A Few Pics from the Weekend

Just a few pictures I "borrowed" from Jason...

 

 

Sunset at our campground in Shipshewana this weekend.

Another view of the sunset.

Connor with a calf at the zoo in Birch Run on

Memorial Day.

Jillian at the zoo in Birch Run.

We're "Home"!!!

After traveling 7,020 miles since we left Mesa, AZ on April 13th, we're at Lake Shore Resort in Davison.  Considering it's only 2,100 miles from here to Mesa, I would say we definitely took the scenic route on our way back.  It feels great to be back in Michigan!

Shipshewana, Indiana - Amish Country

We arrived in Shipshewana, IN on Friday afternoon.  George & Belinda arrived a short time later.  We had just finished dinner and were outside when Jason, Connor & Jillian walked into our campsite and surprised us.  That was the best surprise ever!!!  :-)  They are staying until tomorrow and we will leave on Tuesday for Davison, MI.  Last night we all went to dinner at Das Essenhaus...always a delicious meal!  Today Connor has requested his favorite...crockpot chicken & rice. 

 

 

Still wobbly...

Plowing the field Old Skool!

Huge horses!

A buggy in downtown Shipshewana

The shops at Das Essenhaus

The Foster Boys...Bailey & Teddy

Jillian sleeping with her hand on Connor

Jillian with Teddy

Jillian on the computer

Connor

Connor taking it easy

Keystone, SD Area

We were planning to go to the Rushmore Borglum Museum (Gutzon Borglum was the sculptor of Mount Rushmore) today, but when we arrived there was a sign on the door saying they were closed and would be open tomorrow at 8:30 a.m.  That would be fine if we weren't leaving in the morning.  When we were in Keystone Friday, the sign on the door indicated that they were open 7 days/week.  Grrrrrrrrrr!!!  So, we did some shopping in Keystone and when Bob was talking to a lady in the Iron Mountain Road Store, she told him about the Iron Mountain Road and said it's a beautiful drive.  The OLD Bob would have never considered it, but Alien Bob was all for it.  So, up the mountains we go (see last picture of his shirt).  We thought the road going up to Jerome, AZ was bad...it was nothing compared to this one.   We ended up at Custer State Park, which is famous for the buffalo roaming there.  Because of the weather, we didn't see any today.  That's fine...we've seen plenty of buffalo on this trip!  We had dinner at Ruby House Restaurant in Keystone and then took a new route back to our campground.  Although it was drizzling rain part of the day, we made the best of it.

 

 

Sculpture of Lincoln by Gutzon Borglum

 

A view from 16A - The Iron Mountain Road

One of 3 tunnels on this road

Entrance to Custer State Park

The State Game Lodge at Custer State Park...very

impressive for a state park lodge!

Mount Rushmore with stripes...it had stopped raining,

but they weren't completely dry.  It looks like they are

crying and their noses are running.  :-)

Mount Rushmore

Profile of George

 

Horse in Hill City made from junk

There's a lot of timber in this bridge/overpass

Bob's shirt showing he survived 16A.  Now he has

one for 89A (Jerome, AZ) and 16A.  :-)

Bear Country, USA in Rapid City, SD

We spent this afternoon at Bear Country, USA, which is about 2 miles from our campground.  They have over 200 bears and a variety of other animals.  It was fun driving through the park and seeing the bears walking everywhere.  Bob was disappointed that he didn't see any bears in Yellowstone, so after seeing about 200 of them today he got his bear fix!

Rocky Mountain Elk

Rocky Mountain Elk

Mule Deer

Arctic Wolves

Donner, Blitzen, Comet, Cupid, etc.

Big Horn Sheep

Big Horn Sheep

Rocky Mountain Goat

Awww...bear hug!

This guy decided he wanted to sit in the middle of the road.

Mountain Lions

Black Bear

Black bear swimming

Sound asleep.  They sleep in the most precarious

positions!

Big grizzly

Sound asleep!  :-)

This guy paced back & forth like he was guarding

the gate.  They will not walk across the cattle guards.

Huge bison

Bison

This grizzly was HUGE and he had his own exhibit

near the front entrance.  Again, sleeping in a strange

position!

At the entrance to the babyland exhibit where the

baby bears, etc. are.  We didn't go there because

the thunder boomers were starting & we didn't

want to get caught in the rain.

Mount Rushmore

We drove out to Mount Rushmore this evening.  My thought was that we could go later in the day and stay for the illumination.  I had been reading on-line about it and it wasn't getting rave reviews by any means.  However, I remember the first time we were here and when we got set up at the RV park, we drove out to Mount Rushmore later in the evening and it was lit.  Unfortunately, my camera was in the 5th wheel.  :-(  So, I thought we'd give it another try.  We get there and they want $11.00 to park.  I had also read about this on-line.  The money doesn't even go to the government, it goes to the concessions company.  We decided that since we have already been here and have excellent pictures from that trip, we were not going to pay to park.  Bob has a golden passport that gives us free access to all national parks, but that does not cover this ridiculous parking fee.  So, we drove around the monument and left.  Tomorrow we are going earlier so we can visit the Borglum Museum and get some souvenirs.  We are also going to Bear Country, USA which is a drive-through animal park (weather permitting) that is close to our park. 

 

The entrance

One of many deer we saw in the area 

The Memorial

Mount Rushmore

Another angle

Profile of George Washington

Another profile

George

There are some beautiful rock formations in the area

Another view

 

 

Another angle as we were leaving

This woodcarver is in Keystone (population 327),

which is where the memorial is located.  He is

very talented!

Check out this bench...

An eagle bike.