Road Trip Day 2 ... Spearfish, SD

Up and on the road early.  Today's adventure took us up through northeast Wyoming.  We hit Devil's tower National Monument before crossing over into South Dakota.  Neither Quent or I had been through this area before.  Nothing but sage brush, cows and oil fields.

Devil's Tower National Monument was amazing.  Such a unique site out in the middle of nowhere.  We stopped and took pictures of every angle.  I saw prairie dogs for the first time in my life (other than in the zoo), I only snapped a few hundred pictures of the cute little guys.  A great way to start the day.

We hit Spearfish Canyon, the fish hatchery within Spearfish and Strugis before spending the night at Quent's aunt Viv's house.  

It was fun to finally meet aunt Viv and uncle Howard.  I was also able to meet Quent's cousins Dawn and Kurt (and their families).  It was a great night of visiting and great food.  Thanks to the family for making us feel so welcome.

Mileage: 317 miles 

 

Devil's Tower

Prairie Dogs

Sturgis,SD

Spearfish Canyon

 Fish Hatchery in Spearfish, SD

Viv and Howard Jacobs

Road Trip Day 1 ... Casper

Quent and I left this afternoon for Casper, Wyoming.  We're headed to South Dakota for fall break as I have three days out of school and Quent was itchin' to do some pheasant hunting.  We will head out to Devil's Tower in the morning and then over to Spearfish, South Dakota for the night.

Mileage:  427 miles

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

My parents had a BBQ on Saturday night to celebrate their 41st anniversary.  It was fun to see everyone, we hadn't seen most of my family since Memorial Day Weekend.  We all pitched in and got my parents new dishes, 20 place settings.  Now my mom is expecting more grandkids...Slim and Rick better get on that!

 Mom and Dad 8/21/1970

Richard shows off his blonde hair!

20 Years in the Books!

This past weekend was my 20 year high school reunion.  Yes I'm that old!  Somehow I landed myself on the committee so there was no backing out!  Friday night's event was held in the cafeteria at Olympus, the school is scheduled to be torn down after the 2011-12 school year so it was fun to get to go through the school one last time.  The event at Olympus was casual and hot, no air conditioning.  Did I mention it was hot? 

Saturday night's event was held at the University Park Hotel and was a formal sit-down dinner.  We had a great turn out and based on all the comments on Facebook, everyone had a great time.

Quent was a trooper through the event, Friday night he opted to go to Riverton High's football scrimmage with TJ and Morgan rather than hanging out with me all night.  Saturday he hung out with me and was my photographer for the night.  I was a bit busy with registration and the program to even think about taking pictures.

 

The Reunion Committee!!

We made it to 4!

We made it to four!!!  We celebrated our fourth anniversary by sleeping in, cooking breakfast together and spending the day together.  We went to see Cars 2 -- we saw Cars 1 while we were dating -- we went to dinner down in Ogden at Ruby River Steak House, the same restaurant that we went too the night of our wedding. 

It was a great day with just the two of us, I am glad Quent was able to take the day off and spend a day with me.

Around the Town

Have you ever been somewhere so many times it's like a second home?  I have family that lives in Cody, Wyoming and I've visited the town almost every year of my life, some years more than once.  This trip, I realized I didn't have any pictures of the town and figured it was about time.  From the Irma Hotel to the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum.  I wish I'd taken more pictures over the years but why would I have?

So today, I post pictures from my afternoon around Cody.

The famous Irma Hotel, built by none other than Buffalo Bill Cody 

Buffalo Bill Cody -- the town namesake

Although I've never been, I hear that the nightly rodeo in Cody is the best around. 

You can't pass through Cody and not stop at the museum. 

Buffalo Bill State Park and Reservoir

 A trip to Cody wouldn't be the same without seeing a line up of motorcycles.

And finally....my mom's alma mater

Wild West Balloon Fest

The Wild West Balloon Festival is in town and Grandma and I went to the "glow" last night which was rather disappointing as they didn't inflate the balloons and just had four baskets burn for a few minutes.  It was interesting to say the least.

This morning we went to the balloon launch at 5:30 a.m., it was EARLY but boy was it worth it.  There were 16 balloons participating in the launch and we watched each and everyone launch and head northeast over the city.  Uncle Sunny and Norma joined us last night at the burn and this morning Uncle Sunny joined us for the launch.

Here are a few pictures and here is a link to a slideshow of more pictures.

Hangin' with Grandma

I made my way to Cody on Tuesday, I'll be here for 10 days.  So far we haven't done much but we did get started on cleaning out grandpa's stuff.  We ran some errands today and I managed to get a pedicure...so relaxing!  When I got home from running errands this afternoon, the deer was hanging out in the backyard.  Cody has a bunch of "domestic" city deer that roam the streets year round.

(note:  after I posted this original post, grandma spotted a doe in the back yard...she's taken over the buck's spot)

Hollyhocks Blooming

Our hollyhocks are blooming.  I have always loved hollyhocks, they remind me of my great-grandmother's house in Burlington, Wyo.  We have them along a fence in our yard. We hope that they will spread throughout the hatchery!

Little Valley Days

Saturday was the big day for Mantua.  The parade was at 10:00 and there were festivities all day long in the city park topped off with fireworks.  Nicole and Steve came up for the parade and the carnival. Alyssa was excited to not only watch the parade but be in the parade with Uncle Quent in the Fish Truck.  Quent said that Alyssa loved throwing out candy with him and can't wait until next year's parade.

We all went to Maddox before Steve and Nicole headed home. 

Here are a few pictures *and yes I changed the coloring of the photos to make them look like old faded pictures, I did this on purpose*.  And a side note, I took our point and shoot and due to the sun and shadows my pictures turned out like crap so these pictures are courtesy of Nicole and Steve.