Sherry came to visit last weekend! We were so busy working that we did absolutely nothing. It was three days of hard labor.... Just kidding. We took a whirlwind vacation to South Dakota. In terms of miles to days it was 845 to 2.5. Despite the number of miles we still had tons of fun.
Friday, Sherry made it to Williston just an hour before Alan and I were finished with work. When the clock read 5:00pm we headed to our apartment grabbed all of our camping gear and pointed our Scion South. Alan was given the assignment to find campgrounds to stay at... but.. he might of sort of forgot. What can you say? It wouldn't be a camping trip if everything was planned.
We drove south on Highway 85 until an hour from sundown and still had no place to pitch the tent. I was getting nervous but Alan seemed to have a plan. A mile West of Amidon, ND we found a sign indicating a campground thirteen miles from the highway. Sherry and I were leery because it wasn't on any maps Google brought up.
Thirteen miles on a dirt road with a few left and right turns we found the relatively new Burning Coal Vein Campground. There were only a couple other campers giving us choice of almost any spot we wanted. Within an hour the tent was up, air mattress inflated, and the campfire lit.
As the sun went down all around our campsite was a flapping sound in the tall grass. To our surprise it was large flying beetles. (Pictured above) After they dive bombed our camp for a few minutes we decided it was time for bed.
We woke in the morning to the warm sun and a little dew on the ground. Alan was the main chef for our trip and snapped to his duties of French Toast Texas syle, eggs, and bacon for breakfast.
I manned the fire stick while Alan made breakfast and Sherry supervised. (Look at me doing a great job)
With our bellies full of almost "campfire" cooking it was time to take down the tent. The inside wasn't a problem but the fly and sides were pretty wet from the morning dew. For the record this was the first time setting up the tent without it raining on us.
While we waited for the tent dry we went for a walk to a hilltop overlooking the campgrounds.
A bumble bee doing his thing.
Alan thought this was the funniest thing. Get it?
We made it to South Dakota!
Good Old Mount Rushmore!
A gypsum mold from inside the museum.
Now to the good stuff. Sherry and I spotted this a special little place on our way through Keystone, SD so we stopped in after visiting Mount Rushmore.
The tunnel before getting to the town of Keystone.
After visiting Mount Rushmore and the gift shops we went to see Crazy Horse. I'll just say it hasn't changed much from what it looked like on TV 20 years-ago. At three times the cost of Mount Rushmore we were glad the ticket lady let us turn around without having to pay for a pass. We did snap this photo before leaving though!
I'm not really sure how we ended up on Wyoming but Alan woke me up for the picture as we entered the state. From Newcastle Wyoming we went North through historic Deadwood South Dakota on our way to Sturgis.
The Highway 85 between Newcastle and Deadwood was like repeatedly climbing and descending Lookout pass a couple hundred times. This cool table top was along the way so we snapped a picture.
For the final night of our trip we stayed at the Day's End campground in Sturgis. They had a little cabin to stay in and a hot shower. It was much needed after primitive camping and a long day in the sun.
Chef Alan made hamburgers for supper so we went to bed on a full stomach.
In the morning we were up at the crack of dawn to Alan rolling around on the two futon beds that folded down inside the cabin.
Well-done scrambled eggs were on the menu for breakfast before packing the car for the last leg of the journey.
Sherry sniped a picture of our neighbor's car (a 2013 Camaro). There was some kind of car show in town this weekend so there were lots of fancy cars driving around.
Alan figuring out how to put three people, two suitcases, two storage totes, two chairs, a large cooler, 12 "little" man tent, tarp, and my snuggle blanket in the Scion "box"
Me after two days of camping. Not bad, huh?
This was to demonstrate that I can be taller than Alan.
Yep we were there!
After our expedited camping trip it was time to relax. Alan and I are taking care of a coworker's place and went there to grill and soak in the hot tub. Sherry had no objections!
Alan made two kinds of steak tonight. Bloody and jerky.
A demonstration of the oven mitt used to remove some grilled vegetables.
Alan washed the car. Look at it all shinny and clean!
One of the cats we take care of watching us from the window.
To conclude Sherry's gran slam visit Alan showed her how to throw knifes. Sounds scary at first but it's a lot of fun. Sherry caught on really fast.
Stay tuned for next time. It's the 2013 Hilliard family reunion in Lengby, MN!
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