Our Trip to South Dakota

A couple weeks ago we decided to go on a little vacation. Larry and I had not spent a lot of time together this summer do to all the training he has been doing. But I guess that is how it goes when you marry someone in the military and I knew what I was getting into when I married him. Anyhow, back to our trip. We decided to go up to South Dakota. I grew up there so it was not a new adventure but I wanted to show Larry where I was from. He was all for it because he could go play poker in Deadwood, which he did, several times. While we where up there we stayed with my best friends mom, Sharon, Tammy, and her little sister, Kristy. We really did not do to much while we where there. However, we did go play tourist on Saturday after we watched Kristy's softball games. We went up to Keystone, a small little tourist town, then to Mt. Rushmore. I had not been there in like 10 years and Larry has never been. It has changed a lot from the last time I was there. They have a parking garage and a lot of new buildings (gift shops, cafe, displays, theaters). Also the Presidential trail was now open. Walking the trail was actually kind of neat. It goes up to the rock pile that was made by all the work. After Mt. Rushmore we went the long way home and stopped at the new winery in Hill City and did wine tasting. The wine is all made with South Dakota grown grapes and fruit. We bought a couple bottles of one of the wines we tasted. It was made out of raspberries and honey, it tasted like juice. From there we went to Deadwood and they all played at the casinos. I am not into that so I just walked around and looked in all the shops. On Sunday Larry and I went for a drive through Spearfish Canyon. The leaves where all changing colors and it was beautiful. We where going to leave that next morning but that night Larry stayed in Deadwood playing poker until wee hours in the morning so we decided to stay another day. So on Monday Sharon gave Larry a tour of Dakota Arms and then we went and visited my aunt and uncle in Whitewood. I hadn't seen them in a long time, probably not since I moved away and that was in 2002. It was nice to visit with them. That night we went to Rapid City to watch Kristy play softball again. The next morning we packed everything up and headed home. All in all we had a good time. It was great getting to see Sharon, Tammy and Kristy and hanging out with them for the weekend.


Larry riding his horsie in Keystone



Sharon, Larry, and I taking a break in Keystone


Larry and I


Sharon, me, and Tammy



Pictures we took while walking the Presidential trail


These guys where hanging out in the parking lot at Mt. Rushmore

Columbus, OH

While Larry was in Columbus, GA, for some training I went to Columbus, OH, to see my sister. She moved there about a year and a half ago with her husband and in-laws. From what I saw of the city it seems to be pretty nice. The thing I thought was cool was all the old houses. I rarely saw any new developments, other than shopping centers. While I was there we played tourist a couple of days and other days we just sat at home and had movie fests. The days that we did go play tourist we went to an area in town called German Village. It is a real old part of town that was populated with all Germans immigrants back in the late 1890s. Today to buy in that area would start in the $300 thousands. There all kinds of neat shops, galleries, and restaurants in the area. We also went to the zoo. The zoo there is really nice, I would say it is one of the better ones I have been to and I go to a lots of zoos. My favorite animal at the zoo was the manatees, they are so neat. The other cool thing that happened was the grizzly bears where wrestling while we where. That was neat to watch. Over the weekend there was a jazz and ribs fest so we sent to that on Friday night. It was fun, there where vendors and of course stages where jazz groups where playing. We went and swam in the new pool that Aunt Becky put up at Aunt Missy's house. Aunt Missy's house is an old farm house built in the 1800s. Talk about a cool house. They are in the possess of fixing it up. It sat vacant for a long time so it needs some work, but once it is finished it will be nice. It also sits on a very large lot and on the lot is an old cemetery. I wanted to walk out to it but the field around it was grown up so I couldn't get to it. Other than that we didn't do to much else, but I had a really nice time and hope to go back sometime soon.


German Village, the streets are all cobble stone


Me in front of a German restaurant in German Village


Amanda (sister) and Bryan (brother in-law) at Thurman's, a restaurant in German Village


The manatees, hard to believe that sailors once thought these mammals where mermaids


Grizzly bears wrestling


Me and my sister Amanda

New York

We just recently got back form New York. No, no...not the New York everyone thinks of when you say New York. We where not in New York city. We where in the north eastern part of New York; right along the St. Lawrence River. We where visiting Larry's family. His aunts and uncles on his father's side of the family live up there. They have a camp right on the river. When you sit on the front porch of the camp and look across the river you are looking at Canada. It was beautiful while we where there. Great weather for boating, tubing, water skiing, and anything else you can think of to do on the water. His parents where also up there so that was cool. His sister and her family came up from Maryland over the 4th of July weekend. While we where there we took the boat up the river to Alexandria Bay, another town on the river. Right across the river is an island, there are actually a lot of islands because this area is called the 1000 Islands, but the one I am talking about is called Heart Island. On the island is a castle that was built in the early 1900s. The state of New York has been refurbishing the castle since the early 1970s. It was left vacant for many years and the elements did a number on it. The castle is amazing though, it is 4 stories so it has like a million rooms and it has a pool which was a big deal back in the early 1900s. Also across the river on another island is the boat house that belongs with the castle. It also is huge. We had a lot of fun visiting with family and hanging out on the river and i would do it again in a heart beat but it was also nice to come home.

Front of Boldt castle

Boldt castle from the backside

Boat house

Trevor (cousin), Larry, Steph, Diane (mom), Sara (cousin)
at Boldt castle