Mount Rushmore!

This weekend we experienced the wild wilderness of Wyoming and South Dakota. I think either Bryce or I was singing "Home Home on the Range" almost the entire time. And let me tell you, they aren't kidding when they talk about antelope playing - they are everywhere! Though we must agree with DJ that - at least on this weekend - the skies were plenty cloudy and gray. Ah well, it made for some great thunder and lightening. Bryce gets giddy as a school boy whenever we get to see lightening - and being on the road in Somewhere, Wyoming (or my personal favorite, Lost Falls, WY where the population sign said, "1." Seriously.) with absolutely nothing to block your view made it that much better.

So anyway, we picked Bryce up from work on Friday and hit the road running! We drove for about 3 hours and then stayed the night in beautiful downtown Lusk, WY. Did you think mother nature let us alone on this drive? No, she did NOT! We were actually driving through snow, AGAIN, for a couple miles in Wyoming (can you say theme of our experience in CO thus far?). We panicked when we saw flashing signs announcing road closures but luckily our route was not affected, this time! It turned out that spending the night in Lusk was actually a good plan as we were heading into a very strong thunderstorm, which in Wyoming can easily lead to a tornado (which they did earlier in the day in central Wyoming). We didn't mind being off the road by nightfall either.

I had been craving a strawberry shake ALL DAY LONG and figured we'd just hit up the local McDonalds when we got to the hotel. Well, let me just save you all from ever having this problem by letting you know that Lusk, WY does not have a McDonalds - or any chain restaurant of any kind. Or anything or any kind, actually. We asked the lady at the hotel and she wasn't sure where one could find milkshakes but suggested either trying the gas station down the road or a Chicken BBQ Drive-in place going the other direction. I gave up and dreamed about strawberry milkshakes instead (I'm not kidding-pregnancy will do weird things to you)!

Next morning, we had a lazy start but did manage to get in the car and on the road in time to meet up with Bryce's good friend, DJ and his family who - by complete coincidence - were also going to be at Mount Rushmore on Saturday! They are currently driving across the country for DJ's internship in CT and welcome stops along the way. Now if we had only also been smart enough to coordinate with Sheri and Eric it would have been a total MBA reunion! We did have a lovely afternoon with DJ, Kindra, Kierra and Ariana - it was great to see them again and Sophie had the best time with Kierra and their stroller. :) Some pics from the afternoon...

Mount Rushmore!

With the DJ, Kierra, Ariana, and Kindra - the wind was a little crazy - check out Sophie's hair...

Bryce and Sophie in front of the Avenue of the FlagsSophie absolutely LOVED Kierra & Ariana's stroller - she was happy as a clam to sit here with Ariana. Bryce and I could not have been more shocked. (and pleased)

Kierra and Sophie running around with the chipmunks after lunch

We totally need to get this one in black & white...

Bryce and me as close as you can get to the sculpturesSophie with George's profile in the backgroundGiving good ole' George a kiss on the noseLeaving Mount Rushmore...

On our way to Mount Rushmore, we also passed a sculpture of Crazy Horse that is currently in progress. The black outline is what it will look like when it's finished. You can see his profile in the rock already. We thought it was pretty cool.So that was the trip in a nutshell. I love roadtrips and thought it was fabulous. We drove back home Saturday night - stopping very briefly in Custer, South Dakota for a strawberry milkshake. :) What more could you ask for?