~Amana Colonies~

 We stopped off in the Amana Colonies – This is one of America's longest-lived communal societies which began in 1714 in the villages of Germany and continues today on the Iowa prairie. There are 7 colonies. They have brick and stone houses and lovely veggie and flowers gardens too. The church is at the centre of each village.

~The Grotto of the Redemption~

When we were in West Bend, Iowa we stayed at this RV park that was at the "Grotto of the Redemption".   A Catholic priest gathered rocks and precious stones from all over the world and for the next 42 years he constructed grotto walls and ceilings and tried to create a spiritual experience for people when they were visiting it.

It was a unique and very interesting place to visit.

                 A beautiful sunset from the rv park.

~Sioux Falls~

 On our way through South Dakota we stopped off at Sioux Falls. The State has been experiencing a drought for the last few years, so the falls were not very big this year. It was still beautiful though.

It was another 40 degree celsius day, and we were SO hot again!! This is the family having a quick break in the shade.

~A Blessing~

We had such a lovely evening getting to know our "RV neighbours" Dean and Jo, from Texas. This couple was so sweet to us, and even prayed with us before we left the next morning. They were a real blessing to our family!

~The World's Only Corn Palace~

 Today we went to the "Corn Palace" in Mitchell, South Dakota. The building is famous for its huge, colourful murals which they redesign every year.

Much of the work is done by hand. Sketches are created by local artists and then transferred to roofing paper, and nailed to the mural panels. Each ear of corn is sawed in half, shaped, and trimmed to fit the design. 13 shades of coloured corn are grown and used in this form of folk art. Just think of it as a large scale "corn-by-number" (how "corny" is that!!!)

The Corn Palace today is a multi-use facility, and even the gym had "corn murals". It was incredible!

~The Badlands~

Wow - another great day! Today we visited Badlands National Park, a geological landscape of buttes, spires and rolling grasslands. The scenery was incredible! The colours of the rocks were spectacular and the road meandered through the rocks and prairies.

We stopped at many picturesque viewpoints along the way.

                        "Yellow Mounds Overlook"

 By noon the weather had soared to 40 degrees Celsius!!! We enjoyed the Visitor Center (which happened to be air conditioned!) and watched a neat documentary on the Badlands. The boys also completed the Jr.Ranger program.

~100 degrees~

WOW - what an incredibly HOT day!!  It was about 37 degrees Celsius!!  In fact.....all our days have been over 32 degrees!  I guess we are getting summer after all!!

We spent the whole day at the pool  - it was 100 degrees!  They have large shade shelters at this park and even under them it was almost unbearable.  We had the a/c on in the trailer ALL day and the temp. inside was still 30 degrees!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WOW!

What are they doing in the hot tub???  After being in the pool for SO long - it was time to warm up a bit!

WHAT NEXT????????????    Now we have seen everything!!!  These are called "Cooler Scooters" and the people rip around the rv park on these things - hilarious!

~Custer State Park~

In the afternoon we got to experience the unique beauty of the Black Hills. We drove on windy, narrow roads through amazing rock formations. At times there were tunnels that we didn't think we would be able to make it through. We stopped several times at viewpoints - this is the incredible "needles eye". 

 We then did the "Wildlife Loop Road" and saw many animals. There were so many tame burros that came up to car windows and stuck their heads right in looking for food. This one was enjoying our grapes. Some kids in the car next to us were feeding the burros cheezies - which they seemed to love!!!!!! Hilarious

We saw large herds of bison as well as white tailed deer, pronghorns, mountain goats, prairie dogs and many birds. 

What a great day!

~Mt.Rushmore~

 WOW! What an amazing day! We started our day by visiting Keystone- an original gold mining settlement. We enjoyed walking through "Old Town". Then on to see the incredible Mt.Rushmore National Memorial, one of the nation's most patriotic symbols. This massive granite carving is the largest monument in the world and depicts 4 presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.There were approximately 400 people that worked during the carving process from October 1927 - October 1941. Fortunately no lives were lost. We watched a great movie on the carving of Mt.Rushmore and enjoyed the "Sculptor's Studio" where Borglum created a model of the four presidents on a 1 - 12 inch scale.

 Sculptor - Gutzon Borglum spent the last 14 years of his life working on Mt.Rushmore.

~New Friends~

 After being on the road for just a few days the girls have already met some lovely new friends who happen to also be from Canada - Winnipeg.   They enjoyed a lovely day together with Mitchell and Madison

Thanks for a fun day Hudson's :)

~Off we go~

This will be our home for the next 8 months!  We have 4 bunk beds in the back, a couch that we use for a 5th bed and then a double in the front.   We all have our own "spots".

Leaving Victoria and our home.

We started our trip in Washington - State # 1 - We stopped here at Snoqualmie Falls

A beautiful view in Washington

The scenery was much the same in Idaho (#2) and Montana (#3) with lots of farmlands, crops, sagebrush and very dry land.   

                                                                            Next we drove through Wyoming (#4) where we stopped at Devil's Tower National Monument. Just amazing!   So far our days have been very warm  - around mid 30's!!!   Today we are in South Dakota (#5) enjoying our first relaxing day.   We arrived last night and were greeted with an amazing "lightning show" which lasted for HOURS!  Funny to have such warm air and so much lightning but no thunder or any rain at all. We are in such a great campground with an Olympic size pool and MANY amenities.

Shae, Travis and Brad  have already done a little train ride and also rented bikes for the day ($1 per bike per day!!!).  They are especially enjoying the "no helmet" law in South Dakota!!!

                                      

~Symphony Splash~

We spent the evening downtown at "Symphony Splash".  An orchestra played amazing music while on a large barge in the middle of the Inner Harbour

            Everyone sits on the Parliament Building Lawns and in front of the 

Empress Hotel as well as all around the Inner Harbour to listen to the music. There were 50 000 people there!  And.....what a beautiful evening it was!

This was looking down at all the kayaks, canoes, boats etc.... who were all on the water enjoying the show. The famous Empress Hotel sets a great backdrop.

What a beautiful photo Becky took as the sun was setting.

As night falls they turn on the Parliament Building lights.

After the last song they always do a spectacular fireworks show to end off the evening.

~Full Moon~

What an amazing sight last night!  We took these photos from our deck