Saturday August 2nd

What a wonderful day today was! We got our butts in gear this morning, and headed to the Black Hills for shopping. If anyone doesn't know, that is our closest big shopping area, and it's 90 miles from home. We go to Walmart, and to Safeway, the grocery store, about every 2 weeks. So it is quite the outing, at least in our house, when we do go. The day started in Spearfish, getting pictures done at Walmart, and then we headed to Sturgis, since the Sturgis Bike Rally is going on. Oh the sites we did indeed see! We were going to walk the main strip, but decided to head on to Deadwood. Our route we took was through Vanocker Canyon, where many Nathan and Erica memories are. The first place we came upon was the cabin we honeymooned in! I hadn't seen it in almost 3 years, so I had a smile and tears on my cheek as we drove by. After passing by many trails we have four wheeled on, we came upon the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at almost 2 years ago, on our first anniversary. Once again, more memories came flooding back. On our first anniversary, we had just bought our four wheeler, so we did lots of four wheeling that weekend, and lots ever since! We eventually got to Deadwood. We love Deadwood, it has a comfy feeling to it, and anything goes there. We surprisingly got a decent parking place, and walked to the main street. Bikes everywhere up and down, flying in and out..everywhere! Once again, anyone and everyone fits in there! We spent some time people watching, and then headed to the Silverado to gamble $5! We're not much for gambling, and at max out of all the times we've been there, probably spent $20! We sat down at the slots, and right away Nathan loses almost all our money. SO I decide since I've never touched a machine to try, and end up winning our $5 and .96 extra cents back. Needless to say, I'm not too much on the wild side, and cashed out! HA HA! I do see how people get addicted, and I'm sure if we had a weekend in Deadwood, with a set amount to spend, that it would be fun to gamble. But for now, we're ahead .96! :) After eating ice cream at a spot on main street that we've always gotton ice cream at, we decided to take off back to Spearfish.
After a long hour or so in Walmart, which is enough once every two weeks, we went to Safeway, and headed home. We got to Belle Fourche, and decided to stop by Joe and Cindy Painter, the people who's ranch we live on, and say Hi. We had never been to their other ranch they have outside of Belle Fourche, so we got the beautiful tour, visited awhile, and then headed on home. Now that we're home, we don't want to move! Tomorrow is the Ice Cream Social at Ladner Lutheran Church, which is the church we have been attending when we're home! It's about 7 miles North of our house, so I'm making brownies to take, and Nathan will be helping scoop ice cream! It will be nice to see a lot of familiar faces! Other than that, lots of chores need done around the house, and another busy week awaits us! We hope that everyone is enjoying their Saturday night, and Sunday before heading back to work! If anyone is planning a trip to the Black Hills this summer, you'll have to let us know, we could sure use some visitors! :)