PawPaw and Nanny Sue's Adventures: Kim and Richard Visit South Dakota!

We had so much fun and packed so much into two days!!

Richard planned to run a marathon in Duluth, MN on Saturday the 16th of June, and Kim called to see if it would be ok to come for a visit on Monday and Tuesday!   NO BRAINER!

They stayed at the Sweetgrass Inn just down the road because we've used all of our guest nights for Katie and Mike and family who will arrive THIS Sunday the 24th. It worked out great, and by the way the Sweetgrass Inn B&B is really nice!

They got here Sunday evening, we had supper together, and then Monday morning got started bright and early.   It was POURING rain, so Mt. Rushmore was out of the question the first day (that was Richard's primary reason for coming to the Black Hills - oh maybe to see us too!!).

We headed out to Sturgis, saw the Full Throttle Saloon, shopped so Kim and Richard could get Sturgis souveniers, ate lundh at the Loud American, drove through Boulder Canyon, walked around Deadwood, went to the Sanford Laboratory Visitor Center in Lead, then drove home along 385. Unfortuneately it was so foggy and rainy, they couldn't see much of the beautiful scenery - everything is so green because of the rain - but we had fun.   We cooked dinner in the rig (couldn't grill because of the rain), and planned on an early start for Tuesday morning because the weather forecast showed only a small window to see Mt Rushmore on Tuesday. After dinner, we had a craving for ice cream, but the snack bar was closed because of the rain, so we drove into town to go to DQ. (We REALLY WANTED ice cream!)

We got an early start Tuesday morning, meeting them at Shipwreck's for breakfast at 7:00 a.m. (Shipwreck's is the restaraunt tied to the Sweetgrass Inn where their breakfast came in!)

We drove up to Mt Rushmore, there was a short line of cars to get into the parking area. We parked, and waked up through the flags - it was so foggy we couldn't see the faces! Then, just as we walked up to the viewing deck, the fog broke, and they got lots of pictures. They had to show the Zmuda family that they were at Mt Rusmore because Richard and his brother had a contest as to who would get there first. We went into the Visitor Center, watched the movie, and when we came back out it was shrouded in fog again. Timing is everything!! As we left Mt Rushmore, the line of cars to get into the parking garage was backed up in two lanes just about all the way to Keystone!

We drove into Keystone, Mike had to get a new lightweight leather jacket, and then we drove on Iron Mountain Road to Custer State Park. We took the Wildlife Loop - we saw deer, prairie dogs and Pronghorn but we didn't see the first Buffalo!! Holy Cow!   We see Buffalo every time we go there - usually on the motorcycles when we don't want to!!   Very disappointing, but the rain probably had them hunkered down somewhere.   After that, we drove into Custer where we were going to have lunch at the new burger joint. It was so packed and the line was coming out the door, so we drove straight to Crazy Horse. We saw the movie there, Kim got pictures, and then we drove into Hill City and had a wonderful lunch at the Alpine Inn.   Things always work out for the best - they really enjoyed that. We had sundaes at the Diner, and then drove home.

There was a slight break in the rain, so we crammed in a cocktail cruise on the golf carts - showing them the pasture golf course, Hart Ranch, and then we rode over to the big Hart Ranch golf course so they could see the clubhouse there.

We packe a TON into two days, had a blast, and laughed all the time. I'm so happy they were able to work us into their trip. They headed out early this morning for Breckenridge, CO where they will see friends tonight, then fly out of Denver on Friday.

Such a fun time, thank you Kim and Richard!!!