black hills vacation

we left on wednesday to for rapid city, sd and the blackhills. we lived there when the kids were born and my in-laws still live there; so, the kids do not think that when we go there it is a vacation.....so, we tried to be better tourists this time....we went to Rushmore Cave with its' hour tour inside the cave and the girls did the zipline on thursday.

 

thursday evening found us eating at Sanford's for supper....the ambience in the place is excellent as walls and ceiling are almost completely covered in vintage, or at least interesting, junk. loved all the stuff.

friday, we ventured down to hot springs.....the town itself is so interesting and old- the buildings and architecture there are so cool. it is too bad that there isn't more interest there. this little town needs a "rich uncle" to come in and whip it into the coolest place it should be....but, until then, the town is cool but in need of a face lift. we did visit the Mammoth Site- which is totally cool! they have found 61 mammoths now in this sink hole. the excavation is slow and tedious, but, worth the efforts and very interesting. the other stop we made while in hot springs was Evans Plunge. it is a natural hot springs. the kids and i enjoyed swimming there.

saturday found us at the lake....with the tube and a jetski- which of course the kids thought were awesome! overall, we had a great little vacation and are now glad to be home and ready for the school year to start (or at least i am...the kids- maybe not....)

more like sisters

while we were in the black hills, i also managed to sneak some time with my best friend. we met while i was still a student in rapid city, which at this point was a long time ago....we don't need to go into details here. :) we both have a passion for vintage items and decorating (she more than me here....), but, truly, we had decided long ago, we were separately at birth.

we aren't able to spend as much time together any more due to the distance, so when we do get together, coffee is a must while we catch up on kids, flowers, decorating, dreams, life....she had visited las vegas and come home with these so totally cute mugs. i loved them!

as we sat visiting, i noticed her little bush just off the open front porch. it had the cutest little red berries.

they have a unique spot in rapid city- having an acreage in town. she has many little spots welcoming visitors to their home.

i loved the garden gates for the backdrop of these cute black-eyed susans.

she had also planted a garden towards the back of their lot. corn, carrots, beets. i loved the colors of the fresh garden beets.

and to top it off, she has a little sluice that runs through a portion of their lot as well down by the garden. the tall grass and cattails just add to the look of their little slice of country heaven in the city.