Back home again

tower of bikes on the Mickelson Trail

In front of one of the many tunnels on Mickelson Trail

Stockade Lake in Custer State park, near our campgrounds

Rick at Crazy Horse

Taking a rest on the trail and looking at the view

Looking out at the lake

At Mt. Rushmore

We had a great time on vacation and really hated to come back. We left on Thur. morning for South Dakota. We of course stopped along the way in the Bad Lands. It is always fun to drive through them and it breaks up the trip up a little. We managed to find our camp grounds without getting lost in Custer State park. It is a really nice campground and very peaceful. We had deer in the camp everyday. We had good weather the whole time we were out there. It got down to the low 40's every night and in the low 70's every day but Sunday when it got up to 76.
Friday we went into Hill City and got on the bike trail from there. The Mickelson Trail is a beautiful trail. You cannot beat the scenery. Of course to see all the wonderful things on the trail you have to work your ass off! We did A LOT of up hill biking. The longest stretch we went up hill was 8 miles. It just went on and on and on. Of course then you do get the reward of going down that same hill. We biked 43 miles the first day. I wore my heart monitor the whole time I biked to keep track of my workout etc. and it said I burned over 2000 calories! Good thing we had lots of food along with us so I could eat those calories right back on.
Saturday we gave our legs a rest and drove around to see all the sights. We went on the wildlife loop in the park and I was all excited to the buffalo. Well I guess the buffalo were not excited to see me because there was none around. We saw about 10 of them way far away and that was it. Stupid buffalo!! We went to Needles Hwy, Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse. It was a long but fun day.
Sunday was are last day so we went out biking again. We biked from Pringle  to Custer. It again was a beautiful part of the trail. When we got to Custer we stopped at a little cafe/bakery for lunch. We also stopped a pie place on the way back out of town for a piece of delish pie. We only biked 24 miles on Sunday. When we got back to the camp grounds we went for a hike by the lake.
Monday we got up early and were all packed up and on the road by 7:30. We had to stop in Custer at the bakery we had lunch at the day before and get ourselfs some cinnamon rolls. They were HUGE. It ate on mine all the way home.
We are already planing our next trip back. We would really like to bike the whole 100 mile trail and also bring our road bikes out to ride some of the roads. 
We both decided that we love the Black Hills area and would love to move there. We talked to several locals about the area. If I could find a job out there I would move in a minute. Maybe someday........
Later Sharon