Promised Journey

Twelve very exciting and adventurous days have passed since my last post. It has been so much fun and my plan to write and post pictures each day has gone out the window. This morning finds us in Pueblo, Colorado with some "down time" so I can catch up a bit on my writing and posting.

September 12-14: IOWA

We visited Mary's sister, Marsha and her husband, Ernie at their lovely home in Monona. The occasion was their daughter, Cassandra's wedding which took place in Monticello. Mary had traveled to the wedding site on Thursday with Marsha and we followed on Friday. It took most of the day to set up the reception site. We then drove back to Monona to spend the night while Marsha and Ernie stayed in Monticello for rehearsal and dinner.

On Saturday we drove to Wauken, Iowa to pick up Mary's Mom to bring her to the wedding. On the way I took the opportunity to drive up to Decorah to visit the Toppling Goliath Brewing Company and buy Josh some craft beer only to discover that they were out of the Psuedo Sue that he wanted me to buy. After a quick phone conversation, I purchased three other brews. We then picked up Mary's Mom and drove the two hours to the wedding. We stayed that night in Anamossa across from the Motorcycle Museum and in the morning drove back to Monticello for a family gathering and opening of the wedding gifts. Sunday afternoon we took a very tired but happy Betty, Mary's Mom, back to the nursing home.

Marsha and Ernie's Home

Father of the Bride escorting his daughter

Cassandra and Chad

Flower girls, Mary's grand neice's

Cassie with Grandma

Mary and family

Ernie built this and we set it up on Friday

Yummy!

Cassie opening Mary's gift

Grandma holding Wolfie, this was just before a snake showed up and frightened all of us.

September 15: Emmetsburg, Iowa and Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Monday morning we departed from Eastern Iowa and headed west. We stopped for a delightful lunch with Kris Hackbart and Peter Morlock. Kris served us a wonderful home made soup and it was delightful to hear about their children and the ministry they both are doing. Kris made sure that we left with some home made jam and beer that they brew themselves. We overnight-ed at a Fairfield is Sioux Falls.

September 16-17: Corn Palace, Mount Rushmore, and Custer State Park

After an early breakfast at the hotel we drove to the corn palace in Mitchell, S.D. and toured its' murals made of corn. Mary and I had visited here 47 years ago on our honeymoon trip.

On the way to Mount Rushmore we drove the loop through Badlands National Park and visited Wall Drug Store in Wall, SD.

We arrived at the K Bar S Lodge at 4 pm to discover that our room was not ready because all the housekeeping staff had returned to China that morning. Therefore the manager and two others were cleaning all the rooms. No problem, as we went out for a wonderful dinner and the opportunity to visit Mount Rushmore at dusk. We returned to the Lodge at 7 p.m. and were able to get into our room which had a side view of the monument. John and I went to the campfire on the property and he made S'mores.

Wednesday we returned to Mount Rushmore to tour the museum and take more photos. Needles Highway and Custer State Park were next on our agenda and what a wonderful experience that was.

Rush hour at Custer State park

Notice that he is faster than the motorcycle

Ou Nissan passing through one of the tunnels

The Needle

Following a long and exciting day we stayed at the C'mon Inn in Casper, WY.

The above views are from our room.

September 18: Milliken, Colorado and visiting the Guzman's

Following an easy drive, we arrived at Bruni and Guz's new home in Milliken just north of Denver. We enjoyed a delicious supper of Lasngna and talked to almost midnight. In the morning their son, Nick, joined us for breakfast as Guz cooked us omelets to order.

September 19: Rocky Mountain National Park

Upon Guz,s advice we traveled through Rocky Mountain national park on our way to Moab, Utah. It was a long, exhausting, and wonderful day. We didn't arrive in Moab until 9:30 pm.

September 20: Arches National park and Red Cliffs Lodge

This was a day that we had long anticipated, our driving tour of Arches National Park and our stay at Red Cliffs Lodge which is 16 miles from the park. Stunning scenery around every turn of the road.