Thanksgiving at the Plaza in KC

We went to The Plaza in KC to watch the lighting on the night of Thanksgiving. We stayed in a motel in KC......3 blocks from the plaza. We had Thanksgiving dinner at the motel with Travis, Tiarnyn and Ceci.
At around 5:30 we walked to the plaza to watch the lighting which didn't happen until 7:00. A little cold.

John said a LOT COLD. FUN!! FUN!!

Some fireworks after

the lighting.

There was a band and music that started

around 5 or 6 before the lighting.

Some guy was

giving out these

glasses that were

red & green with

lights.

Travis and girls

waiting to eat

Thanksgiving Dinner.

This was the pool

at the motel, the

girls went swimming

each night for awhile.

The Lobby!

Looking down from

our room.

This was the rooms...

all open in the middle.

GOOD TIME!!

Our Road Trip to South Dakota w/John's Sisters & Floyd!!

BOUND FOR SOUTH DAKOTA

Here we are getting ready to leave for our road trip to South Dakota.
Helen, John and I went to Barbara and Floyd's home on Friday, Sept. 24th to spend the night
and headed out for our road trip to South Dakota on Saturday morning, Sept. 25, 2010.

It was a beautiful day and the weather was "GREAT" the intire trip.

Barbara getting everything in place.

We could see the Black Hills at a distance from the highway.

The first 2 towns we came to were Hot Springs and Custer, S. Dakota.
We walked around the town for awhile and headed on to Keystone were

our cabin was, about 4 miles from the town.

Rustic Ridge Cabins is where we stayed for 3 days & 4 nights. Only about 5 miles from Keystone, South Dakota it was a nice place to stay.
Was only about 4 miles to Mt. Rushmore and 11 miles to Crazy
Horse Memorial.
Keystone, Hill City & Custer are about a 20 mile radius from each
other.

MT. RUSHMORE...................................

Our cabin at Keystone was very close to Mt. Rushmore.
The work of this massive carving was accomplished during a time
of great national challenge and hardship......the Great Depression
of the 1930's. Between Oct. 4, 1927 and Oct. 31, 1941, Gutzon

Borglum and 400 workers sculpted the colossal faces of U.S.

presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore

Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

Beautiful Country!!

CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL................

"My lands are where my dead lie buried."

Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski was born in Boston of Polish descent.

Korczak arrived in the Black Hills on May 3, 1947 to accept the Indian's invitation.

When he started work on the mountain in 1948, he was almost 40 and had only $174.00 left to

his name. He felt Crazy Horse should be built by the interested public and not the taxpayer.
Since his death in 1982, his wife Ruth, working in concert with the Crazy Horse Memorial
Foundation, has directed the work which continues to see exciting

progress being made with each passing year.
Crazy Horse was born on Rapid Creek in the Black Hills of

South Dakota in about 1842. While at Fort Robinson, Nebraska,
under a flag of truce, he was stabbed in the
back by an American soldier and died Sept.6, 1877---age 35(?)

Crazy Horse defended his people and their way of life in the only manner he knew.

This is just one cut out that
was on a gate. Korczak cut each figure
out himself by hand before passing
away.

We took a train ride from Hill City to Keystone. Stayed in Keystone and had lunch, did some shopping.

Black Hills Central Railroad #110.
Originally designed for use on a
logging railroad, the #110 is the

only locomotive of its kind still in

service in the world.

Getting ready to catch the train
back from Keystone to Hill City.

After our 1880 train ride we stopped by a winery on our way back to the cabin and after everyone did some wine tasting everyone set to rest.

8 miles south of Rapid City on Highway 16 we came to this place
called BEAR COUNTRY U.S.A. It is a drive through wildlife park.
The animals roam free in 250 acres of natural Black Hills habitat.
Bear Country U.S.A. is home to over 25 species.
This is just a few of the pictures I took.

This place was AWESOME!!

American Black Bear.

Big Horn Sheep

Elk and Reindeer!

On to Rapid City after stopping at Bear Country. We were hopping to take a trolley ride of Rapid City so we went to the dinosaur park to catch a trolley for a tour of Rapid City. Labor Day week
end was the last time for tours for the season.

So we had to check Rapid City out ourselves.

















This building was in Rapid City.
Called Prairie Edge features the
world's foremost collection of
authentic Plains Indian art, crafts
and culture.



On each corner in Rapid City there is a statue of some kind.
Called "The City of Presidents"













The Horse was in Hill City, South Dakota
made out of all kinds of metal object's.
See the spoon on his nose.

On Thursday morning, Sept. 30th, we checked out of the cabin
and headed for the Badlands on our way up to Interstate 90.

We took the Scenic Byway off of 90 onto 240.

Our last stop in South Dakota was in Mitchell, S. Dakota.
This is where the World's Only Corn Palace is.
Made of thousands of bushels of corn, grain and grasses.

It is redecorated each year with a new theme.

We stayed our last night in Sioux City, Iowa........made it back to Cottonwood Falls where Barbara and Floyd live to return the van before 5 pm on Friday, October 1st.

It was an AWESOME trip and a true BLESSING.

THE BLACK HILLS OF SOUTH DAKOTA...............

We hope everyone will be able to go here some day.