SD trip - final days!

I need to stay on track, I've left you in suspense with the final days of the SD trip. Heavens! On July 1, we rode into Hill City and ambushed the Alpine Saloon for a great lunch of more German food, got to observe a thunderstorm outside while we ate and then explored some of the merchantiles in the burg. The boys and I ended up at the end of town in front of an old time photo studio. I sent them back to roust the troops and all 8 of us partook in a 1/2 hour of revelry posing as the outlaw in-laws. J was less than enthusiastic and N was all over it because he was equipped with not 1 BUT 2 GUNS!!! Talk about a s**t-eating grin on his face. The photo shoot was a hoot and I thought we'd have to twist arms to get my parents to participate. Not so. I've been trying to get a good scan of the photo, but it always comes out sideways. When I get it right, I will post. We took the 1880 steam train from Hill City to Keystone through the lower Black Hills of SD and lots of rustic homes, ranches, old decrepit farms and mines. Some new and interesting construction in the mix as well. A brief stop in Keystone and we saw we should make a return trip in the next day or two.
We arrived back at Palmer Gulch in time for a potluck to eat up any remaining leftovers at Rick and Mary Lyons cabin. This is one of the PLUSH cabins with several rooms, a big porch and large dining table which heard many great stories and much laughter that night - and saw a few empty wine bottles as well. We did a good job clearing out the leftovers - like a hoard of locusts.
The morning of July 2, Dan wanted to get us up early to go to Mt. Rushmore, into Keystone for some entertainment and onward to Custer State Park to our next lodging so he and Joe could run down to the Badlands for the sunset. The Presidents were foggy, so we skipped the tour and saw them later in all their glory in the tunnel view in Custer State Park. We had seen them at night all lit up due to several wrong turns the first night in so the novelty had worn off at that point. In Keystone, the guys tolerated some shopping with Mom then wanted to do the Alpine Slide. A ski lift takes you to the top of a small mtn., and you ride down on a luge sled in a concrete track. You really get zipping. Dan took a film of one of his runs and if I can get him to post in on YouTube, I'll post the link here. It was a hit for all 3 boys and I found my commemorative t-shirt "Don't make me open this can" of Whoop-Ass. Well worth the cost.
We headed onward to Custer State Park and found our cabin to be cozy but quite plush with a heat pump and satellite TV, much to Nick's amusement. I had a nap, Nick watched an informative outer space show and Dan and Joe headed for the hills. Moseyed in to Custer for dinner and caught a street corner Indian dance performance with the rents and the newlyweds, and returned to the lodge for pie for dessert. While walking back to our cabins, the forward group grew suddenly quiet and moved rapidly. There was a bison the size of a mini-van 25 feet from D/D's cabin, so we watched him for about an our out the back windows, 1/2 of us in the bathroom and half in the bedroom. So nice to have a close family. At 10:00 it was too dark to see if he was lingering and we used camera flashes to return to our own cabin. Joe and Dan returned about 11:00 and Joe had sat on a cactus in one of their hikes, he wasn't hurt but his jeans were handled gingerly. They stopped at Wall Drug and Joe drove for a bit in the middle of nowhere, so they had a bonding experience.
Early on the 3rd, we ventured back into Rapid City for our return flight home via Salt Lake City. We found cooperative flight personnel who cut our layover time by 5 hours and got us in to Seattle by 5 p.m., so the return trip kept me a happy camper without spending much time in SLC. I'd learned my lesson and napped from Rapid City to SLC. I sat next to Joe, who is not a social flight partner. Overall, the trip was good, we made some cool memories for our parents, ourselves, our relatives and the boys. Safe travels, no major mishaps and good times.

Peace and Blessings,
Michelle ;-P

Trip Recap - Day 3

Trip recap day 3 - 6/30 - My sister awoke to discover that at some point she had broken a tooth, so our duty for the day was to find her an emergency dentist and get her there. The rest of the group decided to spend the day at the Palmer Gulch relaxing, recovering and visiting with relatives. My dad and I took a roll in the park, the kids played in the pool, jumped on the bouncy pillow and Dan worked on some projects he had brought along. We all read, napped, and passed the day at will.

My sister's appointment was in Rapid City at 2:00 and we hung out until she returned. At 33, she has never had so much as a filling, so she was a little apprehensive. Fortunately she had her new husband to go along and he's an experienced dental patient. When we were young, by parents would reward us for good dental check ups with a toy or Barbie doll. Mom and I were perusing the camp gift shops selection of Black Hills Gold jewelry and determined that a broken tooth ramped up the reward a bit. We chose a simple pinky ring for her and presented it to her after she returned - from having a crown AND a root canal performed in 2 hours of chair time. She was fully recovered, had little pain and was able to enjoy the rest of the trip.

We gathered again that evening with the extended family group for an evening of visiting and had a great chicken dinner - nice soft food for both Denise and me! We answered SD trivia and tested each other to see how many new family members we could name from memory. My mom and sister worked well as a team and then many of the cousins shared memories of family members no longer with us. Another great night culminated with S'mores at my parent's cabin and the boys bunked with them that night, so... Dan and I EACH got a double bed to ourselves! Hey, after almost 20 years of marriage there is just so much romance we can handle.

On July 1, the guys went on a trail ride on horseback and then we drove into Hill City. More on that subject tomorrow...

First day of SD travel 6/28 recap

We started our travel to Rapid City, SD for a family reunion of my grandmother's siblings children. All of the grand-siblings are deceased and we wanted the 3rd and 4th generations to make some connections for the future of the family reunion planning; because you know the old folks will want to make this an annual thing now. So 6/28 at 8:00 a.m., my extended family - parents, sister and bro-in-law converged at our home to catch the airport shuttle and have a community breakfast. I had been up at 3 a.m. covering the many myriad of things crossing my brain in fleeting ferocity and was a little drained by 8. We arrived at SeaTac and I began my wheelchair experiences for the trip just after snaking through the security area. That wheelchair was a welcome sight at that point. Flew from Seattle to Salt Lake City (SLC). The SLC airport is adequate except for 1 small thing - there are no chairs without arms enabling someone to say, stretch out and take a nap (which I was really needing by that time). I tried to nap on the floor, I tried to nap close to a door, I tried to nap from 1-4 and there was no nap to be had for sure. So on to Rapid City, SD. Flight was OK, sat next to a private charter pilot from Florida who brings FL bigwigs to SD and other areas in their private planes for fishing, R/R, meetings, whatever. Too interesting of a seatmate to sleep on the flight. So we arrive in Rapid City about 5:30 p.m., tired, hungry, disoriented. Decided to fix the hungry first at a restaurant called Sanford's Grub and Pub - if you leave hungry there is something wrong. I had a deep-fried OREO sundae that was a near-BTS (better than s*x) experience. Then we began the navigation process to get to our lodging. From the instructions we had, it would be 25 miles from the airport - as the crow flies maybe... we rolled into Palmer Gulch Lodge about 2 hours later. THEN, my mom rolls in to claim her reservation and finds out she made our reservation to start SUNDAY night, not Saturday. At that point, I had been near tears since about 3:30 p.m. due to extreme fatigue, and just the strain of travel, after navigating with Dan for hours I dissolved right there in the lobby into convulsive hysterical sobs. We did however manage to get 2 rooms for the night promptly. When we were safely in our room, Dan's comment was "Nice job on the pity cry timing," few words and subtle humor, that's why I keep him around. High points of the day were 1-we all arrived safely (including luggage), 2-saw Mt. Rushmore lit up at night en route to our hotel, 3-had a great meal in RC, 4-my wheelchair service was excellent in airports, and 5-the boys were helpful and cooperative all the way. More anecdotes for your amusement tomorrow.
Peace and Blessings,
Michelle ;-P

We're home!

Arrived home at 5:00 p.m. 7/3, and the trip was good. No major mishaps, some minor ones. I'll have to assemble the travel anecdotes and figure out which ones to share, those are my favorite to write and the ones most fun to read. We travelled from 6/28 - 7/3 to Rapid City, SD via Salt Lake City. We rented a wheelchair to conserve my strength and we returned it EARLY yesterday! The altitude helped build strength and took lots of short naps. The campground we were in is Palmer Gulch for the first few days and then the last day at Lake Legion in Custer State Park. Palmer Gulch (PG) is close to Mt. Rushmore and many of the nearby towns look like Radiator Springs from the CARS movie according to my sons. PG has numerous family activities as well as a $2.50 all you can eat pancakes from 7-11 every morning. Two outdoor pools, horseback trail rides, movies, mini golf, trails, bike rentals, arcade, 3 restaurants and cafe's, all the comforts of home. Some of the cabins are plush and some are more rustICK! A very cool place for a family vacation or reunion.

More Infrequent Posts... must mean I'm getting better.

Sorry it's been a while since I posted. Must mean life is getting busier and I'm getting better or having a relapse and spending more time off my feet. Today it is the latter. Next Saturday, we (my immediate and extended family) embark on a whirlwind flight to Rapid City, SD for a first ever family reunion of my grandmother's siblings' children. All of the original siblings have previoously exited life as we know it and are partying in the great hereafter.

It's time for the next generation to get acquainted - thankfully, I know some and no one is of the Star Trek variety, as far as I am aware, yet. Some I last saw when I was 5 and visited my great-grandparents; some I've seen as recently as my sister's wedding, some I've hung out with somewhere in between and some I have never met. The plan is to take it slow and easy, use wheelchair to conserve my energy and spend lots of time supervising the boys in the pool... in my bikini purchased in Australia! Surprisingly enough, my incisions are below the lines of my suit (thanks, Dr YUM!) and it's a hell of a testimony for a cancer survivor to be wearing a bikini less than a month after surgery - one small step for a BRA chick, one GIANT step for a 40 yo mom with a very disfigured belly button due to the amazing advances in laparoscopic surgical procedures, but a very brave one... there may even be photos at some point in the future. ;-P

The story behind the bikini purchase is somewhat amusing. When I planned my trip I had two swimsuits I planned to take with me and felt a bikini was just pushing it for a 40 yo mom. The first lost it's elastic in the boob department on our GBR trip, I tucked someone's camera case in for a moment and it was the straw that broke the camel's back - had to buy a $20 souvenir t-shirt on the boat to prevent indecent exposure. The other one-piece I had with me - a true mom suit with tummy control lining, was just too hot to be comfortable. The third day of our trip we were in a resort town that had a few boutiques. I popped in one morning while the kids were preparing to sky dive (not in my itinerary) and asked if they happened to have any in my size. Thankfully, they had 3 to choose from in the generous boob carriage department, and I found 1 I liked. However, when you purchase a bikini in a resort town, they tend to be priced at a premium. Before the trip, the core BRA chix had given me VISA gift cards for a splurge of my choice during my excursion - once I used all three VISA cards (!), my bikini was reduced in price from obscene to almost affordable, so splurge I did. What a rejuvenating experience. The result was not pretty, but it was refreshing. And now that my controlled diet has removed another dozen pounds, it's even a slight improvement.

Back to AUS trip photos (YAY!). Day 5 was the day we embarked and broke camp at 5 a.m., traveled in a van w/ no A/C to get to the Steve Irwin Zoo by opening at 9. We arrived in the parking lot at 8:30, breakfasted and packed lunches from our community food kitty and spent the entire day in the zoo, while our guide spent the day getting the AC fixed - great use of time!





Still learning layout tricks on this system... Photo 1 is the entrance sign so I know where I took the photos... Photo 2 is snack time for the crocks with the goofy Americans first on the menu, just kidding, he's a 14 ft long preserved croc. No way I'd be that close to a live one. Even the lizards running free like our zoo pigeons were freaking me out (photo # 5). The prerequisite kangaroo feeding (3) and (4) a wombat on a leash. The park was ridiculously expensive to gain admission ($48/person) but was fastidiously clean and there were visible improvements in every exhibit. It appears that the death of Steve Irwin has given the means to preserve and improve the park, the employees and visitors feel a deep sense of honor to support the animals he used to educate the public and protect. The amount of information about each animal was impressive. I took lots of photos of each for future kid reports - not everyone will have a cassowary report in 5th grade.

This was the morning I only saw my live kangaroos as we were leaving our campground, they were grazing near the entrance much like deer. I came to realize that we see kangas as an exotic animal and to the Australians, they are much like our deer - roving grazers that don't respect private property, populations explode and the meat is highly nutritious and sustainable. I read an article that kangaroo meat is one of the most healthy available in the world due to the fact that they exist in a less polluted habitat, get vital exercise in their method of movement, eat a more healthy natural diet than commercially raised cattle and chicken and have less fat due to their energy level. I only tried kangaroo meat once and it was a taste which reminded me of dark meat turkey crossed with steak texture.

This week will be busy with errands prepping for the SD trip, one last surgical post-op appt., getting the guys to help with packing and just getting it all completed before 10:00 a.m. Saturday?! I'll touch base from SD as Dan will not leave home w/o his laptop. He will be the photo guru for the week to capture all the festivities. He did so well with Denise's wedding, it's now a given role for him and makes social interaction easier to hide behind a camera.

It will be a week of pushing the envelope and many, many naps - pray for patience, energy and safe travels. I may post again later this week, but time may get away from me. I'll at least make a short one after the surgeon report on Wed.

Peace and Blessings!
Michelle ;-P 8 >= <-- me wearing said bikini, the emoticons just keep getting more unique...