the badlands are bad...in a good way

Wall Drug strikes again.  I promise to take most people to Wall Drug when you visit.  It's hilarious.  Way too many tourists were out and about and Tyler and his dad were not too excited to be surrounded by the multitude of what Wall Drug had to offer in addition to the tourists, but I again loved it. 

We found the scary dinosaur, cowboy orchestra, and 6 foot tall rabbit.  Below are some of the few pics we took.  And, by the way, the traveler's chapel was beautiful in the midst of the Wall Drug crazy.

Guy on a Buffalo

From Wall, we headed to the Badlands.  There is a charge to enter the park but with Tyler being active military we were able to get in at no charge.  From what I remember it's around $15 to get in.  The badlands were unreal.  Standing amongst the cliffs of the badlands (if that's what you call it), made us feel small and reminded me of how amazing God is.  Tyler of course became a daredevil and climbed down on one of the "trails" through some of the land.  We weren't able to drive through the entire park due to some construction on the road and a really confusing/confused guy trying to direct traffic.  The Badlands are a definite place to stop when in this area.  We can't wait to go back and see the sunset while drinking wine (or water) and enjoying the company of each other.

Mountain goats climb like crazy.

Tyler looks so small.  I even zoomed in on him so he could be seen. 

Buffalo are everywhere!

Yet we all kept walking...

We worked up an appetite and headed downtown to enjoy local beer and food at the Firehouse Brewing Company.  Ty enjoyed some of the local beer and I really enjoyed their artichoke dip and beer infused bread to dip in it.  Delicious.  Great dessert, cool atmosphere, and a very busy place for a Monday night. Oh, and their adult lemonade drink was delicious.  I can't remember the name but I'm pretty sure it's one of their popular choices.

http://www.firehousebrewing.com/Brews.aspx

Overall, last weekend was great fun.  Spearfish is calling our name for some kayaking, fishing, and hiking.  Now onto STURGIS week!

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.

raspberry honeywine

Prairie Berry Winery is a must if you are in town, Rapid City, South Dakota, that is.  Tyler and I have been twice after I became obsessed with their Raspberry Honeywine.  It's delicious...and worth the drive to Hill City.  We took Tyler's dad to the winery.  We are already members of their wine club (yea, we realize how cool we are) but had to drink up a few more samples. 

The obsession began after we sampled some of their wine at the Rapid City's Art and Wine Festival.  The festival was great.  Checkout some of the pics from the fest in June at the bottom of this post.  Tyler was hesitant to join me at the festival.  So glad he did...last picture shows why.

I really do love being here.  Great lookin' food, better wine!

Visitors/wine testers get to choose to sample 5 different types of wine.  I always go with the sweeter reds and Tyler goes with a dryer version.  Apparently, South Dakota's grapes have to ripen in a short period of time due to the weather; therefore, most of their red wines are really sweet and need to be refrigerated.  My fave's are the Raspberry Honeywine, Red Ass Rhubarb, and the White Plum wine (this may be the name...I can't remember). 

Tyler and I making notes the first time we made it to PB.

Nothing better than wine and frozen custard.  Wine and Art Fest.

Blurry but my faves.

Ty's pride and joy, his cool comic book chair.