the black hills

i've stepped away from the computer

to go on a little vacation to south dakota.

(it was not really little. 

we were gone seven freaking days.

light years in mom-time.)

ronnie and i, along with two other couples,

took off last weekend and headed northwest.

(ronnie's best friends and their wives - basically his dream)

it was a really good group.

everyone was so laid back, it

made spending a whole week in a camper seem easy.

such a great way to travel.

it was the world famous bike week at sturgis,

so since the boys are all harley lovers

we loaded the bike and joined the thousands.

it was so much fun and so freaking beautiful.

we actually only spent one day in sturgis because

there is so much else to do and see.

day one was a travel day.

took us 12 hours to make it to camp.

days two and three we parked the camper in the badlands.

we took a super long ride through the national parks,

down needles highway and to mt. rushmore.

my butt was dying.

literally, i almost didn't make it.

but the ride was gorgeous.

i was excited to see mt. rushmore,

we saw a ton of buffalo,

made friends with prairie dogs and

needles highway is awesome on a bike.

the next day we did a shorter ride through 

the badlands (which is gorgeous)

since we had some extra time,

we stopped off at the local biker bar.

and for once, we fit right in.

we even managed to come up with biker names for the boys.

they're so tough.

the next day (day 4) we loaded everything back up

and went a little further north toward sturgis.

we went for an afternoon ride to deadwood.

have you ever heard of that town?

i never had, but the history was cool and if

there was one place i would have moved to during this vacation,

it would have been there.

we got caught in a rain storm so we spent the rest 

of the evening in town and had dinner.

the next day, we finally decided we should probably see sturgis.

it was and wasn't what i was expecting.

sure, there were some trashy people, tons of bikes and

girls in barely any clothes, but for the most part

it reminded me of a state fair.

except all the booths were selling stuff for bikes.

and in between the booths were tents with bikes and

lots of bars.

it was a good time.

we spend the whole day walking around,

shopping, drinking a few beers and looking at 

harley stuff i know nothing about.

the sixth day we wanted to see more of the countryside so 

we headed out to devils tower, then on the

prettiest ride through spearfish canyon and

ended up back in deadwood because we all liked it so much.

(seriously, if you want an amazing harley ride,

go to spearfish canyon or just google the images because its so pretty)

once back in deadwood we actually talked the guys

into getting old time photos.

it was the funniest thing i've done.

i was literally crying-laughing while they were 

lacing me up in my clothes.

the next morning ronnie and i got

up extra early and hit the road.

i was dying to see my girls and 

get back to them.

we stopped to pee and ate in the car,

but we made it back in 11 hours.

i got to spend a couple hours with brette and reid 

before bedtime.

i missed them so much,

but i had a great time.

i want to go on a vacation every month.

seriously.