks!














We went on a trip to Rapid City, South Dakota so I could take classes for work. We were excited to take the whole family and make a vacation out of it. We were gone for a whole week. We went through Yellowstone National Park the first day and stayed at Cody, Wyoming that night. We did not spend a lot of time in Yellowstone as we decided to come back when we had more time to spend (and it is only a little over an hour from our house).





This bull elk was causing a traffic jam.









It is really neat to see how the forest has come back since the big wildfires there 21 years ago. The new growth pine trees especially.



Old Faithful was a hit. Tara got us all up and on the road early so we got to Yellowstone by 6:30 am. We were one of three cars when we pulled in to Old Faithful.

As we were turning off the car, Old Faithful went off and so we did not really get to see it - so we went on some smaller hikes and waited for it to go again.

Cowboy Ryan

Ryan loves his gun.

Melody Makers was Broadway Musicals at their Best!

Ashley's solo came from "Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat." She has a beautiful alto voice and she really blossomed in this performance. She sang out strong, with great timing. It is fun to see her developing her talents!

Michone was "The King" and sang "The Kings dream" from "Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat". She is such a ham. Like her teacher said "no one does Elvis like Michone can!" Her voice has really developed the last couple of years and so has her confidence.

Michone, Ashley, and Kalli were all part of "Fiddler on the Roof" It is so fun to see them act, dance and sing.

Kalli looks so cute all dressed up and sings like and angel.

Here are the girls with their instructor Deb. Unfortunately this is their last performance. Deb has a different job. We are so sad.