Out West in Photos, Part 1: Traveling, The Black Hills, and Mount Rushmore

Our gentlemen, cleaning the windshield midway :)

Sarah looks rather cozy, don't you think?? (It sounds better than "squished"!)

"Can you believe all this stuff?"

Driving the the US "Flatlands"... the little dots are cattle!

Enjoying the Black Hills... though the soil was red! We girls had fun taking photos...

...while the boys climbed, of course! :)

A picturesque mountain stream

We waded down it, enjoying simple pleasures

...And Dad had to gallantly retrieve Veronica's flip-flop before the stream took it away forever (tragedy!)

The water was c-o-l-d, but oh! So pretty.

"Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters..." ;)

A nice big rock-table that Dad and the kids climbed up to (I wasn't with them, but was down near a napping Mom while I kept up with my journaling...)

The hills really do look black from far away

"Somewhere, over the rainbow...

...way up high!"

Mount Rushmore, enveloped in fog! We were there near sunset -- which turned out to be the best time of day to be there. To watch a cloud settle right around the monument was something else.

But we were privileged to catch a glorious sunset, too (that was before the fog came, actually)

Enjoying Dad's treat of ice cream at the Mt.

One big cone: enough for two!

In front of the monument, beautifully lit...