Trip to the hills

Last weekend the kids and I travelled to the Black Hills to attend my cousin's wedding, see a friend, and sightsee. Actually, my whole family including my mom, sisters, a brother-in-law and my nieces and nephews made the trip.

We rented a cabin together in Hill City and it was probably the greatest idea ever! The kids all had room to run and it was easy to know what they were doing with the open floor plan. And with 6 kids, 5 of them old enough to be trouble, we definitely had to pay attention. The kitchen was stocked with everything we needed to cook at the cabin instead of all 11 of us having to dine out every meal, which saved us tons of money.

We hung out a lot, visited the shops in Keystone and Hill City, saw Mount Rushmore, Crazyhorse (from the road), went to Custer to see my best friend Amanda, and I had to make a stop a the Mountain View Cemetery to see my dad, since it's been about 2 years. We also got a behind the scenes tour of the Black Hill's Institute of Geological Research, which was the coolest thing ever. We got to see actual dinosaur fossils, see how they make casts of fossils and how they assemble the pieces when they're done. It was super awesome, and the museum was also super awesome.

Now, if you didn't know, I've spent a lot of time in the Black Hills. I was born there, spent the first 10 years of my life there, and went back every summer until I graduated high school. I've seen everything there is to see there, so the touristy stuff doesn't really get me excited anymore. However, the feeling of being there does excite me. I love the Black Hills. I'm a part of it and it's a part of me. I want my kids to know it's a part of them too, so we'll probably visit it a lot as they grow up.

And now for photos. The kids watching the 1880 train from our cabin's porch.

Macy and I next to a huge triceratops.
The kids and I at Mount Rushmore.
Parker in Keystone.

We also made a quick stop at Carhenge on the way up. Parker kept saying "Hey mom, that car got stuck in the mud." "How'd that car get stuck?" "Look at that car!" "This truck musta wrecked here." He though it was pretty cool and we got a smashed souvenir penny from the gift shop before we left.

Oh, one last thing, if you're ever in Custer, you should stop by the Wrangler Restaurant for a bite to eat. Amanda and Steve will make sure you don't leave hungry!