VACATION!!!

It's been a while hasn't it? I know, to be a successful and interesting blogger you need to be consistant and diligent in maintaining and adding to your blog. Well, I had lots of work, went on vacation, and my computer battery died. Almost sounds like complaining about the sun being in your eyes. No, I forgot to bring my power cable on vacation and in a couple days the old battery died before I could even download the pictures I was taking.

Where did we go? The Black Hills of South Dakota! What an awesome place! For me, to get away from the hustle and hastle of work pressures, I have to do two things. Go away, and go where the air is clear and the scenery completely distracts me from the concerns of work.

A friend of mine had been to see Mount Rushmore in the past and seemed to really enjoy the trip. I have thought about the pictures he had taken and wanted to see it for myself. After talking it over with my wife, we decided to go.

This trip was completely spontanious. I had been so engrossed at work that I had literally forgotten when my vacation was scheduled. On Friday I looked into when my vacation was supposed to start and realized that it was starting on Monday. Well, how are you supposed to plan something significant in just a day or so!? On Sunday we discussed a few options which included the Black Hills area and decided to go.

Monday morning we packed our things arranged for a hotel room in Spearfish, South Dakota, loaded the car, picked up my mother, and took off.

A little spontanious? YEP!

The nice thing about the Black Hills area is that it is a one day (long day) drive from where we live in Syracuse, Utah. The plains of Wyoming are purported by some to be desolate and boring. We found them to be quite the opposite. Maybe it was partly due to our traveling through there during the first week of June. The plains were green and lush. Animals, both wild and domestic, were everywhere. The history of the pioneers traveling through that area is interesting and causes one to think of the sacrifices that were paid for our ability to live and travel in the West.

The day after we arrived we went right to touristing. You say touristing is not a word? Well of course it is. It is printed here and that makes it a word. It is the act of traveling, seeing the sites, walking around the sites, buying souvineers, eating the food in all the little stops, and paying to much to get into attactions. It is on trips like these that you find yourself looking at rocks in a shop that sells rocks from their specific area, knowing you have rocks in your own yard. Maybe not the same color as the ones in the shop, but rocks just the same. Touristing is letting go of all that makes sense during your normal day and just enjoying seeing and being in a place that is so different than the norm, that you achieve that state of existance that you have longed for, but not known how to find. It is another word that some say, but few really understand completely unless they are or have recently been touristing. The word is "relaxed". You watch, touristing will be in some dictionary some day. Maybe.

We went to Mount Rushmore first and really were taken with the area and the majestic sculpture that has become known as the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. What a fantastic place. The whole thing just took my breath away! I couldn't stop looking at the mountain and the fantastic depiction of those four great Presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Rosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. I was suddenly greatful for the history teachers and classes over the years. The books and documentrys I had seen. There it was!!! I'll bet we shot more than a hundred exposures of the monumnet between the three of us. Lucky for you, I will only post one of these photos here.

The whole thing was awe inspiring! The monument nestled in some of the most spectacular country in the world. The temperatures were perfect and the air clear and clean. We did encounter some rain, but it only seemed to help keep things cool and refreshing.

We also saw the Crazy Horse monument, which has been under construction since 1948. At first glance one would ask why it has taken so long. Well, the portion of the monument that has been completed is the face. It is eighty feet tall!!! The rest of the monument is moving much faster now than it was in the earlyer days due to a larger crew, better technology, and a system for funding such a large project. I don't know when it is slated for completion, but we are talking many years hence I'm sure.

The hostess in the hotel breakfast room told us of a great german resturant in Hill City called the Alpine Inn. We went there and gave it a try. What a fantastic place! It is literally like stepping into an old german town and enjoying the culture for a little while. The food is awesome and the service as well, but I liked the food best. The picture tells the rest of the story I think, but if that isn't enough, standing in line to eat if you aren't there early tells the rest. The prices were unbelievable! In a tourist town, in such great atmosphere, with great german food, to come out having paid for three meals for $31.00 plus tip is remarkable! That included one desert which the three of us shared because it was that big! Oh, and it was the best!

Custer State Park was a disneyland of wildlife and scenery. I shot too many pictures of this area, but I sure enjoyed it. Here are just a couple.

Here is the buffalo that was trying to figure out what was in the car. Made a mess of my hood. No damage but mud and buffalo drool all over the hood of the car. We had big laughs about it the rest of the trip. I kept looking for a car wash and my wife kept telling me to save it for the grandkids to see when we got home. You know, proof of the adventure.

Here is a photo of Martin's Cove and Devil's Gate Wyoming which has come to represent to many the sacrifice paid by the pioneers for the westward expansion of this great country. It was here that many pioneers paid with their lives for the opportunity for greater freedom and possibilities for themselves and their families. The fall of 1851 killed many good people in the storms and exposure to crossing rivers. I have walked around this area and it has a special spirit about it.

So what has all this got to do with "Sensible Home"? A great deal. Our work is important and I believe an inportant part of what keeps us young and healthy. When work becomes our entire life we begin to loose perspective. In a balanced life we need to have interests outside of work. Do we live to work or do we work to live. Wow, sounds like something on a tattoo or something! Seriously though, we work to provide for our families and get some of the things we might like to have or persue. Don't we? Sometimes our work can be a great enjoyment in and of itself, but if we loose perspective of the most important things in our lives, our families, service to God and those around us, we begin to run into problems. These little outings help bring us back down to earth and enrich us with wonderful memories and ties to family and friends. It also give us greater appreciation for this great nation in which we live.

Have a great summer and get out an go someplace. Sure was good for me!