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.
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.
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.
