Twin Lakes - June 23

Got up early this morning and had coffee on the pontoon with Don whilst watching a family of loons and a Bald Eagle nest with two babies.  Mama eagle did not visit while we were there so missed the opportunity to photograph her this time.

Mama Loon and Babies

Mama Loon

Eagle's Nest

Baby Bald Eagles

The project for the day was to build a new picnic table.  After a visit to Hibbing for some Fabroni's brats and lumber for the table the project got underway.  With Nate's help we finished construction of the table by 4:00 PM.  

We had rain showers in mid-afternoon but then it cleared up again.  Nice and cool for sleeping.

On Thursday my sister Kathy, her daughters Theresa and Tina, son Tim and his wife Jennifer and kids came to visit.  This was predicted to be the nicest day of the week but instead treated us to rain and hail.

Hail on Ground

Tina with Nephew Colton

Aunt Theresa with Colton, Megan and Emily

Mary and Matthew Fishing

First Day on Twin Lakes

Today was a day for Mary and I to get some chores done.  Mary spent a lot of time and money at the laundromat and I got new cameras set up and software loaded on the computers.

Our Home for the Next Few Weeks

Mary Francis discovered a new passion...Fishing.  She made good use of her new fishing rod and caught ten fish including bass, sunfish, crappie, blue gills and perch.  We enjoyed a few of them with our dinner.

Mary & Nate Fishing

Mary's Bass

We had a great dinner of country style pork ribs and then played our first game of Farkel on Don's official Farkel Board.

The Farkel Queen Strikes Again

We went to sleep with the sound of rain falling on the roof.

Finally in Minnesota

We left Sturgis at 7:00 am on Saturday morning and drove 492 miles to Moorhead, MN where we spent the night in a mediocore KOA.  Sunday morning we tried to leave at 8:00 am but had problems with a plugged dump station (yes, I had to clean it out since the gal working the store didn't possess the appropriate skills).  She also lacked the ability/training to fill our LP tanks.  Neither did the first two gas stations where we tried.  They had LP but nobody to fill the RV.  We finally found a Cenex station in Detroit Lakes where a petite but efficient young lady quickly had us back on the road.

We arrived at brother Don's place on Twin Lakes at 1:30 PM, quickly got the Winnebago set up and then went for our first pontoon ride.

Mary Francis also got her first chance to use her new fishing rod and caught a nice Crappie.

It is good to be settled for a while.

Mary and Bobbi

Sunset on Twin Lakes

We ended the evening with a nice hot sauna and then headed for a good nights rest.

Black Hills Day 2

Today we started our day with a visit to Bear Country USA for a look at the variety of animals they have.

Albino Bison

Arctic Wolf

Bighorn Sheep

Magpie

Brown Black Bear

Black Bear

Lynx

After our Bear Country experience and a nice picnic lunch in the country we headed for the Crazy Wolf monument.  

Mary and Mary at Crazy Horse

Crazy Horse Statue

Having had our fill of tourist attractions we drove back to the Winnebago for a rest and then went to dinner at Cheyenne Crossing to celebrate my birthday.

Black Hills

We arrived in the Black Hills on Wednesday, 16 June and checked in to the RV park.  Then we went exploring and had a picnic next to the Mickelson Bicycle Trail south of Lead.

On Thursday we arose early and headed for Mt Rushmore arriving at 9:00 AM just ahead of the hordes.

We walked the Presidential Trail and captured many great images of the sculpures.

We left Rushmore and headed to Sylvan Lake and the Needles.

Then we worked our way toward Custer State Park for a look at some Bison.  The Bison were at the north end of the park and not near the road so we continued our way south.  We did manage to capture images of a few Pronghorn before leaving the park and got some good Bison shots in Wind Caves National Park.

Then we continued to Hot Springs for a visit to their Mammoth Site.  Most of the Mammoth bones are still where they found them in an ancient mud pit (sink hole) where the Mammoths fell to their death trying to get at the grass at the edge of the pit.

On our way home we drove through the outback of Wind Caves National Park and captured some good images of Pronghorn and then some Bison when we got back into Custer State Park.

We were happy to get back to the Winnebago after a marathon touring session.

Devil's Tower AM

I awoke at 5:00 AM, got dressed, grabbed the camera and headed for Devil's Tower.  The sunrise was pretty uninspiring but I got a few reasonable images.

Devil's Tower at sunrise.  Too bad there weren't more clouds.

Devil's Tower is a sacred place for the local tribes who hand prayer scarves in the trees around the tower.

A short distance from where I was shooting I encountered this deer.  She wasn't too bothered by my being there.

When I was done shooting sat down and took in the sight of the tower and marveled at the beauty God has provided for us to enjoy.

Devil's Tower

Well, after one night in Rawlins, Wyoming we made it to Devil's Tower, WY.  We covered a lot of very barren country on red roads.  Even a one hundred mile stretch without a town.  Beautiful but barren.

We arrived at Devil's Tower at around 2:00 PM, set up the motorhome and then went exploring.  Devil's Tower is amazing.  We took the hike around the tower and then sought out places for good evening images.

The sunset wasn't great but I liked this shot in the setting sun.

We shot this mule deer on our way back to the campground.

I even got a shot of a robin.

Tomorrow morning I will try for some sunrixe images and then we will head for the Black Hills of South Dakota.