Life is a journey, take time to enjoy every step.......

This year for our family trip we decided to make it a big one. All 12 of us made our way to Custer South Dakota for 5 days. It was so fun watching the joy on the grandkids face as they experienced all the new things.

                     We managed to get one picture of all of us while we were at Mount Rushmore.

We stayed at Fort Welikit campgrounds It is right outside of Custer. It is a great campground and I would recommend it to anyone camping in the area.

They had a great dog park for the dogs. Otis loved being able to run without the leash on. He got along great with the other dogs at the park.

 
We spend the first day at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park. It is a beautiful area. We did some hiking, swimming and kayaking. We all got a little sunburned :)

The next day we hiked up to Black Elk Peak, previously knows as Harney Peak It is a 8 mile round trip that is not an easy hike. I was super impressed by the kids, especially Eli and Oliver since they are only 5 years old.

 Break Time!

Christa, Jese and Oliver had left about an hour before us so they waited at the top for us.

                             On the way down, which sometimes meant going back up!

                                                Almost to the end of the trail

                                This is what you look like after hiking 8.23 miles and 21,184 steps!

Wild life loop ended up being a little bit of a disappointment. The buffalo were no where to be found! We did get to see the wild burros. The kids loved feeding them and being able to get close up to them.

          We of course had to try and take selfies with them....they did not really like that so much :)

We took the kids to downtown Custer to do a little shopping and have lunch. Since Rick and I have been there before we knew about the bakery. They have the best cinnamon and caramel rolls around. Really that is the reason we wanted to go back to Custer....

                                 Rick and Amy were of course the first in line for treats at the bakery.

                                                                   Say Cheese Larina!

                                           The last day we all went to Mount Rushmore.

Larina was not impressed with  Mount Rushmore and just wanted to go to sleep.

After Mount Rushmore Rick and I took Amy and kids to Mount Coolidge. We got to drive to it, no hiking

                                   The last thing we did is drive Needles Highway.

Rick and I love the Custer area and often talk about retiring out in the area....This is our third trip to the Custer area in the last 6 years. We never seemed to have enough time to see all we want to see. We love the hiking, biking and the weather....Maybe someday

On the way home we got a flat tire on the camper! Since we have two tires on each side we did not even know it until a truck pull up to us and told us. Good thing we have tow coverage on our insurance. We called them up and 30 minutes later the tow truck came and changed the tire. We were lucky that we had a spare that was good.

It was a great trip and we loved spending the time with the kids and grandkids.  We made lots of memories.....

Sharon