Road Trip Part II

The rain that welcomed us at Keystone, SD departed Friday morning and we headed to Mt. Rushmore. Similar to our Grand Canyon trip it was a "we came, we saw, we took a few photos" kind of visit. We did stop by the work-in-progress Crazy Horse Monument. It was really foggy and I got one photo before the fog completely covered the hill. Both monuments are impressive but Lilly's age plus our rush to get to our final destination hampered the visit. As we headed south through the rest of South Dakota and Wyoming we saw fresh snow on the ground. Ick.

Graduation was held Saturday morning (the same day as the "rapture").  We're very proud of Cousin Erick! Getting to the Budweiser Arena where the ceremony was held was an adventure. Our caravan of 4 cars followed Grandpa Dale as he serpentined his way from Ed and Denise's to the arena. What appeared to be a frontage road to the arena was closed off, so instead of reversing - we all just drove over the ditch into the parking lot and carried on. The entire class of 2011 of  Loveland High School is very accomplished. The only unfortunate thing that happened was that about 75% through the ceremony a fire alarm was pulled (as a prank by another school) and everyone had to exit the building. A lot of people left after that and didn't wait for the end of the ceremony. Erick's open house was fun and relaxing. Denise made the most amazing "Almond Bars" - she graciously shared the recipe with me.

Sunday, Grandpa Dale, the Ericksons (younger ones), Brian, Lilly and I headed to Estes Park and went horseback riding. Lilly had been looking forward to this all weekend, but in the end she was a bit frightened of the horse and rode with Brian instead of Grandpa Dale. She was a trooper though and in the end enjoyed horseback riding.

We left for home on Monday morning driving through Nebraska. We randomly stopped in Gothenburg, site of a Pony Express. Random - but interesting and it was located on the town park - so Lilly got the chance to swing and  slide and play.We spent the night in Iowa and made it home early Tuesday afternoon! Wednesday, Lilly and I headed to VA to surprise Yai and Tha!

This trip has left Brian at a count of visiting 35 states, I've visited 31 and Lilly has been to 10.