Tuesday, May 20, 2008

South Dakota 2008 - May 14th thru May 19th

South Dakota 2008 - May 14th thru May 19th

So here is where I went on vacation in May:

http://www.recsprings.com/

I recommend staying here if you ever go to the Black Hills of South Dakota - it's owned by a father & son and they are really a great family. It's not fancy, but the food is good & they treat you like family! Papa Joe is a great guy, so is his son little Joe! I really enjoy going there with them, every year and I'm even thinking about going back in the fall to see the leaves change in the Black Hills.

So here are some pictures from my trip: I'll try to put in some info under each one.....

This is the first day ... it's me with my wheeler @ the top of one of the power line trails. 
The Black Hills are so beautiful!  It feels like you are on the top of the world! 

Here's me & my friends Greg and Carol.  At the Highest Peak in South Dakota. 
Here is me catching some air and jumping over the hill!  LOL!   I hope to show my kids this some day so they'll know that their mom wasn't always bossy and lame!  LOL! 


This is Carol & Me - I think this is Terry's Peak.   Can you believe we had snow in the middle of May!   In some places it was hip deep!   There were a whole lot of pulling wheelers out when people got stuck! 
Here's me on another day!   I don't think my pictures are in order because this is one of the later days when it had gotten warmer! 
My wheeler taking in some sun! 
Here's me, Dan, & Brandon - taking a break!   You can tell it's me in the picture because my pigtails are sticking out the bottom of my helmet! 
The sky is so clear and beautiful in the Black Hills :) !!
I walked half way up the power-line hill to take pictures of all the riders as they came down the hill & Dan was last so I asked him for a ride down the hill!   Dan went a little faster than I was thinking he would!  HA! 
Mount Rushmore...... 

On Wednesday - I took the day and drove from MN to SD - it took me about 10 hours & then when I got there that night I just checked into the hotel and slept.  Then when I got up in the morning - Dan & Bette had arrived during the night - so we went to breakfast.  After breakfast there were lots of people there from my atv club and we went and rode the whole day!   
The next few days: Thursday, Friday, Saturday & Sunday we rode - I even lead the group on Saturday - I was really proud that I was able to lead such a large group of riders.   We would ride all day and then come in for dinner in the evenings and then just hang out at night at the resort.  In my opinion it's a really great vacation because you don't have to run around a whole lot if you don't want to... we were able to go everywhere on our wheelers - which I love!   I just turned over 2000 miles on my 2006 Bombardier Outlander 650 XT - which feels like a whole lot of miles!   Oh well I've enjoyed every single mile!   I have worked hard to learn everything about 4 wheeling and I play hard every time I go out!   I drove home on Monday and then took the day on Tuesday to relax and unpack!  I stayed home with IV.   It was nice!  

This is Sunday - and this is the whole group lined up in front of the lodge w/ Papa Joe, Little Joe, his girlfriend and their puppy Missy.    Then the turkey on the left hand side of the picture really really liked Ashley the little girl on the left.   It would follow her around all weekend!   Too funny! 

This shows how many riders we had ... there was only me and one other in front of the wheelers shown in the picture! 
Here's all of us trying to get a group picture! 
More wheelers! 
All of us in line - in South Dakota, you can ride 4 wheelers on the road!  It rocks! 

If you ever get to take your kids here it's a great place to visit for families - there are some nice images of the Black Hills in the Movie National Treasure 2 - Book of Secrets - it's a great movie so if you haven't checked it out!  Think about renting it for 'date' night with the one you love!   So that was my vacation!   Hope you'll all enjoy all the pictures I know that I had a blast! 
MandyJo

2 comments:

Dan and Alicia Marlowe said...

That looks like so much fun! I love ATV's too. Dan and I used to ride a a three wheeler aroud when we were dating. Gave us an excuse to squish together ... :) He did drop me off the back into a mud puddle one time though and didn't notice my absence until he was down the trail a ways. Funny now. Not so much then. So, glad you had a great vacation!

Deb said...

I see why you like riding. You got some amazing shots of the country. Beautiful! Glad you enjoyed yourself.

That's so cute that the turkey followed the little girl around.