Sunday, December 30, 2012
Christmas 2012
We traveled to Kansas for Christmas. It had been an entire year since we had been back to Ark City. We enjoyed lazy days at Mom's house and special time with family and tradition in Topeka. Rick helped Uncle Jim fix some family recipes, including noodles, dressing, and meatballs. The time flew by way too fast!
Fall Adventures
Cool weather arrived along with fall color, the most spectacular of which was to be found in Spearfish Canyon. We took a hike along Iron Creek to enjoy the views.
In October we rode our 4-wheeler to Nemo for lunch. It was 2 hours over on parts of the Centennial Trail and 20 minutes back on the gravel roads!
In early December we got out for another 4-wheeler ride. This time we rode around the Hills off Runkel Road and found this nice view toward Sturgis and Bear Butte. It was a chilly day but worth it to be out in the snow.
Rome and Amalfi Coast
In September, Sarah and her mom went to Italy on their first mother-daughter trip. Destination: Rome for two days and then to the Amalfi Coast for five. With over 1000 photos to choose from, here is one from each day of the trip.
Day 0 - Ok so this isn't Italy (it's MSP airport), but I just love this picture of my mom!
Day 1 - Welcome dinner in Rome. We look pretty good for having had only a few hours of sleep on the plane and no time for a shower!
Day 2 - We went with the group to the Coliseum and Piazza Navona. Then the two of us struck out on our own for a whirlwind walking tour of Rome guided by the map app on my iPhone. We saw Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, Piazza Republica, and the Hard Rock Cafe Roma!
Day 3 - We headed south to the coast, stopping at Monte Cassino along the way (where St. Benedict established his first monastery). This is the view from our hotel room.
Day 4 - We visited the towns of Sorrento and Positano, took a boat cruise along the coast, and visited a lemoncello factory in Minori. The views from the boat were breathtaking. This photo was taken in Positano.
Day 5 - We had a fascinating tour of a buffalo mozzarella factory in the morning. The water buffalo are given massages while they listen to Mozart. They eat and are milked when they please. The entire process is automatic, controlled and monitored via the micro chips embedded in each animal's neck! The cheese was...ok. We spent the afternoon wandering around in a field of Greek ruins at Paestum. It was...hot.
Day 6 - On our own, we toured our home-base town of Vietri. Known for ceramics, we went into every single store. Before long they all blended together, and we never found anything we really couldn't live without. Too bad these cute planters weren't for sale!
Day 7 - We spent a few hours touring a section of the ruined city of Pompeii. It was rather eerie to see the city so well preserved by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. Later that afternoon we had a wonderful lunch at a winery, Cantina Vesuvius. Here is the group from Ark City and Oklahoma.
Day 8 - Back to Rome. Along the way we stopped at the Archaeological Museum in Naples. I really liked the mosaics.
Day 9 - Back in the USA. We ate some delicious meals in Italy, but "mexican" food at Chili's never tasted so good!
Day 0 - Ok so this isn't Italy (it's MSP airport), but I just love this picture of my mom!
Day 1 - Welcome dinner in Rome. We look pretty good for having had only a few hours of sleep on the plane and no time for a shower!
Day 2 - We went with the group to the Coliseum and Piazza Navona. Then the two of us struck out on our own for a whirlwind walking tour of Rome guided by the map app on my iPhone. We saw Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, Piazza Republica, and the Hard Rock Cafe Roma!
Day 3 - We headed south to the coast, stopping at Monte Cassino along the way (where St. Benedict established his first monastery). This is the view from our hotel room.
Day 4 - We visited the towns of Sorrento and Positano, took a boat cruise along the coast, and visited a lemoncello factory in Minori. The views from the boat were breathtaking. This photo was taken in Positano.
Day 5 - We had a fascinating tour of a buffalo mozzarella factory in the morning. The water buffalo are given massages while they listen to Mozart. They eat and are milked when they please. The entire process is automatic, controlled and monitored via the micro chips embedded in each animal's neck! The cheese was...ok. We spent the afternoon wandering around in a field of Greek ruins at Paestum. It was...hot.
Day 6 - On our own, we toured our home-base town of Vietri. Known for ceramics, we went into every single store. Before long they all blended together, and we never found anything we really couldn't live without. Too bad these cute planters weren't for sale!
Day 7 - We spent a few hours touring a section of the ruined city of Pompeii. It was rather eerie to see the city so well preserved by the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79. Later that afternoon we had a wonderful lunch at a winery, Cantina Vesuvius. Here is the group from Ark City and Oklahoma.
Day 8 - Back to Rome. Along the way we stopped at the Archaeological Museum in Naples. I really liked the mosaics.
Day 9 - Back in the USA. We ate some delicious meals in Italy, but "mexican" food at Chili's never tasted so good!
Sturgis Rally
Of course we wouldn't miss the rally! We had visited the sleepy town of Sturgis earlier in the year and could not believe the transformation! The rally is truly unbelievable. So many people...SO MANY BIKES! We enjoyed our time there and look forward to our "biker" friends from Boise joining us next year!
Visitors to 11555 High Valley Drive
We were fortunate to have many visitors in 2012.
Sarah's mom came several times in the summer and also for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed a trip to Custer Park, shopping in Rapid City, planting flowers, happy hours on our deck, and decorating the house for Christmas.
In June, Sarah's cousin visited with his family. We toured some of the local attractions - Bear Country and Reptile Gardens. Because Scott, Heidi, and their girls had been here before, we felt like we were the tourists and they were the guides! The girls had their second tour of the Hills by helicopter.
In July, Scott came back to see us for a week and experience fly fishing in the Black Hills. He went to great lengths for trout. This was Sarah's first fly fishing experience. Scott was a great teacher! During his visit we also had close encounters with bison in Custer Park and a tour of Wind Cave.
Sarah's sister Linda and brother-in-law Pepi also visited in July. The highlight was the day we spent in Deadwood for the Days of 76 parade and a bus tour of the city, including Wild Bill's grave site. We didn't let them leave without seeing Mt. Rushmore and trying our favorite burger joint, Lewie's.
In September, our friend Steve Johnson stopped by on his way back to Boise from Wisconsin. We showed him a night out in Rapid City. It was so nice to see him.
Sarah's mom came several times in the summer and also for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed a trip to Custer Park, shopping in Rapid City, planting flowers, happy hours on our deck, and decorating the house for Christmas.
In June, Sarah's cousin visited with his family. We toured some of the local attractions - Bear Country and Reptile Gardens. Because Scott, Heidi, and their girls had been here before, we felt like we were the tourists and they were the guides! The girls had their second tour of the Hills by helicopter.
In July, Scott came back to see us for a week and experience fly fishing in the Black Hills. He went to great lengths for trout. This was Sarah's first fly fishing experience. Scott was a great teacher! During his visit we also had close encounters with bison in Custer Park and a tour of Wind Cave.
Sarah's sister Linda and brother-in-law Pepi also visited in July. The highlight was the day we spent in Deadwood for the Days of 76 parade and a bus tour of the city, including Wild Bill's grave site. We didn't let them leave without seeing Mt. Rushmore and trying our favorite burger joint, Lewie's.
In September, our friend Steve Johnson stopped by on his way back to Boise from Wisconsin. We showed him a night out in Rapid City. It was so nice to see him.
Summer in The Hills
We spent the middle of 2012 driving around, hiking, and camping in the Black Hills. Here are a few of the highlights.
In May we explored a section of the Centennial Trail, a 111 mile trail marking the 100th anniversary of South Dakota statehood (1889-1989). There is a trail head about 20 minutes from our house!
We found Custer Park to be one of our favorite spots. In the springtime the baby bison are fun to see. We also enjoyed the views from Lover's Leap trail.
We are not used to seeing so much green color on our hikes! And the rock formations we encounter, such as this one along the Little Spearfish trail, are not like those we saw in Idaho.
In June they open the trail to the top of Crazyhorse monument for the annual Volksmarch . This is by far the best way to enjoy Crazyhorse.
Just outside of Sturgis, the Fort Meade recreation area is a wonderful place for an early morning hike in June.
To escape the crowd at Roubaix Lake, we drove a few short miles to Sugar Shack, one of many special little roadside stops in the Hills.
Scouting for elk hunting areas near Rifle Pit road, we found the Wyoming border and weathered a thunderstorm in the back of the truck. A few weekends later, we returned to the area for our first backpacking trip in South Dakota.
This backpacking trip was unlike any we had done in Idaho. As evening rolled around, with no lake to fish in and campfires not allowed...we got bored. What did we do? We hiked 20 minutes to the truck and drove to Lewie's for a burger, or course! You can't do that in Idaho!
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