Where do I begin? We've done so much in so little time, it seems.

We left Chicago and drove to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There we visited the Harley Davidson Museum - imagine that! (It was on our way and a good place to use the bathroom.) We also visited Miller Stadium, where the Milwaukee Brewers play baseball. Nice stadium.

From there we moved across Wisconsin quickly and went into Minnesota. We arrived in Bloomington where Mall of America is (right outside of Minneapolis/St. Paul) at rush hour. There was a lot of traffic! We found our hotel and within minutes took the free shuttle to the Mall. Tom and Thomas decided that one evening of shopping was enough for them. Thomas found the Lego store and the Nike store and he was done. The girls, on the other hand, couldn't wait to go back the next day. They had from 10-3 to shop and then Tom picked us up at the Mall to head out to South Dakota.

We have seen the creativity of God in all the different land forms -- mountains, flatlands, rolling hills, etc., and in the weather. We drove through the worst rain I've ever experienced on our way from Milwaukee to Bloomington, MN. On our way to Wyoming we started up a mountain in 81 degree weather. At the top it was 51 degrees, and at the bottom on the other side it was a nice 81 again. In general the weather has been awesome -- no humidity, 80-85, cool nights.

Back to South Dakota --We drove by farm after farm after farm (most flat, but some rolling hills) and finally reached our hotel about 10pm. We stayed at a tiny motel in Kadoka, population 763.

Early the next day we left for the Badlands. Wow! God is so, so creative! Amazing structures.

Coming out of the park, we ended up at Wall Drug, a huge tourist trap where we all bought souvenirs!

From there we entered South Dakota's Black Hills. They are called that b/c they look black. Simple. It's really just lots of trees covering the mountains. It is beautiful territory. In the Black Hills rests Mount Rushmore, and on our way there we stopped at Bear Country USA. We saw lots of animals roaming around our car, but the highlight was the black bears. They were so cute, and they literally walked up to the cars, sniffing and rubbing against some of them. Mount Rushmore was just like you see in all the pictures, but it was very moving to be there.

Besides the incredible sculpture, the scenery around it (up and down the mountain) was fantastic. On our way out we drove through Deadwood, and old western town (with all the modern conveniences). It seems like we drove for days before we reached our accomodations that night (Bill Cody Ranch in Cody, WY). We drove up and down mountains with tight switchbacks -- gorgeous, but slow. At the top of one mountain, the road became a dirt road -- yes, one of the main roads from South Dakota to Yellowstone Park was a dirt road for a mile or two. They were constructing a new road, but we thought we were going out to the middle of nowhere! After a long, tiring trip we finally saw the Bill Cody Ranch sign, and we knew we were staying near the horses when we took our first sniffs of the place. It was worth it, though. We all had a delightful time riding horses the next morning. The views were great and the girls fell in love with their horses. Hayley is still talking about "Barbara." After our ride, we went into town -- Cody, a quaint little town with a super scrapbook store (for Gayla and Hayley), a fireworks store (for Thomas), and the original Irma Hotel and Restaurant that Wild Bill Cody started back in the early 1900's. We had lunch at the restaurant and sat at the original bar where Wild Bill and his buddies used to sit. Because we were all exhausted from the hectic pace of the previous day, we returned to the Ranch to take naps. Tom skipped the nap and walked down along the Shoshone River where there were gorgeous mountains rising on both sides.

The Badlands

At the Ranch that night they had a cookout. We sat at a picnic table by the creek where we ordered from menus and were served as if we were inside a restaurant. The Ranch staff were a talkative bunch and we got to know our waiter and our horseback trail guides a little. The kids had a ping pong tournament in the game room and made s'mores by the fire and then we began packing to leave early for Yellowstone the next morning.

It makes me tired just reliving all this on paper -- uh, computer -- but it is an incredible experience! We highly recommend it! The kids are doing well. Long car rides lend themselves to bickering, but for the most part, the kids are having so much fun with each other and me and Tom. Great family-building experience.

Our horses names, in order, are Barbara, Holiday, Velvet, Thunder, Denim, and Titan.