Black Hills of South Dakota

Tatanka! If you've seen Dances with Wolves this might sound familiar: it's buffalo in the Lakota language. I had no idea Kevin Costner developed a site to tell the story of bison and not the white man's version. We saw buffalo in the wild as well--those things are so massive! We also ate some...in the form of burgers and brisket. Tastes like...chicken, ha. Actually much leaner than beef. Other wildlife sightings were of pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, and even burros (sort of look like donkeys) right at our car window.

It's hot here! And very dry but surprisingly has a varied landscape--sagebrush, pines, rock formations, and red clay. So we saw the must see sights: Mount Rushmore (at night) and the Crazy Horse Memorial which I saw in high school and seems barely farther along in its' completion.

We also visited Deadwood, home of the Wild West (I didn't know this before this trip.) Apparently, Wild Bill Hickok was shot dead at Saloon no. 10. We did the very touristy thing of watching a reenactment of his death and Ryan got to play the bartender!! Ironic, right?

Covered wagons

Here's a picture of our friends Shawn (R's best man) and Jessie in Loup City, NE on the farm Jessie grew up on. Aren't those signs classic?

Anyway, driving through Western Nebraska was pretty even in its' desolation. Drove through a number of towns with populations of only 200 or 300! And I thought Columbus was small...but Wyoming is even more sparsely populated: the town of Lost Springs only has 1 and another town had 10. And of course, no cell phone service. Many sections felt as if we were on another planet! But back to Nebraska.... Wide open spaces, sand hills, corn taller than us, and rolling hills, much prettier than the landscape in Omaha. I have to say I still think the nicest people I've ever met are from Nebraska.

Europe Pictures

To see more pictures from our trip visit: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=lqm3nyo.9zuh14rk&x=0&y=-481ku . It's free but unfortunately you still have to sign in with a password, tried to change that but couldn't.

You'll be happy to know there are considerably fewer pictures than the 2,000 we originally had so 875 doesn't sound too bad now.... Let me know what you think!

National Park trip itinerary

We're about to leave for the National Park portion of our US trip--we're taking a very scenic route from Nebraska to Seattle!!

Sun, July 22--drive to central Nebraska to visit my aunt then high school friends & stay the night.

Mon-Tues, July 23-24--Mt. Rushmore/Crazy Horse

Wed-Sat-, July 25-28--Grand Tetons

Sat-Mon, July 28-30--Yellowstone Nat'l Park

Tues-Fri, July 31-Aug. 4--Glacier Nat'l Park

The plan is to arrive in Seattle on Aug. 5th; Ryan starts work Aug. 15th. Hopefully we won't have any more scary hiking stories:-)

Runza

Every visit to Nebraska requires a taste of these meat, cabbage, onion and cheese-stuffed bread sandwiches! Plus we made a trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo--heard a tiger roar, a gorilla smacked into the window right in front of us, and we saw penguins swim--very fun.

Saw the movie Ratatouille with my parents, highly recommend it, especially for any foodies. Johnny, you would love it!! You sort of forget the story is about a rat and his family. Only had to hold me feet up a few times as it felt that the rats were scurrying right under you. Ok, so I'm not selling this movie with that comment, but honestly, haven't enjoyed a movie that much since the first Shrek!!!

Went to Borders at midnight for the Harry Potter book but came out empty-handed. Got my copy today, it seems ominous from the few pages I've read...... Anyone finished with it yet??

Then and now

Our wedding day....July 18, 1998

9 years later.....

Look how we've changed!

We celebrated last night by eating at the restaurant where we ate at for our senior prom 13 years ago!

Cornhusker Land

We finally made it to Papillion, Nebraska at midnight on Friday the 13th after 1,000 miles on the road from San Antonio! Why do the last hours drag on so? Met my cousin Val in Denton for lunch, the highlight of the day.

I've already caught up with my first roommate from college and her twins on Saturday. Then yesterday we went to Nebraska City to see my Mom's side: my grandma, 2 aunts and uncles, and cousin and her new baby. Also went to Arbor Lodge in NE City, where the Morton family started Arbor Day. I've been trying to get Ryan to go there for years. It's great to catch up with my parents and brother too!

The end of Tex-mex

After a few days in Texas visiting family, we're leaving early tomorrow morning for the slower pace of Nebraska. Wish us luck packing up the CR-V. We've been storing all our suitcases in the Blecher's guest room for the past 6 weeks, thanks guys. I'll miss the rambunctiousness babbling world of Jack!!!

In Houston, I got to meet Emerson, Katie's newborn. How tiny! You should have seen him as a taco, all bundled up. Also got some play time with 2 year-old Aiden. Smart kid: his favorite color is orange!!

But first, we're about to get a last taste of Johnny's good cooking as well as a taste test of some beers and Radlers. Much fun! Then, we're checking out the new Harry Potter movie. Has anyone else seen it??

Adios!

A home of sorts

We're back in Texas until Friday, the 13th! I just have to say that it is so nice to have a choice in clothing other than 4 shirts. Just wait until we send the pictures you will see we keep wearing the same thing, ha! We did do laundry (mostly in the hotel sinks), tried not to smell too much like the locals anyway....

We downloaded all 2,000 pictures to our laptop so this week we will be sending out the Kodak website to you all....

Jack has me busy today reading books and just being cute in general. I like this aunt/godmother thing!

Jersey shore

It had been 5 years since our last visit and what a trip! A full week of sand, surf, and very good food. Honestly think I gained more weight this week than the whole time in Europe! I am not like Ryan spending hours in the ocean burning calories, I prefer to sunbathe!! So, our days were spent getting to the beach roughly 11 am and spending the whole day there. Rough, isn't it? The water was cold though, warmest was 68 degrees but I went in at 61, brrrrrr......

So the food goes something like this: crumb cake or some other doughnut for breakfast, sandwiches (really good bread and cold cuts) on the beach, and a smorgasbord of meats and/or a pizza pie for dinner! And don't even get me started on the desserts: zeppoles, salt water taffy, pies, and cakes. Yum....

Great to catch up with Ryan's extended family! Drama abounds but doesn't it with all family?!!

Back in the U.S.

Back in the land of many choices and bigger beds.

We arrived in Newark, NJ after a very long day of traveling by train from Bruges to the Paris train station to the Paris airport to Frankfurt then Newark. We are now at the much beloved Jersey shore visiting family. I think our hardest decisions this week will be when should we go to the beach!

Can't wait to visit you all and catch up....

Belgain waffles & chocolates

Our last country, Belgium! Couldn't wait to eat: mussles, chocolates, waffles, and beer.... The food did not disappoint nor did the beer. Bruges is a really beautiful city with picturesque canals and cobblestone streets. We coudl hear the sound of clip-clopping from the horses all over the city. Unfortunately, tourists were teeming all over the place. We managed to escape them for lunch but not dinner...

Summary of our trip:

2 people, 2 suitcases
10 countries
10 + languages
15 different nighttime accomodations
2,000 pictures
27 nights
28 days

Hope you enjoyed the running commentary!