Black Hills of South Dakota 06/28 - 07/03

We say farewell to Devils Tower National Monument and head south making two very short stops in Sundance, WY (as in Butch Cassidy and ...) and Jewel Cave National Monument in South Dakota (pretty neat cave but we skipped the tours).












We drove through the town of Sundance, SD where Mary shared a bench and a jail cell with Butch Cassidy











Continuing on, we set up in the Beaver Lake RV Park in Custer, SD.

This will be our base to visit a whole lot of places in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Day 1 - 06/29
The Crazy Horse Memorial really surprised us with the extent of the work being done and the quality of the Indian Cultural Center that they have put together.  We spent a whole lot of time there looking at Indian Cultural Museum.  








They obviously have a long way to go but are funding it as they go with no government assistance.

We continued north to Hill City and took in a concert by the Native American group Brule who we have seen before in Art Festivals in Cave Creek, AZ.  But it was much better under the stars in their native setting. 

Day 2 - 06/30 

This was our Mount Rushmore day.  But it was a disaster as far as we were concerned, starting with the 6 level jam packed parking garage and ending with the wall to wall people.  OK – we saw it and it’s off the bucket list but it wasn’t a good experience.

We then took the needles highway south from Rushmore and it was a really cool drive and got our attitudes back where they needed to be.

Day 3 - 07/01

This was our day for the Custer State Park Scenic Drive and a stop at Wind Cave National Park.

Custer State Park is a Must See if you are ever in these parts – Wow!

There are huge herds of buffalo and yes, this one was as close as he looks – maybe 15 ft away.

And this Game Lodge in the park served as the 1927 Summer White House (and has a nice front porch and good Iced Tea)

Wind Cave is essentially two huge parks.  
An amazing cave below ground and a National Game Preserve above ground - truly a national wonder and a great scenic drive.

Day 4 - 07/02
Another scenic drive through the towns of Lead, Spearfish, Deadwood, Sturgis and back to Deadwood for great dinner.

Lead is the home of the brand new Sanford Lab Homestake that is doing cutting edge underground research on dark matter in an old mine 8000 ft underground.  I just loved this place and want to go back for a real visit!

I simply can’t do justice to the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway so I’ll simply show a few great waterfalls and let it go at that.

The northern part of the Black Hills region is an amazing place and is deserving of a return visit down the road.

Devil's Tower, Wyoming 06/26 - 06/27

We continued north from Colorado up to northeast Wyoming and Devil's Tower National Monument.  This was actually America's first National Monument.

We were able to get a campsite inside the National Monument in the Belle Fourche campground right at the base of Devil's Tower.


It's a beautiful setting with an awesome view of the tower.  Hard to believe we get this for $6 / night!



And then suddenly it's Wine Time

On Saturday we get out and hike the Tower Trail around the entire base of the rock for some very close up views.  You can't see them but there are three people climbing up the side (they're nuts!)

Colorado Springs & Ft Collins, CO 06/23 to 06/25

We leave Pagosa Springs, Colorado and head out on the first legs of our 2015 Summer trip.


First stop is Colorado Springs, CO where we stop and visit with John's cousin Linda Rivera (Hugh Mosher's daughter).

Next it's on to Ft Collins, CO where we stop and visit with more of John's cousins Erin and Ted Hoffman (Mary Jane Mosher's daughter) and their daughters Ellery and Eastlyn.

On Wednesday we head into Ft Collins for some lunch downtown and play in a park.






Then on Thursday they come out to our camp at Boyd Lake State Park for an afternoon of swimming and dinner.

Pagosa Springs, Colorado 05/23 to 06/22

We have arrived at Shane & Krista Starr's home on 3 1/2 beautiful wooded acres just in time for Memorial Day weekend.  The RV actually fits right next to their garage where we had planned and all of the RV electrical and water hookups work just like we designed them when we built the garage last year.  Yea!

And now we can settle into our morning routine: Coffee, Tablets, Kindles and the Woods.

Life is Good!










May 28 - We finally make it to nearby Chimney Rock National Monument after driving right by it for over 15 years.

June 3 - We have a Very interesting evening walk up the road right at Shane's house.  We decided it was time to turn around when we came across three of these guys and fortunately so did the bears.

June 6 - We take a break and head downtown to watch Shane Starr do some high water tubing and have lunch by the river.

On Sunday, June 6 we took a trip up to Creede, CO with Shane & Krista along with Savannah Wedemeyer and Darion Nunn.  On the way over Wolf Creek Pass we stopped to gawk at the high water flow in the South Fork of the Rio Grande river.




Creede is an old defunct mining town nestled way up in the Colorado hills that has successfully reinvented itself as an artsy and shopping town with a very successful repertory theatre company.  We had a nice lunch overlooking the hills and then attended the play Good On Paper.

Flagstaff, Arizona 05/20 to 05/22

We leave Phoenix on the first leg of our Summer travels and slide up to Flagstaff, Arizona for a visit with our old neighbors Shawn & Brigid Mahoney and their son Rowan.  Their home is up on Observatory Mesa and has a stellar view of Agassiz Peak, part of the San Francisco Peaks and the second highest peak in Arizona.

We took a trip out to Pine Grove Campground to meet up with some other Arctic Fox owners from Litchfield Park, AZ.  We had met them via the Internet but never in person - really nice visit.







Back at the house we took a 3 mile walk on the Flagstaff Urban Trail System (FUTS) that runs behind the Mahoney's house.  Very nice!

Mission Bay, San Diego, CA 04/30 to 05/05

On Thursday we made our way over to the Mission Bay RV Park in San Diego.
We got a really nice spot backing right to the water.

The primary reason for the visit was to help grand daughter Savannah Wedemeyer celebrate her 21st birthday which she did in pretty grand style.

The sunset that first evening was the best of the entire visit and was just spectacular

And the view over coffee the next morning was pretty nice too!

Saturday was the real birthday party for the entire family and was held at the Cordiano Winery in Escondido.

Thanks to the Cordiano family for a great afternoon.

The winery is way up on a hillside and the views from their patio are just spectacular.

The food and wine were also pretty spectacular!

On Sunday we made our way up to Encinitas for a pretty fun lunch at the Islands with Marty & Steve Hacker, Patti Hacker, John, Carolyn, Peter & Annie Giust and Ron & Jeanie Cojeran and Linnea Hardlund.

Almost a mini reunion of sorts!