Girl's Night: American Girl Style

It's the end of summer and we need to celebrate!  We gathered up some girlfriends, dug out 

the craft supplies, dressed up our American Girl dolls and dived into our party food for a

Girl's Night Out!

What a great night!  I think we just started a new tradition!

South Dakota Trip Day Five

Our fifth and final day in beautiful South Dakota.  We have put in a full week so far but we are excited to do a little more exploring before packing up our bags and heading east.

Today we explored a gold mine and learned about the gold mining industry especially during the gold rush days.  We got a chance to pan for real gold which the girls were able to take home in a little bottle.

Then we headed back to Custer Park via the Iron Mt. Road to take in more beautiful views and revisit the roaming buffalo.  We stopped in Custer for lunch to eat like the locals: buffalo burgers with blue cheese.  After lunch we continued west to the Jewel Cave where we learned how to be a Jr. Park Ranger and explore the beauty beneath our earth.  After a few more stops on our way back to Keystone we gathered with the cousins for our final South Dakota meal.

Learning to pan for gold...it's a little more difficult than it looks.

Checking out the panned gold in their little bottles.

Big Thunder Gold Mine was completely dug by two men that took them over 35 years and they only earned $100 a piece.  They didn't find what they thought was there...

Another view to Mt. Rushmore

Hanging out in Custer

Welcome to Jewel Cave

Taking the oath to become an official Jr. Park Ranger after completing all of their requirements.

Jr. Park Ranger Anna & Jr. Park Ranger Kate

Bobkat's Purple Pie Palace
A great place for a piece of pie such as bumbleberry

Crazy Horse 

Joining the Wisconsin cousins for dinner in Keystone

Ahhh...what a great vacation and now it's time for a little sleep before heading home.

South Dakota Trip Day Four

Our day began with a walk to downtown Keystone to check out the taffy store where they make homemade saltwater taffy.  We then headed to Sylvan Lake, winded through Needles HWY, stopped at Custer State Park for a buffalo traffic jam, drove the Wildlife Loop and ended up at Blue Bell Lodge for our authentic chuck wagon dinner.

best flavor:  buffalo cherry

beautiful Sylvan Lake

Needles hwy

Yes, big coach buses go through these narrow tunnels...this was a beautiful drive but a little nail biting for us too.

Turning onto the Wildlife Loop...hence it's name.

The overly friendly burros who like to eat bread, bananas and crackers.  We found out they don't like tomatoes or apples.

I think he has had his picture taken before...

Welcome to Blue Bell Lodge
Custer State Park

I'm hungry...when do we get to go?

It's official:  we were cowboys and cowgirls for the evening

Our journey into the heart of Custer Park...a burnt out valley.

Time to eat!  They know how to prepare a steak in South Dakota!

Kate loved Kowboy Keith.  He was our entertainment for our wagon ride to our dinner destination.

Kowboy Keith and the girls.
Yes, we even bought one of his cds which Kate hasn't stopped playing.
What an awesome evening!