Anniversary Trip to the Hills!

BLACK HILLS TRIP 2008

9.28-9.29.-9.30

This is how our 3rd Anniversary Trip to the Black Hills started out! Nathan went fly fishing, but like usual, the trout outsmarted him!

On Sunday morning around 8 we loaded up the bags, fly fishing rod, camera, and of course, the girls, and headed to the Black Hills for our Anniversary!

We had made reservations in Hill City, which is SW of Rapid City, and a town we really came to enjoy! We spoiled ourselves by getting the King Suite at the Holiday Inn Express, and wanted to bring the King size bed home with us! The environment in that town was wonderful, along with the cool fall weather, and colors which helped out too! We went shopping in Rapid on Sunday, and ended up checking in around 4:00. We knew we had an early morning ahead of us, since we were heading to the Buffalo Round Up in Custer State Park on Monday.

The alarm went off at 4:45 on Monday morning, and breakfast was at 5:30 to give us just enough time to feed the girls and bathroom breaks and then to get us on the road to Custer State Park by 6:00! I should've taken a picture of ALL the crazy people and tourists, 11,000 is the estimation, of people going to watch this Round Up! I didn't think we'd ever get into the park, but after entertaining ourselves by being stupid tired, and spotting some Elk, which turns out to be one of the highlights, we made it! We got parked and our spot picked out, which made it almost 8:00. Keep in mind, the buffalo weren't running by us until 9:30! SO, as talkative as my husband is, he made friends fast, and we enjoyed ourselves by meeting a nice older couple from Michigan sitting next to us. Before we knew it, the buffalo were running, and they pushed them through the gates! We are glad that we went, but probably won't do it again. If we hadn't ever ridden before, or seen buffalo before, it would've been neat, but in December Painters will be having their own Round Up, and we'll get to be entertained and involved with that!

After the Round Up, we went into Custer, parked the car, and walked the main strip to do some looking and shopping! It was such a fun time together! We ate a quick meal at Pizza Hut, got a malt and shake at a little purple and pink barn, and then headed back to Hill City. I wanted to do some shopping in Hill City too, so we did just that. They have a cute little main street and we went into the many galleries they have there!

Now THIS was one of my favorites! I had suggested that we take a turn on a gravel road named "Slate Creek Road" to go see the Slate Creek Dam that was supposed to be 10 miles into the Hills. Well, we took this road, which was maintained fairly well for the first few miles where the cozy cute cabins that families were staying in were. Then we got farther and farther until we started doubting ourselves and this road! Finally we came upon some corrals with a couple horses saddled, and an old camper sat! I took a picture, which I'll add after this little story. Anyway, after about a half hour of driving curves, seeing meadows, turkeys, and now saddled horses, we found our dam! It was so neat, with a few beaver dams, and beautiful fall colors! We decided to continue on our trail we were beginning to like, and came to a pretty big opening with a creek running through. So we stopped and let the girls run. They had been on leashes every time we had gotton them out this trip, so they were more than thankful to us for letting them be dogs! We took a seat at the creek, and just soaked in the moment together. Our girls were in their own little world, and so were we. THAT memory is in my heart and mind forever, it is one of my most favorite places in the Hills! We stayed for quite awhile, and then I said, "how about we carve our initials in an aspen (our favorite), so that when we come back next time with the babe, we'll always know this is OUR spot!" So Nathan thought it was a great idea, grabbed the knife, and started carving on the back of "our" aspen tree! Nathan wrote "08" with a "W"! We had carved our initials before we were engaged over in Brookings, and some day I hope to go back East River with our family and look at it! Of course, I have pictures, but it's neat to see NW heart EA!

So here is our 2008 Wagner carving on Slate Creek Road! I just love it!

We headed back on the same path we came, even though if we wanted, we could've kept going! AND, we had to get the girls clean since they were muddy and wet from pretending to hunt!

On our way back I took a few snap shots of the horses in the corral, it was in a pretty neat place, but weird since no one was around! If you look close, there is a few turkeys behind the corral!

We got back to Hill City, and Nathan had heard that Alpine Inn was a great place to eat, so we decided to try it. Well, we got there and had an hour wait! That was fine, because after being in the Hills a couple days, and after asking ourselves, "what else do we have to do??" we had finally gotton ourselves trained to sit back, relax, and take it all in! So an hour wait...sure! We sat out on the big beautiful front porch, and took it all in. What an amazing fall night to spend sitting with my husband! Our names were finally called, and we find out that they only serve fillet minon at supper! So we had a choice of 6 or 9 oz. and what to drink, and we were set! It is European style, and we recommend it to anyone going to the Hills! We loved it!! The lights are set low, candles on the tables, and very romantic music. So romantic, that when the wedding song came on, that most weddings have their wedding party walk down to, I started crying my eyes out! It didn't help that Nathan had said some wonderful words to me, but then the music just sent me over the edge! Oh it was so nice, and another great memory to remember. We can't wait to go back!!

Tuesday came, and after getting over the fact that in a few hours reality was going to set it, we packed up and went to Rapid to do some shopping. We also hit up Spearfish, and then headed home. Oh were the girls happy to be home! Now we are looking at Thursday tomorrow, and Tom and Cullen are heading out to visit and hunt on Friday! Tomorrow I will hit the 10 week mark too! Painters are gone, or are leaving for Ames, Iowa rodeo, and the hunters who have been here almost a week will be leaving on Friday. Come Monday, things will all be back to the same! Rifle antelope opens on Saturday for the first season, and I have second season tags, so that will be here soon! October 20-24th Nathan is Elk hunting in the Hills! OH always something going on here it seems! Trapping is right around the corner, and I have my eye on some fox, along with ALL the coons around here! We're hopefully going to make some money this fall/winter with furs!

Keep following along with us, I hear back from SO many family and friends who are enjoying this! So Thanks for checking in! We've been lucky enough to be blessed with each other for 6 years already! It IS wonderful to have your Best friend with you everyday, and we are very Thankful, especially for October 8th! :)