You Can't Conceive of the Pleasure in my Smile.

Well, we're finally back, kids. It was an amazingly fun ride the last week and a half.

We left after work on Tuesday night and drove to Sioux Falls. After stopping to eat in the Des Moines area, we didn't get to our hotel until around midnight.

We woke up on Wednesday, had breakfast at the hotel and headed for the Black Hills. Driving is always the worst part of vacation. John and I took turns and it split it up between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and it still took longer than I thought it would.

I suggested we go to Wall Drug for lunch. It's super cheesy, but since we were in the area, you might as well check it out, right?

After Wall Drug, we drove to The Badlands. I had heard there was  a decent road to check it out on our bikes. We were warned that it could be 100 degrees or more there and that cars could be a problem. Luckily, had nothing to worry about. It was about 80 degrees the whole day and the cars were very respectful. One Harley rider even flashed us the peace sign. So cool.

Since we've done this kind of thing before, we knew that we wouldn't worry about riding hard and fast. Running, hiking or riding through an area, is so much better than driving through it. You can see things better, feel the wind on your skin, smell the smells (both good and bad) and hear whatever there is to hear. When we do these kinds of rides or runs or hikes, we go slowly, and stop and take photos where we feel compelled. It makes for such a great experience.

At one point as we were riding, I heard these weird barking sounds. I looked over and saw a prairie dog village, with the dogs, popping up and down out of their holes. I showed John and he almost crashed his bike gawking at the cuteness.
 

Originally, since we got there so late, we weren't planning on doing the full 49 mile ride, but toward the end of the halfway point, I asked John if he wanted to finish it or go back. He told me there were only about 3 miles left. Of course, as it turned out, it was all climbing miles. About halfway through that, John said, "Yeah. I guess when I said we should ride the rest, we didn't think it would be all uphill, but I suppose that's what you get for going on vacation with me." I only partly facetiously replied, "I'm a lucky girl."

I would climb a lot of damn hills to ride in this kind of awesomeness.

On the way back, there was a large group of people congregated at one spot. We stopped to see what the buzz was, and realized there were big horn sheep on the hill in front of us. We felt so lucky to see them.

After we finished out ride, we went to Rapid City to stock up on groceries and then to our cabin in Custer State Park, just as it was getting dark. About 5 miles into the park, we saw what looked to be a tall, shaggy looking homeless guy lumbering down the road ahead of us. As we got closer, we realized it was a buffalo, hanging out ahead of us. Wow.

That was all the day before my birthday. We had so much to look forward to.