Saturday was a lot of driving to reach the Black Hills. We pulled out of Gardiner around 10:00 and got on the road. It was an uneventful day in which I was finally able to catch up somewhat on blogging. We managed to find Mass in Wyoming on the way to South Dakota and even pulled into our campground before dark.
Sunday, July 6, was our 29th wedding anniversary. We luxuriously slept in while the kids got up and made us a delicious pancake breakfast. They even cleaned up too! While they were busy with all of that, I was trying to research what we might want to do that day. We had been promising AnaClaire that we were going to try to do some horseback riding while on this trip, so I thought this might be the time and place to do it.
I managed to find a great guy named Pat Rowe with Black Hills Horse Adventures who was willing to fit us all in that afternoon. He could only take 5 out at a time, so we had to break up into groups. A little before we left to head over there, Alex passed out. She’d been struggling somewhat with the direct sun that morning, which left her not feeling too well, so we opted to leave Alex at the RV to have a quiet relaxing afternoon by herself and went off for our trail ride.
When we got there, Pat assigned horses to each of the kids and took them out for 1.5 hours while Charlie and I went to explore nearby Hill City. When they returned, they were all smiles talking about how much fun they’d had!
Next it was Charlie and my turn to go out. Pat was willing to take three kids a second time with us for no extra charge, so we had to decide which three would get to go back out. They all wanted to go again, and it broke my heart that two of them had to stay behind. Fortunately, those two were good sports about it and went into Hill City to get some sodas while the rest of us were trail riding. We all had a wonderful time. It was a great experience for everyone! The downside, though, is that Charlie and I are now having even more requests to get horses at our place.
When we got back to the RV, Alex was doing fine but still taking it easy. A couple of teens ran to the grocery store for some pizza while Charlie and I cleaned up to go out for an anniversary dinner.
We had Annette drive us to dinner and pick us up so that we could each have an adult drink with dinner. We ate at a delicious place called “1885”. The restaurant took its name from the year that the building was built. The building’s claim to fame is that it is the oldest commercial building that was built with hand-hewn logs in the state of South Dakota.
Charlie chose a New York strip steak with baked potato and salad for dinner while I had a pork chop glazed in a peach-bourbon sauce with sweet potato fries and salad. It was all scrumptious.
We had a nice time at our quiet dinner reminiscing about the last 29 years of marriage as well as the couple of years that we dated prior to marriage. I am so blessed to have such a devoted and caring husband who works so hard to provide for our family.
Rebecca
Kidding Around Farm 