our trip to the Black Hills...

Hey there! I'm back from vacation and I have so much to tell you! Sorry for my blog absence. It was nice to get away, take a break from everything and just spent time with family. We visited my family in South Dakota for about 10 days and then had a couple days home and left again for Maine with my husband's family to the beach. So many great memories made once again! I LOVE summer!!

I wanted to share a few pics from our trips and I'll post more on Facebook soon! Many of you know I'm originally from the Black Hills in South Dakota and lived there for almost 30 years. There is just nothing like it there...if you ever get a chance to visit the area and love to be outdoors, you need to hike Harney Peak. It's amazing. A brochure I read there said it's the highest peak between the Colorado Rockies and the Swiss Alps. It's 6 miles round trip and SO BEAUTIFUL! This is me and my daughter Taylor on our way to the top. It takes about 3-4 hours to get to the top and is quite a grueling hike (well for me. ha), but so worth the views. Coming back down only took about an hour. I was surprised she wanted to go, but she actually did better than I did! :) I wish I had as much energy as her again.

Here we are getting ready for the hike. My aunt and uncle from Minnesota came with their kids, my brother and his family and us.

The path was simple at first (and a little misleading), but it turned very rocky. We saw gorgeous wildflowers everywhere we looked in differing colors, shapes and sizes...

My guy and my brother in the background checking out the views...

My brother and his cute family. He has two boys, so they love to do this hike every year.

Here's a view from the top. You can see for miles!

I loved how the trees looked from above...

At the top...

See the little people in the middle (below)? That was our clan. We sat on the rock, rested and had our snacks to re-fuel.

There is an old tower at the top that they used to use for a fire look-out. Last year when we hiked it, a storm hit right when we got to the top, and we had to hang out in the tower until it passed. The clouds were literally right over our heads!

My mom's side of the family had a reunion while we were there in the Black Hills, so we all stayed in two cabins in the hills together for 4 nights.

We ate lots of good food, played cards, went horse back riding, swimming, mini golfing, visited the Flintstones Village, Storybook Island, Wind Cave, Reptile Gardens, saw buffalo and the cutest little prairie dogs.

We traveled around and did lots of sight-seeing, Mt. Rushmore, etc.

I am really going to miss everyone... and just being there in South Dakota. It's tough coming back to New York, but I look forward to next time I get to see everyone. It's so different there, so peaceful and beautiful. I've seen it a million times, but I will never tire of the beauty of it.

I think I'll have to come back with a separate post with some beach pics! :) Thanks for swinging by today,