Another great visit

John's sister, Bonnie, and husband, Butch, arrived Monday afternoon, got set up, and settled in for the dinner we had ready for the weary travelers.

Tuesday we visited Bear Country USA, Mount Rushmore, took the drive on Iron Mountain Road through the tunnels and Pig Tail Bridges towards the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park.  Here are Bonnie and Butch at Bear Country USA.

The drive through Custer State Park proved to be more successful than last week's drive when we took our visiting friends through the park.  This time around, we saw everything the park had to offer.  Here are Bonnie and Butch feeding carrots to the "Wild" Burros.

We also got to see a couple of large herds of Bison.

The next three days were spent fishing and visiting.  Everyone caught fish on Wednesday (wish I had the a copy of the smiling picture of Bonnie with her first catch of the day . . . darn, it was on her camera!) at Center Lake.  Thursday was a bust as no fish were caught at Sheridan Lake.  On Friday, only the guys went fishing as Bonnie had a stomach ailment so us girls laid low at the campground.  John and Butch were successful  fishing.  The first Bass of the season was caught by Butch at Bismark Lake.

This little guy was released just like all the others caught on the fishing expeditions.

Saturday was a trip to Jewel Cave - the second largest cave in the world.  This really is a beautiful cave and has just about everything a cave can offer.  One of our tour companions was nice enough to take this picture of the four of us deep underground.

We capped off the evening by going up to Crazy Horse Memorial to watch the laser-light show and the night blast celebrating Ruth Ziolkowski's 84th birthday (wife of the deceased sculptor) and the 134th Anniversary Of The Battle Of Little Big Horn.   The Memorial only has two night blasts a year: June 26 and September 6 (the observance of dual anniversaries - the 1877 death of Lakota leader Crazy Horse and the birth date of sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski).  Everyone enjoyed the evenings entertainment and the weather cooperated much better this year than last year.

Sunday morning found us saying our goodbyes as Bonnie and Butch headed back to Sacramento.   Bonnie and Butch had been in Iowa visiting Butch's parents and friends and then attended an Aliner Rally in the Amana Colonies.  They swung north specifically to visit with us and we are very happy that they did!  After hugs and safe travel wishes, Bonnie and Butch got on the road while John and I worked our shifts at the campground.  What a nice time we had catching up, laughing it up, and getting to share the beauty of the Black Hills with two people who mean a lot to us.

Special guests

We were blessed to have friends fly out from Sacramento for a quick visit.   Janis and her two sisters, Jane and Jean, flew in on Thursday for a whirlwind tour of Custer and the surrounding area.  We picked the ladies up on Thursday and they flew back to Sacramento early Saturday afternoon.  We had a lot to show them and boy, did we ever.

We stopped at Bear Country USA, Sylvan Lake, Eye of the Needle, drove Iron Mountain Road and Custer Wildlife Loop (saw no herds of Bison!  Unimaginable.), Mount Rushmore, and Crazy Horse.  Not to mention stopping at the Alpine Inn for bacon-wrapped filet mignon, the Purple Pie Place for pie and  other local eating establishments.

What a great time we had visiting and showing them the beauty of the Black Hills.  The only negative was that Jane came down with a stomach issue on Friday and felt really poor the entire day.  What a trooper she was!  She came especially to see Mount Rushmore and saw it she did.  Here is a picture of the Jean, Jane, and Janis.

These are three of the nicest ladies you can ever hope to meet.  We feel very blessed that we can count them as friends of ours.  Ladies, anytime you want to come and visit us wherever we might be, you have a standing invitation.

Checking in

Wow, it has been almost three weeks since my last entry.  We must be having fun or not doing much.  We've worked, hung out, been fishing, and made weekly trips to Rapid City.  Yawn!  See, not too much to write about.

This afternoon it is 47 degrees outside and raining . . . when is it going to stop?  It would be lovely if the sun would shine for more than a few hours a couple of days a week.  There is a glimmer of hope for some good weather later this week.  I certainly hope so as we have friends flying in from Sacramento for a quick visit.  Doing the tourist thing in the rain really is not that enjoyable and we want them to have a great time as we have lots to show them.

John split wood this morning with the splitter and is now bundling it up for later sale.  He erected a tarp between trees so that he could keep working while it rained.  As it has been cold all day, I took him some hot chocolate instead of a Diet Coke around 3:30.  He wasn't being bothered by the rain at all and even had the golf cart under the tarp keeping it dry.  Last weekend, John built a jig for stacking the wood into the right size and then bundling it all at an easy height.  Pretty smart thinking as there is a lot of wood to be split and then bundled this summer as the ready for sale supply is nearly gone and the busy season is almost upon us.  

Well, that is about it from Custer for now until next time . . . bye.