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

Proud of my Dad

I was going to write all about my vacation today but I just found out that my  75 year old Dad made a very big goal on Sunday. His goal was to walk as many miles as it would take him to go around the world. He made his goal plus more. It is 24,901.55 miles around the world and on Sunday he had walked 25,200 miles!!! That is a lot of walking. He started walking 10.5 years ago after he retired, he was 65 years old. He sometimes walks on the road and sometimes walks in the woods. He walks all year round. Sometimes twice a day. The rain and snow does not stop him, the only time he will not walk is if it lighting or we are in a  blizzard. He even goes for walks when he is on vacation. He walks most often  in boots but for a couple of winters he walked in snow shoes. He even took up a little running and with all his walking he had no trouble running a couple 5K races with me. He even ran faster then one of his granddaughters! I asked my Dad last year what he was going to do when he reached his goal of walking around the world and he told me "well I am going to walk back." I love my Dad and could not be more proud of him.

Later Sharon

Vacation!!!!

No need to say any more.......
Later Sharon

Finally a bonfire

Rick and baby Oliver

Morgan loving up Christa

Jese, Oliver, Rick and Avis

Karen holding Oliver, Jese and Dexter and Christa

We finally were able to have a good bonfire. It was so nice out on Saturday, just the right kind of weather to have a fire. Christa, Jese and Oliver came down along with Karen, Nathan and Avis. It was a fun night of visiting.
We have been busy getting ready for our trip to SD. Yesterday Rick and I went to Walmart and spent $211 dollars! We had lots of food and other stuff to get for the trip.  After we got back from the store we put the camper up so I could get it packed. We got all our clothes, bedding and most of  the food all packed and ready to go. Now we just need to get our meat and get it frozen. We are going to have beautiful weather while we are there. The temp is going to be in the high 60's to low 70's in the day and in the 40's at night! It is going to be a little chilly at night. Good thing the camper has a heater in it.
I am going to have a couple of busy days at work this week. All the freshman come in tomorrow. They always have a ton of questions about parking when they get here. Not like the upperclassmen that just come in and drop off there parking permit application. It makes the day go by fast when I am busy. Today has been long already even though I have been pretty busy. It is just so nice out I hate to be here. Oh well I just have to keep telling myself it is worth it since I am getting holiday pay.....
Later Sharon

No mountain biking for me!

Yesterday after work Rick and I decided to take our trail bikes out for a ride. We decided we should take them to Courthouse park just south of town. It is a really nice park that has lots of dirt trails that you can bike/walk or take your horses on. In the winter you can also cc ski there. I had not been there other then in the winter so I forgot how narrow some of the trails are and that  it is really hilly. We also had rain the other day so the trails were pretty muddy and ruff from the horses going on them. I was doing pretty good until we had do go down a very big, muddy hill, I got off and walked my bike down. Rick just laughed at me. Then as we went along on a very small, narrow trail I got caught up in a stick on the ground and fell down not once but twice! I finally got going again only to realize we now had to go back up the big hills we just came down. I managed to get up all but one and managed to only fall off my bike one more time. I was so full of mud by the time we got done! I have come to realize that I could never do mountain biking. I am way to big of a chicken. I spent most of the time riding my breaks. Rick on the other hand just flew down the trails and he never fell down. I would never be able to bike on those trails with my feet clipped into the peddles.  We only went 4 miles but it felt like I went about 30 on my road bike. It was a good workout. It was fun to do something different but I think I will stick to road biking.
Later Sharon

Great Job Waseca Archery Club!

On Saturday the Waseca Archery Club held a benefit shoot for injured solder Jack Zimmerman.  We had a great turn out with around 80 shooter. Everyone in the Waseca Archery Club did a great job putting on the shoot.  It was 3-D in the afternoon and then at 8:30 at night they turned on the lights and shot a 900 round. They got done shooting at 11:45! I left the shoot right after they started shooting because I had to work on Sunday morning. I wish I could have stayed. Rick did not get home until 2:00 in the morning. He stayed and helped clean everything up before he got home. Eric was also down for the shoot so he came to our house to spend the night since it was so late and he had a 2 hour drive home. I was very tired for work on Sunday because when Rick got home I woke up and then was wide awake. I am pretty sure I finally fell asleep again about 5 minutes before my alarm went off.
I got all the trim and doors painted for the bathroom. They look nice and I am glad we decided to do painted trim instead of staining it for the bathroom. Rick got it all up on Saturday morning. We now are able to use the bathroom! The only thing left to do is get the mirror up, get the heat vents on and put up the towel racks. I am going to move everything back into the bathroom on my days off. I will take pictures and post them after I get that done.
Dexter has been going a little nuts the last few days. Not sure what is up with him. Rick said he could not find him on Saturday. He looked everywhere for him, he finally found him in the basement shower hiding behind the shower curtain. He never goes in there! He also has been licking like crazy again. He licks his feet until they are soaked. It is gross. Not sure what is causing his crazy behavior this time. He goes through crazy spells every 6 months or so. Rick claims Dexter is just mimicking me.......
Later Sharon  

Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving. ~Albert Einstein

This is what our deck looks like everyday now. It is none stop acorns falling on the deck and roof. I guess that is what we get for having 32 oak trees in our yard. I can hardly wait until the leaves start falling again.
I have not been up to a whole lot the last few days. Rick and I went to Menards again and got the closet door for the bathroom and the towel hangers. Rick got the shelfs put in the closet now I just need to get the door painted so he can put it up. We should be in the bathroom by this weekend if Rick finds time to finish it up. He is super busy at work again and with people wanting strings made.
Yesterday I started cleaning  and organizing closets. I also watched Eli for Amy for a couple of hours so she could go for a bike ride. She is doing really good biking, yesterday she biked 14 miles. She is even talking about saving up for a road bike! Eli is getting big already, he smiles all the time. He is so cute.
Today I am going to finish up on the closets, go to the grocery store and hopefully paint the door. I also promised Rick I would cook supper for the next two nights. I don't know what I was thinking when I said that! On top of all that when Rick gets home we are going to go for a run.
I better get moving......
Later Sharon