thibaults keeping busy

The Thibaults enjoying the sun and cold water in Speafish.

Bridal Veil Falls photo op with the "honeymooners."

Spearfish Canyon Creek.

Between setting up our home, setting up my library, and entertaining guests, Ty and I have been keeping pretty occupied.  Tyler's dad came in for the weekend and we did some serious exploring.  

We drove all over "west river."  For you southern folks, people up here have divided the state in two: West River and East River...the river being the Missouri.  Took me a little while to figure that one out, but had much help from my fellow librarians.  

First trek through Sturgis.  We have already seen tons of bikers and I felt left out.  Can't wait to see JOURNEY at the Sturgis Rally!

Tyler was not being a good sport...

Main Street.  NOT busy...JUST WAIT.

 The roads here have been heavily populated with bikers.  One almost took us out, well, we almost took him out.  Everyone is preaching safety, so hopefully everyone remains safe.  I'm so pumped about the Sturgis Rally.  I'm heading to Goodwill tomorrow in search of leather.  I want to fit in this coming week with the thousands of other biker tourists.  Look for a fun blog update about my adventures at Sturgis.  Tyler is not looking forward to it, but I did bike several miles uphill just for him when we first moved...I think he can trek through several miles of bikers for me. 

Spearfish Canyon creek.

Tyler had to climb up to see the falls for a closer view.  He's insane.  Pretty sure our insurance will not cover injuries sustained at Bridal Veil Falls. 

 Traveling through Spearfish Canyon was stunning and truly awe inspiring.  Free with the exception of gas, anyone can drive through and stop at Bridal Veil Falls.  If you look at the top of the waterfall, the pattern mimics that of a bridal veil.  Neat!  We loved the scenic route a bit too much and took a very long "detour" to get back to the city.  Instead of making our way back to Deadwood, we ended up in Hill City.  The joys of getting lost on dirt roads and trying to figure out how to get to civilization without being able to use our iPhones is always entertaining.  I finished a whole book on day 1 of our travels.  

The gorgeous view Tyler got from climbing so high.

Do you see it?  The veil?

The water was cool, refreshing, and "clean"

We made a stop at Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.  Both allowed us in for FREE since Tyler is an active military man.  From what I remember, Mt. Rushmore has a parking fee of around $10-15 and Crazy Horse has an insane fee of $30.  Tyler and I both agreed that Crazy Horse memorial is great; however, not worth that much money.  We would suggest going with someone who is active or waiting until the Volksmarch in June.  We weren't able to get any closer to the monument on just this regular visit.  It is rather cool though that the monument has not accepted any federal funding and plans on obtaining money through the "people."  Most probably why the price to get into the museum was so high.  

I am looking forward to going back on September 6th for their night blast.  Also, check out their website for days when admission is free!  You can find their info at  http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/pdf/2012-calendar-of-events.pdf .

Day 2 of Mr. Rudy's trip included fishing with Rob (and time for me to catch up on some school work...and read of course).  After having seafood gumbo on Day 1 thanks to Mr. Rudy and Tyler's mad cooking skills, we had some delicious fried fish thanks to Tyler's mad fishing abilities.  We are waiting on our DuceRod (hint, hint).  What a great couple of days for both me and my ever growing appetite for Tyler's cooking. 

I'm so spoiled!

Gumbo from the night before.

passport afb...part 2

#16: Work off those calories on base.  Started Zumba last week at Bellamy Fitness center.  I feel like a complete fool trying to salsa, pelvic thrust, and hop around.  However, it does seem to be a good cardio workout.  Not the most fun thing to accomplish on our list of 50 passport activities, but we all know Tyler lives at Bellamy. 

#26: Hippie Hole Adventures.  Check out our other blog post on the subject.  Here are some tips for trekking to Hippie Hole: 1.  Don't loose your keys, 2.  bring snacks in a some kind of book sack including lunch and drinks, 3.  have some good shoes you can get wet (this makes the climb up to and from easier plus it helps when trying to get back up the cliff after your jump), 4. sunscreen and bandaids help.

#35: Reading for free!  Getting a Holbrook library card and checking out books was one of the first things I did here.  Tyler even stopped in once.  Cute library with great librarians.  Perfect spot for kids and nerdy librarian teachers like me.


Stay tuned...Tyler's dad is coming in and we plan to accomplish even more activities on the list including Spearfish waterfalls!

passport while at ellsworth afb 101

Can you complete 45 out of 50 fun things to do around Ellsworth AFB?  We sure hope we can.  If so, our name gets put in a drawing for $1000 and we get our names on some kind of board. 

Stay tuned for what we do around Ellsworth that makes living here that much better.

#2: Chasing those buffalo in Custer---COMPLETE
Custer is such a cute little city and the buffalo/bison are so fun to watch.  These animals are huge!  See previous posts for their posed picture.  Didn't cost us anything to complete because we just drove through but there is a charge for being in the state park.  

#29: George, Tom, Teddy, and Abe Memorial---COMPLETE
Mount Rushmore is a must while you are in SoDak.  I mean, come on, it's really the only reason why most people travel to this part of the country. Parking fee was somewhere around $15 I think, but worth it.  

#37: Mickelson Trail bike riding (but luckily you don't have to do all 109 miles)---COMPLETE
Still have some battle scars from our trek.  It was really pretty and so much fun on the way down, but get ready for a workout if you bike uphill.  No costs except for the few gallons of Powerade.  We started in Custer and headed toward Hill City.  All uphill but then a breeze to get back home...what goes up, must come down!

#48: Lions and Tigers and Bears, O MY!  Well only the bears at Bear Country---COMPLETE
Check out the previous post.  Good time for kids, better time for me.  I loved those little cubs!  Driving fee was somewhere around $25.  Nice hour long drive through the park and then 30 minutes of watching the babies in the babyland area.

#49: Flags and Wheels---COMPLETE
The most fun I have had from adventures on the Passport list.  Drove fast go-karts that can go up to 40mph (I came in last), hit some balls around (I couldn't keep up with Tyler in the fast pitch cage), won a few tickets in the arcade (Delicious tootsie-rolls for only 3 tickets), and super fun lazer-tag (I came in 2nd...Tyler was last place).  Great place to go and all indoors so when it gets cold, you'll be seeing us hitting the track.  $27 for two with a military discount for racing, somewhere around $16 for 2 for lazer tag, and $.75 for 12 balls. 

military lingo

At 1700 bring your POV to the FSC with your DOD card.  As a DS you'll need to contact the FSC for any HHG you may need NLT a week prior to your AMN deployment.  

Seriously?  Seriously???  Can you figure this one out?  I'm stuck on 1700.  I cannot grasp military time and then they throw in acronyms to boot.  Yikes.  

Here's the message:
At 5:00pm bring your car (Privately Owned Vehicle) to the Family Support Center with your Department of Defense card (military ID).  As a Dependent Spouse, you'll need to contact the Family Support Center for any Household Goods you may need No Later Than a week prior to your Airman's deployment. 

Get any right?  I think it's so funny to call my car a POV.  Takes longer to say, don't you think?  

With the confusing lingo; however, does come very helpful airmen and women along with their spouses.  I went to a Heart Link Spouse orientation and was taught many good things about the Air Force as well as protocol.  I'll post some later.  Being a newcomer to the Air Force has taught me so much in such a short time.  For now I leave you with a two great websites to check out if you are moving to Ellsworth:


Airman and Family Readiness Center
www.ellsworthafrc.org  


Rapid City Newspaper
www.rapidcityjournal.com