Catching up time again!

Good evening!

It is time to catch you all up on our working and "exploring"....
We have been very busy working and trying to keep up with our schedules and accommodating the 3 couples getting to work!

My schedule is now working from 9-5 for one week, which is a Wednesday through Tuesday and then the next week I work from 11-Closing(usually by 9PM). Bobbie and I are switching each week to help at night. Bill's schedule will continue throughout the summer as a daily change! He never really knows what time he will work the next day until that evening. We do know that we will have Friday and Saturday off together.


We have made a trip to Rapid City to get some groceries and run a few errands around town. Rapid City is the closet large town and had a Walmart and the major box stores!

The week before last Friday,we took a drive up to Deadwood and had lunch, then did a very small amount of gambling. I lost about $3 and Bill lost maybe $5..... Deadwood has several casino's still downtown and they are revitalizing their downtown to attract vacationers again. The last time we were in Deadwood it was even worse than it was this time. No traffic at all. We drove up through Spearfish canyon.... it was so pretty and we stopped at Roughlock Falls. Part of this canyon was in the movie "Dancing with the Wolves" many years ago.


Friday, June 3, we took a drive through Custer State Park and Iron Mountain Road.
We saw lots of animals throughout our drive that day......





This little guy wanted to ride with us or he was looking for food!





We saw several large herds of buffalo that day....just being lazy or eating!




Of course we had to sit and watch these big guys saunter across the road!




There is a "feral" herd of tame donkey's that roam the Park..... lots of people were up close taking a picture and feeding them...They are still wild animals....




And of course we saw the Pronghorn sheep



Then we drove on to Iron Mountain Road.... it was a beautiful drive with lots of switchbacks, curves and "pigtail" roads..... it brought us back to the highway 16 which is where we needed to go to head back to our RV park......

here are some great views and a surprise at the end of the road!

There were 4 tunnels that were 1 car width and made of stone.... very old and amazing to see in the road.....




Along our way there were these little piles of wood stacked up in the forest area. Steve told us that the Boy Scouts come in and stack the wood and during the winter they burn these piles of wood one at a time and only when there is lots of snow on the ground... these were hundreds of these piles along our route...



Here were are at the top of the Iron Mountain Road...almost time for the surprise!




As you can see, the tunnels were not for the tall vehichle and definitely not for the RV!






As came out of the last tunnel....there it was! Mount Rushmore ....from a different angle! Amazing! It really was a better view as you can see.....










Saturday, June 4 was our 35th Anniversary and we worked all day! It was a busy weekend at Crazy Horse and it is where the annual "Volksmarch" takes place. Volksmarch is a 10K hike up the mountain and it is the only time of the year that the public is allowed to go up to the arm of Crazy Horse free with a food donation for the local food bank. People take a 6 mile hike up the mountain and then take the 2 mile road coming down. They were expecting around 10-15,000 people the 2 days of the march. Needless to say we were very, very busy. They had a breakfast buffet which is why we came in early to set up and then serve the lunch buffet. Betty and I went in at 5AM and worked until 2PM .


Every Thursday evening during the summer, Crazy Horse is sponsoring a weekly "lecture series".... last Thursday, June 9, we were off work, so Betty, Bill and I went back to watch the Wontyon Youth Indian Dancers dance. They consisted of a Luthern church group from Rapid City. We were told they "pow" every Wednesday for a couple of hours before church and the young dancers were learning their culture and carrying on tradition of dancing. It was an amazing experience....we all enjoyed these young people.. who ranged in ages from about 5 to young adult. During the dancing, a spokesperson spoke to the crowd thanking others for coming and also they found out there were a group of Elders from the First Nation of Canada..... each Native American there went over to personally thank and shake hands with each of these Elders... so touching and very respectful.

This is the group of drummers.....






Here are the young people :







They were so fun to watch dancing and they were so energetic!




This little guy was dancing right beside his parents for most of the dancing and when it was time for him to join the rest of the group... he wouldn't go out so his mom tried to get him to join them.... what an expression! So cute!



We all really enjoyed the dancing and look forward to more groups as the summer continues!


Last Friday, June 10 I had a hair appt. in the morning, then we met Steve, Betty, Bill and Bobbie in Rapid City for lunch and did our weekly grocery shopping.... we came home and spent the rest of the weekend enjoying the sunshine! Saturday evening, we grilled salmon and Bill fried halibut and shrimp! It was delicious!!!

So hopefully all these pictures will post and you will enjoy some of what we have been doing the past few weeks! Hopefully the next time I write it won't be so long!

Until next time!
BJ