Black (and Gold) Hills...

Dear All,

Well, it's been a while since my last post and I apologize to all my faithful readers struggling to get through a day not knowing what the Sandbergs are up to!! ;O)

We have had some sickness in the last week. Kindrid had some nasty fever-vomiting thing over the last weekend and early last week and I've had a bout of shingles. Not fun, but for a while I thought it was something considerably worse - most of you readers are ladies, indulge me for a moment men, - namely, breast cancer due to the location of the numbness and rash. I got pretty worried and therefore was RELIEVED to say the least that it was ONLY shingles. I'm not sure what brought it on and it wasn't much fun, but the fact that's all it was greatly lessened my discomfort!! So, now that's on the great World Wide Web for all to read....let's get on to the fun stuff...(Kindrid is better, by the way!!)...

We spent this last weekend in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It's such a great place to visit anytime and was especially gorgeous this time of year. We went to Bear Country USA on Saturday. It's sort of a drive-through zoo where WE stay in the cage (truck) and the animals wander free. Of course, entranced as I was to see the animals, this is the only picture I took! We saw LOTS of bears, wolves, mountain goats, big horn sheep, elk, buffalo etc. but the biggest two thrills were the mountain lions (we actually saw one climbing around in a tree - gave me a whole new perspective on things-that-go-bump-when-I'm-hiking-in-the-woods) and the bear cubs. They were born in Jan. and are taken from their mothers in March. They keep them all together in a huge enclosure. Their antics wrestling, playing King Of The Tree and fighting over who got to play with the sticks drew deep belly laughs from the kids. I highly recommend this place if you should ever travel through the Black Hills.

After a drive into Rapid City and lunch at Qdoba (don't have one of these in Casper, either), we headed to The Heads - I mean Mountain Mushmore (as Kindrid persisted in calling it). What can I say about this place? If you don't get teary eyed or at least one bout of goosebumps while you are here, you are a cold American indeed. :O) I know we have our faults and disagreements and major political differences, but I'm so proud to be an American! We are incredibly blessed to live in this country that the men represented here and others like them gave so much for! In our little weekly paper that comes to our mailbox free is a list each week of the Americans that died in the line of duty. I read it every week. I never know any of them. But someone does and calls them Dad, or Daughter or Husband etc. I pray for their families with a grateful heart that these military people were willing to pay such a huge cost for the freedom of MY children. These huge sculptures bring all that and more to mind. It's an amazing place!

This is George Washington's likeness. As a side note, while we were in the Black Hills, someone gave Todd a one dollar bill in change with http://www.wheresgeorge.com/ stamped on it. I checked it out today, registered the bill and will spend it for B.'s lunch next week. As it travels, folks that are so led can register the bill and I can see where it goes from here. Kinda neat. Yep, this is what I do as a Stay At Home Mom! :O)

So, in my title I referred to the "Gold Hills" and that is how it was this weekend. We didn't plan it or ever think about it when we decided to go there, so it was an amazing surprise to see how lovely it was. The first weekend in October or last in September is definitely the time to go for peak color!! WoW!! My pictures never do it justice, but here's a small sample...

No trip to the Black Hills is complete without driving the breathtaking Needles Drive culminating in the trip through the Eye of the Needle. On our way out of the Black Hills on Sunday we drove through Custer State Park in hopes of seeing wildlife. We weren't disappointed when we ran into this wild donkey herd. Look at the cute little guy!Brennen and Kindrid were reduced to jello laughing at these guys as they poked their heads in looking for handouts. You'd think they'd at least offer to wash your windshield, the beggars. They did, however, slobber all over the doors under the windows...Kindrid and I saw those marks on the truck today! :O) I'm sure it's frowned upon, but everyone feeds them. Todd and I gave them a few chips but Brennen and Kindrid wanted nothing to do with those yellowed teeth!!

Once a year they round up all the buffalo (who does that???) at Custer for branding and selling off some to keep the herd to a size the park can support. Most of the buffalo were in the corral area in the southern part of the park so we didn't get to have them all around the truck as one usually does at Custer. Here is one big fellow by the fence...

We drove a lot of the back roads in the park and saw a few lone buffalo, lots of antelope and lots of wild turkeys - Todd turned off the truck so we could listen to them. We took a back way out of the park and ended up driving through one corner of Wind Cave National Park where there were a lot of open range buffalo about. One forgets how HUGE these creatures are until all that separates one is what moments ago seemed a solid truck door!! We escaped uncharged and unscathed and had an uneventful drive home. We did see another full rainbow on the way back. As we stumbled in so tired and having to unpack, Todd grumbled that three day weekends should be mandatory!

Oh yes, I forgot...we stayed in a cabin at this place http://www.highcountryranch.com/slideshows/Black_Hills_Cabins_campcabins/Black_Hills_Cabins_campcabinslideshow.html and loved it! They were clean, each had their own bathrooms and mini-kitchen, nice covered porch with picnic table, beautiful views, a playground so close we were comfortable letting the kids go there on their own and the Mickelson Trail winding right behind the cabins http://www.travelsd.com/thingstodo/biking.asp?utm_source=GooglePPC&utm_medium=PPC&utm_content=MickTrail&utm_campaign=BHDS2008 making us wish we had our bikes. We are excited to stay there again!! There was a dog that must have belonged to the resort and seemed to be a labradoodle. We all fell in love. Kindrid cried when we had to say good-bye to it and Todd and I almost did, too. I'd get a dog again in a heartbeat if I knew it would be so cute, well-behaved and fun.

One last thing...

Tonight ends an era (well, if you can call it that). Tomorrow Kindrid will be 5 years old. Our little kids aren't so little anymore. Five years ago tonight we were in Virginia, MN. We ate at the clubhouse at the golf course for supper, and I got my hair cut after. By around 4:30 the next morning we were parents of a sweet little redhead girl. What a blessing she has been to, I venture to modestly say with no parental pride or blindness in place, most everyone she meets. :O) Well, certainly to us. Thank you God!

Also, Robin F. got me started on Facebook today. Thanks for all of you that are now "my friends." Glad it's official so I can start saying things like, "I have 9 friends." I've no idea what I'm doing on it or how to really use it, but I will learn. Fun! Thanks, R.!!

Have a wonderful evening, morning, day, week, weekend - guess it depends on when you read!!

Love,

Christy